If you commit a criminal offence you may be sentenced to prison or, for minor offences, fined The German Criminal Code (Strafgesetzbuch) or special laws such as the Narcotics Act define what constitutes a criminal offence.
How are fines imposed?
The police are initially responsible for prosecuting criminal offences; however, it is the court that decides on the punishment at the request of the public prosecutor‘s office. The public prosecutor‘s office or the court must give you the opportunity to comment on the charge before the decision is made. If you are sentenced to a fine, there is often no court hearing, but the entire procedure is carried out in writing. The judgement in these written proceedings is called a „penalty order“.
How is a fine calculated?
The fine is not a fixed amount, but is calculated on the basis of daily rates. The penalty ranges from a minimum of 5 and a maximum of 360 daily rates (or a maximum of 720 daily rates if the total penalty consists of several individual fines).
The amount of a daily rate ranges from a minimum of € 1 to a maximum of € 30,000. This is calculated on the basis of the adjusted average income (after deduction of maintenance, travel costs to work, etc.) that you were earning at the time of the sentence (1 month‘s net income = 30 daily rates). If the court has no information on this, your income will be estimated.
This is how the amount of the fine is calculated: Number of daily rates x amount of a daily rate
Can I take legal action against a penalty order?
The penalty order will be served on you formally (in a yellow envelope). You have 2 weeks from the day on which the penalty order is posted in your letterbox (the date is written on the envelope) to lodge an objection or partial objection to the penalty order. This makes sense in 2 cases:
- If you have not committed the offence (in which case you should seek legal advice).
- If the daily rate is too high because the court has miscalculated your income. If you lodge a partial objection and provide evidence of your actual income or necessary expenses (e.g. child maintenance, additional expenses due to illness), the daily rate will be adjusted and the fine reduced.
Important: It is essential that you observe the deadline for the objection/partial objection. You can only object later if you can prove that you missed the deadline through no fault of your own.
What can I do if I cannot pay the fine?
The fine cannot be cancelled through insolvency proceedings.
Since this is a punishment, the fine can only be suspended in very exceptional cases of hardship by way of a pardon by the public prosecutor‘s office.
The court treasury/public prosecutor‘s office will ask you to pay the fine in one lump sum. If you are unable to do so, you can apply for payment by instalments or deferment of payment. No interest will be charged. However, you must be able to justify all applications and provide proof to back up your statements.
Alternative: Conversion into working hours
If you are unable to pay the fine in the long term, it can be converted into „community service“. In this case you must submit an application. For each daily rate, you normally have to do 6 hours of unpaid work for a social or community organisation. The number of hours can be reduced if there are special reasons (e.g. if you already have a full-time job and must do the hours in the evening or at the weekend).
What are the consequences of doing nothing?
If you receive a letter from the public prosecutor‘s office or the court, it is essential that you respond and explain your situation. Otherwise, at some point you will be sentenced to prison in place of the fine and have to „serve“ the fine (substitute custodial sentence). For every 2 daily sentences you have to spend 1 day in prison.
Will I have a criminal record if I receive a fine?
A single fine will only be entered on your criminal record if it amounts to more than 90 daily sentences. However, if you are sentenced to a further fine, all sentences will be entered on your criminal record, even if the total of the daily sentences is less than 91.
