When a German traffic fine becomes time-barred

The new rule in one sentence

Since 1 July 2026, Section 26(3) of the Road Traffic Act (StVG) reads: the limitation period for prosecuting offences under Section 24(1) is 6 months. The change comes from the Fifth Act amending the Road Traffic Act of 12 May 2026. Section 24(1) covers the everyday offences: speeding, red lights, tailgating, phones, parking. Alcohol and drug offences under Section 24a follow the general rules of the Administrative Offences Act, which depend on the maximum fine. The same paragraph sets two special periods, two years for certain breaches of vehicle type-approval rules and five years for some offences prosecuted by the Federal Motor Transport Authority. The text is in Section 26 StVG.

Until 30 June 2026 the rule had two stages: three months as long as no fine notice had been issued and no charge brought, then six months. Advice built on the old figure, such as waiting three months for silence, still circulates online. That reasoning no longer holds.

Dates without any interruption

The period starts when the act is complete (Section 31(3) OWiG), which for a speed camera is the moment of measurement and for parking the moment the car is moved. Without interruptions:

Very few cases end like this, because the authority's first letter normally interrupts the period. The table shows how long it has to send that letter.

What restarts the clock

Section 33(1) OWiG lists the interrupting events exhaustively. Those that matter for drivers:

• the first questioning of the person concerned, notice that proceedings have been opened against them, or an order for either (no. 1), usually in the form of the hearing form (Anhörungsbogen);
• a court hearing of the person concerned or of a witness (no. 2);
• commissioning an expert after the person has been heard or informed (no. 3);
• a provisional suspension because the person is absent, and later orders to trace them (no. 5), or a request for an investigative step abroad (no. 6);
• issuing the fine notice, if it is delivered within two weeks, otherwise its delivery (no. 9);
• the file reaching the local court after an objection (no. 10), and any court hearing being scheduled (no. 11).

For written orders, what counts is when they are drawn up, not when you receive them (Section 33(2)). After each interruption the full 6 months begin again.

Only the right person is affected

Section 33(4) OWiG says an interruption only works against the person it concerns. This matters in households and companies where several people use one car. If the hearing form goes to the keeper as the suspect but someone else was driving, the period keeps running for the actual driver until the authority acts against that person. For parking only, the authority can instead charge the keeper the procedure costs under Section 25a StVG when the driver cannot be identified in time, a flat fee of €20 under Section 107(2) OWiG.

Reading the dates on your letters

The letters themselves tell you how far a case has got. The hearing form states the date of the offence and has its own date, but what interrupts the period is the moment the hearing was ordered, which is recorded in the file and not always on the letter. For the fine notice, the date of issue counts if delivery follows within two weeks; the delivery date is written on the yellow envelope. Laying the dates side by side shows whether each step came less than 6 months after the previous one. That is as far as a calculation can go; it is no substitute for looking at the file.

Company cars, car sharing and shared households

Many expats drive cars that are registered to someone else: an employer, a car-sharing operator, a partner. In all these cases the first letter usually goes to the keeper. A company will often name the driver from its booking records, and the authority then sends a new hearing form to that person. Because an interruption only works against the person it concerns, the second letter is what restarts the period for the driver. The authority still has 6 months from the offence for that, which in practice leaves enough time for the detour via the keeper. Under the old three-month rule, the same detour left far less room.

Three common misconceptions

"No letter within three months means it has lapsed." That applied until June 2026 for the period before a notice, and no longer does. "The clock starts when I receive the letter." It starts with the offence, and interruptions take effect when the order is drawn up. "Moving away ends the case." The authority can still interrupt the period while it traces your new address, and the law has specific grounds for interruption when the person concerned is absent.

A worked example

A camera records you 21 km/h over the limit in town on 15 July 2026; the catalogue sets €115 and one point. Left alone, the case would lapse on 15 January 2027. On 10 September 2026 the authority orders your hearing, so the period restarts and now ends on 10 March 2027. A fine notice issued before then and delivered within two weeks restarts it once more. Whatever happens, the case cannot be pursued after 15 July 2028, 2 years after the offence, unless a final decision exists by then. The date tool on this page shows the simple case for any date.

The two-year ceiling

Section 33(3) OWiG prevents endless restarts: prosecution is barred once twice the statutory period has passed since the offence, and at least two years. Twice six months is only one year, so the two-year minimum applies. If a court case also involves a criminal offence, the longer criminal-law period is used for this calculation.

After the notice is final

Once the fine notice is final, the prosecution period no longer matters and Section 34 OWiG takes over. A final fine may not be enforced after 3 years if it is up to €1,000, or 5 years above that, counted from the date it became final. The period is suspended while enforcement legally cannot start or continue, while it is postponed and while a payment concession such as instalments is in place.

Bans, points and the bigger picture

If prosecution is time-barred, no fine, no driving ban and no points can follow. If the case is concluded in time, a separate clock starts for the points: their deletion period runs from the date the decision became final and has nothing to do with the limitation period. A summary of everything else that changed in 2026 is on the page about the fine catalogue in 2026, and the fine calculator shows what an offence costs with fees, based on the Fine Catalogue Ordinance.