Sources: https://www.vg.hu/vilaggazdasag-magyar-gazdasag/2025/08/birsag-kozut-menetiro-piheno-ido
Terrible traffic fines come from good intentions
Original article in Hungarian
19.08.2025 | A new government decree has differentiated the penalties for road traffic violations, with the express purpose of prevention and deterrence, but has significantly increased them overall. The fines apply to individuals and companies, both passenger and freight carriers: anyone who violates a road traffic rule.
The Hungarian Gazette lists on thirty-five full pages those road traffic offenses, the commission of which typically entails a greater penalty than before. The amendment to the government decree currently in force states that administrative fines are differentiated and increased in order to increase their preventive and deterrent effect. Another goal is to clarify on which “facts” a road traffic administrative fine can be imposed. Who pays the fine – the driver, the loader, the operator, the client, the owner – varies from case to case, but this is also included in the published table dumping.
It's time to take a break
After the amendments enter into force, an international road haulier who fails to comply with the provisions on driving and rest periods and the documents relating to them will be liable to pay a fine of 55 points, plus an additional fine (listed in another annex), depending on the violation of the provision. The regulation classifies violations of the law (here and later) into four severity categories: extremely serious (RSJ), very serious (NSJ), serious (SJ) and minor (EJ). In this area, it is extremely serious, for example – and carries the highest fine of 1 million 250 thousand forints – if the driver
- provides services in international traffic without a Community licence,
- does not have an international (CEMT) goods transport license,
- does not have a valid bus permit or is using it illegally,
- you missed the pre-registration or completed it incorrectly.
There is an overlap between the severity of the error and the size of the fine
The regulation also imposes a penalty of 1 million 250 thousand forints for the “only” very serious (NSJ) offence, when the carrier performs cabotage services or occasional passenger transport without a permit or irregularly. However, there are also examples of RSJ-classified errors, the perpetrators of which get away with a fine of 940 thousand or 780 thousand forints, respectively. These are also related to goods transport permits or prior registration, but the omissions are smaller. In the extremely serious category, the smallest penalty of 200 thousand forints can be imposed if the person carrying out the goods or passenger transport does not have a valid license.
The upper limit of the penalties for very serious violations of the law therefore ranges from the aforementioned 1 million 250 thousand forints down to 100 thousand forints. Their amounts are as follows, with one example each, in thousand forints:
- 940 thousand (passenger car transport service without proper license)
- 780 thousand (failure to present a valid Community license or a certified copy thereof)
- 600 thousand (failure to present loading and unloading permit, failure to report)
- 620 thousand (operation of a scheduled flight without a permit)
- 470 thousand (road freight or passenger transport license expired for at least 30 and no more than 90 days)
- 320 thousand (foreign driver cannot present his/her secondment certificate)
- 310 thousand (passenger transport service by car without a valid license)
- 300 thousand (lack of sticker, according to which a fine for a previously detected error can no longer be imposed)
- 230 thousand (self-billed bus passenger transport without a certificate of entitlement)
- 160 thousand (lack of a document certifying the driver's professional qualifications)
The items of 470 thousand and 310 thousand dominate. Very serious violations of the law make up the majority of the cases, there are 29 of them. The regulation lists ten serious cases, and the perpetrators of these can be fined a maximum of 310 thousand forints. However, the upper limit is 620 thousand forints, which is imposed if someone orders transport that violates the given laws. The lower limit is 80 forints, for example, for someone who cannot produce their driver's license or driving license in accordance with international law.
All documents are needed
Finally, five violations are considered minor, two of which are punishable by a fine of HUF 50,000. One case is when the driver cannot present a valid Community license or a certified copy of it, but has a certified copy, and the other is when the document certifying the weight of the container or swap body is missing. Thirty thousand HUF is the penalty for a series of deficiencies that can be imposed for failure to comply with various reporting obligations or failure to present certificates. Twenty thousand HUF can be waived if there is no passenger list, and a fine of between HUF 20,000 and HUF 60,000 is imposed for those whose administrative deficiencies arise in connection with the waybill or customs clearance.
But that was just the first bouquet
There are also a number of fines that can be imposed for violating the regulations on rest periods and related documents. The severity categories depend on many factors, including the exceeding of driving time, the rate of exceeding (both daily and weekly), and the length and frequency of rest periods. The highest penalty in these tables is HUF 470,000, which can be imposed for several reasons. For example, exceeding the 10-hour daily driving time by at least 50 percent without taking a break or rest period of at least 4.5 hours. There is also a fine of HUF 390,000. The lowest amount is HUF 20,000, which is related to minor exceeding of driving time.
A separate table deals with the driving and rest time of drivers of international, non-scheduled bus services. In this case, the operator can incur up to 620 thousand forints if it is justified by the “relationship between the distance traveled or the speed of delivery to the destination, and the quantity of goods transported.”
Fines in excess of a million are flying due to shortcomings related to tachographs
It costs 1 million 250 thousand forints immediately if the G1-approved tachograph is missing from the vehicle required to do so, but the same amount must be paid for the irregularities and dealings listed in several points related to this. For example, if the device has a revised tachograph, but it was not revised by a workshop with an H1 license, that will also cost 620 thousand. In the new government decree, tachographs are also affected by the second highest fine that can be imposed: the operator of the tachograph repair workshop will be fined 1 million 560 thousand forints if he does not have a license for the activity.
The amendment also deals with the maximum weekly working hours, breaks, night work and the registration of those employed in transport.
It is worth avoiding taking risks.
A separate list has been made again of activities carried out without a permit or irregularly, which pose a risk. These can include:
- failure to comply with regulations regarding the transport of dangerous goods,
- use of unapproved packaging,
- use of an unauthorized mode of transport,
- improper securing of the cargo,
- failure to comply with fire safety regulations,
- and a series of administrative omissions.
The upper limit of the penalty for the highest severity category is 780 thousand forints. Moreover, this is also included in the majority of the cases listed in the table. The smallest fine here is 156 thousand forints, which is how much a driver can be fined for, for example, if he does not comply with the ban on the use of open flames or smoking. However, in certain cases, it can be as high as 620 thousand forints (for the entrepreneur) or 310 thousand forints. In the second and third risk categories, the fines are naturally also lower, but in these cases 410 thousand and 370 thousand forints are also available.
The road transport of agricultural chemicals and fuels with an agricultural tractor or a trailer towed by a slow vehicle has also been classified as a separate violation. In this area, the carrier can make 18 mistakes, and for their offenses they can receive a fine ranging from 20 thousand to 80 thousand forints. Violators of international regulations on perishable food and the transport of live animals pay much more, 160 thousand to 940 thousand forints. The legislator classified all 8 violations listed here as very serious. One of these is if the ramp of the animal transport vehicle is steep, slippery, and has no protective sidewall.
The highest fine in the legislative amendment is included in the package for non-compliance with the regulations on the rental, use, permitted gross vehicle weight, and size of vehicles, but here it is also included in two places. The penalty is 1 million 800 thousand forints for two cases of exceeding the gross vehicle weight under certain conditions.