The Notice is initially issued to the keeper of the car, and thence to to driver.


Your Own Or Otherwise UK Registered Car:

From Giuseppe Berlendi, Counsellor for Legal and Consular Affairs, the Italian Embassy, London:

According to the Italian Law a fine to a person resident abroad must be notified within 1 year from the date of the traffic violation which caused the fine. Besides, it must be notified in English and must contain the indication of a mean of payment form abroad (for instance, the international coordinates, IBAN code, of a bank account where the fined person may pay the fine by international bank transfer).

Since the fine you have received does not satisfy the last 2 conditions (it is in Italian and asks you to pay the fine with a postal order you may use only in Post Offices in Italy), I have the pleasure to inform you that you have not to pay anything. But remember you may not be so lucky next time, thus try to drive safer.


Driving An Italian Hired or Rental Car

From Denise Stanica of European Municipality Outsourcing, FIRENZE FI:

In reply to your message we would like to inform you that the fine number P003/BJ6560 was issued by the Police of Arezzo for entering the Limited Traffic Area of Arezzo. This area is closed to general traffic, you can enter only if you have a special access authorization. By the way, tourists are allowed to enter for the check-in and check-out procedure in front of their hotel, if it is located inside the restricted area.

In case you were reaching your hotel when the above offences occurred, the hotel probably failed to submit the license plate number of your rental car to the Municipal Police of Arezzo, due to a mistake or an oversight. Therefore, in order to request a cancellation of these fines, we kindly ask you to contact your hotel and ask for a statement confirming that on the date of your arrival your rental car license plate number was not duly communicated to the competent Authority. Please remember the hotel to write the reason of the failure to register the licence plates number at the time of arrival/departure otherwise the statement will not be taken into consideration.

The documentation can be sent directly to our office by post, or by fax (0039 055 3440352).

We also inform you that according the Italian Traffic Code the police have 360 days after the date of the violation or identification of the owner of the vehicle within which to notify fines to foreigners . *In the event of rented car , the 360 days start as from the date of identification of the holder of the rental agreement at the time of the violation, or from the date of receipt of the personal data sent by the car rental company to the police.

*In your case the Police of Arezzo received your personal data on 04/10/2008 therefore the 360 days start from this date.

The fine is valid and regular.

If you want to contest this fine you have to lodge an appeal to the prefect of Arezzo.

The appeal can only be lodged after receipt of the official Notification. If the appeal is lodged before the official Notification it will not be taken into consideration.

If the appeal is lodged in any language other than Italian it will not be taken into consideration.

Only in the case of the payment not having been made, the user may submit an appeal to the Prefect or a justice of the peace by and no later than 60 days after receipt of the Notification.

The appeal to the Prefect consists of an administrative appeal that must be submitted in Italian by registered mail with proof of receipt. In order to forward this appeal it is necessary to fill out a specific form and enclose all documentation which is useful and valid for assessment of the appeal by the competent Prefect. Please note that the reasons for the appeal must be well founded. If the appeal is not accepted, the Prefect will then issue an injunction requesting payment from you of a sum which is at least double the original amount. Here enclosed you can find the documentation you need for the appeal.

However:

Article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights guarantees everyone who has been charged with a criminal offence the following minimum rights:

* to be informed promptly in a language he/she understands about the accusation 

It could be argued that a notice in Italian, Spanish or French relating to something that is said to have happened 18 months previously does not meet either requirement. 

In the determination of his civil rights and obligations or of any criminal charge against him, everyone is entitled to a fair and public hearing within a reasonable time by an independent and impartial tribunal established by law. Judgment shall be pronounced publicly but the press and public may be excluded from all or part of the trial in the interest of morals, public order or national security in a democratic society, where the interests of juveniles or the protection of the private life of the parties so require, or to the extent strictly necessary in the opinion of the court in special circumstances where publicity would prejudice the interests of justice.

2 – Everyone charged with a criminal offence shall be presumed innocent until proved guilty according to law.

3 – Everyone charged with a criminal offence has the following minimum rights:

(a) to be informed promptly, in a language which he understands and in detail, of the nature and cause of the accusation against him;

(b) to have adequate time and facilities for the preparation of his defence;

(c) to defend himself in person or through legal assistance of his own choosing or, if he has not sufficient means to pay for legal assistance, to be given it free when the interests of justice so require;

(d) to examine or have examined witnesses against him and to obtain the attendance and examination of witnesses on his behalf under the same conditions as witnesses against him;

(e) to have the free assistance of an interpreter if he cannot understand or speak the language used in court.

The possible argument against this is that, like the UK 'fixed penalty system', if the accused accepts the fixed penalty, thereby voluntarily pleading guilty in order to receive a lesser punishment, then the accused sacrifices all such rights.

If the accused choses to defend him or herself, then the case has to go to court and the above has to apply.