The Servei Català de Trànsit (SCT) has, between fixed and section, almost 250 radars distributed along the roads throughout Catalonia. The Mossos d’Esquadra, for their part, have an undetermined number of these mobile devices, all connected to the SCT’s computer system. Who more who less has ever been a victim of one of them. But not so the Andorran drivers. Why?, you might ask. Because Andorra is not part – not being a member of the EU – of the Eucaris system, a European initiative that translates into the exchange of data on vehicle registration, driving licenses and personal data. This means that when one of these radars catches a car with an Andorran license plate in Catalonia, the infraction goes unpunished. It is very feasible, and it should be recognized, that the same thing happens in reverse. In other words, a driver with a Spanish license plate caught by an Andorran radar will emerge unscathed.
From the beginning of 2023 until now, the SCT has opened some 210,000 files for foreign drivers, of which 46,500 are Andorrans. However, of these total files, they can only know the identity of the owners of vehicles with registration from an EU country. And even so, it is possible that the complaint also goes unpunished. The reason? “Because we can’t do anything if they don’t want to pay,” Ramon Lamiel, director of the SCT, explains to La Vanguardia. “It’s something voluntary. The executive route is not established between the states, as it is a small debt.”
Does that 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 collections company that makes the possible arrangements to deposit the money for these fines (Lamiel does not know if the DGT has a similar method).
As it does? Track the Eucaris system to see how many files it is possible to know the identity of the offender and subsequently send the report to their 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 the 210,000, which has meant a net income of about two million euros for the SCT, an amount that corresponds to about 2% of its budget, which is around 130 million annually. .
Lamiel argues that this system is worth it to them because it costs them nothing – “the company charges a percentage per fine, and the rest goes to the SCT,” he argues – and that they do not think about how many of those 210,000 fines have not been collected because From the outset, they already considered them lost.
Of those just over 200,000 fines, some 46,500 correspond to Andorran citizens. And a large majority are pending collection. Only a small percentage could be pocketed, which corresponds to the cars that the Mossos stopped after committing the infraction, 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 they usually respond that they do not have that information: they are very jealous of providing data.”
He admits that, in the opposite case, “it must also be difficult” for the Andorran traffic authority to collect a fine imposed on a vehicle with a Spanish license plate that has exceeded the speed limit and has been caught by a radar. “It’s different if they stop you. There you have to pay or else they will immobilize your car.”
The same thing happens here with Andorrans or any other foreign nationality. “On some occasions I have been stopped and I have had to pay the fine on the spot. If not, they will block your car,” an Andorran driver explains to this newspaper.
This citizen states that, in fact, she does not remember ever receiving a traffic report from the SCT at home. In any case, he points out that in Andorra the same thing should happen with Catalan drivers (so things would be balanced) and takes the opportunity to highlight that the Mossos d’Esquadra usually stand right at the exit of customs “to “See who they can fine.”
The fact that the majority of those 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 that license plate has an open file, and if so, they will have to pay the outstanding amount or the car will be immobilized.
Another question is what happens with speeding violations that result in loss of points. Lamiel explains that the European Parliament has already discussed how to standardize the entire system of fines, charges and derived sanctions, such as points, and that for the moment he is waiting to see how it is executed.
