The Catalan Traffic Service (SCT) has, between fixed and section, almost 250 radars spread over the roads throughout Catalonia. The Mossos d’Esquadra, for their part, have an undetermined number of these mobile devices, all connected to the computer system of the SCT. Almost everyone has ever been a victim of one of the latter. But not the Andorran drivers. Why?, you may ask. Because Andorra is not part – as it is not a member of the EU – of the Eucaris system, a European initiative that results in the exchange of data on vehicle registrations, driving licenses and personal data. This means that when one of these radars catches a car with Andorran registration in Catalonia, the offense goes unpunished. It is very possible, and it must be recognized, that the same thing happens in reverse. In other words, a driver with a Spanish license plate hunted by an Andorran radar comes out unscathed.
From the beginning of 2023 until now, the SCT has opened about 210,000 files for foreign drivers, 46,500 of whom are Andorrans. However, from this total of files, they can only know the identity of the owners of vehicles with registrations from an EU country. And yet, it is possible that the complaint will also be unscathed. The reason? “Because we can’t do anything if they don’t want to pay”, explains Ramon Lamiel, director of the SCT, to La Vanguardia. “It is a voluntary thing. The executive route is not established between the states, since it is a small debt”.
Does this mean that the 210,000 files will go unpunished? Well, in the case of Catalonia, and as Lamiel explains, no. And all because the SCT has, for more than ten years, a contracted collection company that makes all possible arrangements to pay the money for these fines (Lamiel does not know if the DGT has a similar method).
how does it It tracks the Eucaris system to see how many files it is feasible to know the identity of the offender in order to subsequently send the report to them at home in the language of the country where they reside. “When they receive the complaint in their language, they may consider paying.”
Through this method they have managed to collect 46,000 fines out of 210,000, which has meant a net income of around two million euros for the SCT, an amount that corresponds to around 2% of its budget, which is close to 130 million annually.
Lamiel argues that this system is worth it for them, because it costs them nothing – “The company collects a percentage per fine, and the rest goes to the SCT”, he points out – and that they don’t think how many of these 210,000 fines they have stopped being collected because, at the outset, they were already considered lost. Of the latter, just over 200,000 fines, around 46,500 correspond to Andorran citizens. A large majority are pending collection. Only a small percentage could be fined, which corresponds to the cars that the Mossos stopped after committing the offence, as the SCT explained to Cadena Ser. Lamiel reports that one of the nationalities that predominates in the files is Andorran “due to proximity”, and that the SCT also sends these files to the collection company, which in turn sends them to the Andorran authority. “But the latter usually replies that it does not have this information: they are very jealous of providing data”.
He admits that, in the opposite case, it also “must be difficult” for the Andorran traffic authority to be able to collect a fine imposed on a vehicle with Spanish registration that has exceeded the speed limit and has been caught by a radar. “It’s different if they stop you. Then you have to pay or else your car will be impounded”. The same goes here with Andorrans or any other foreign nationality. “I have once been stopped and had to pay the fine on the spot. If not, they block your car”, an Andorran driver explains to this newspaper.
The fact that the majority of these 46,500 fines have not been collected does not mean that they will never be collected. If they are stopped on another occasion, the Mossos can check if the license plate has an open file, and if it does, the outstanding amount must be paid or the car will be immobilized.
