Drink driving in Germany: when do you get your licence back?

Three thresholds get confused with one another.

0.5 Promille. It is a regulatory offence to drive a motor vehicle with 0.25 mg/l or more of alcohol in the breath or 0.5 Promille or more of alcohol in the blood, Promille being the unit of parts per thousand used for blood alcohol in German law (§ 24a Abs. 1 StVG). That is not a criminal offence; the administrative fine goes up to 3,000 euros (§ 24a Abs. 3 StVG).

Trunkenheit im Verkehr under § 316 StGB. It is a criminal offence to drive a vehicle when, as a result of consuming alcoholic drinks or other intoxicants, one is not in a position to drive it safely (§ 316 Abs. 1 StGB). The penalty range goes up to one year's imprisonment or a fine; committing the offence negligently is also punishable (§ 316 Abs. 2 StGB). § 316 StGB names no blood alcohol figure. What is decisive is unfitness to drive.

1.1 Promille. This figure is not in the statute; it comes from the case law. The Federal Court of Justice has held that drivers of motor vehicles are absolutely unfit to drive at a blood alcohol level of 1.1 Promille (decision of 28 June 1990, 4 StR 297/90). Below that level, unfitness to drive comes into consideration where signs of impairment are present as well.

If a concrete danger to the life or limb of another person or to property of significant value is added, § 315c StGB applies, with a penalty range of up to five years' imprisonment or a fine (§ 315c Abs. 1 StGB) and a separate range for negligent commission (§ 315c Abs. 3 StGB).

In the case of a Vergehen, the less serious of the two categories of criminal offence in German law, the Staatsanwaltschaft (the public prosecution office) may apply for a Strafbefehl (a written court order imposing a penalty without a main hearing), by which the legal consequences are set in writing without a main hearing (§ 407 Abs. 1 StPO). Withdrawal of the Fahrerlaubnis may be imposed in it only where the Sperre is not more than two years (§ 407 Abs. 2 Satz 1 Nr. 2 StPO). An objection is possible within two weeks of service (§ 410 Abs. 1 Satz 1 StPO); otherwise the Strafbefehl has the same effect as a final judgment (§ 410 Abs. 3 StPO). The period runs from service, not from the moment you read it.

A missed time limit is not the end of the matter as a matter of course. Where someone was prevented, through no fault of their own, from observing a time limit, Wiedereinsetzung in den vorigen Stand (restoration of the position that existed before the time limit was missed) is to be granted on application (§ 44 Satz 1 StPO). That application is itself subject to a time limit: it is to be made within one week of the obstacle ceasing to exist, to the court before which the time limit would have had to be observed, the facts relied on must be substantiated, and within the same period the omitted act is to be made good (§ 45 Abs. 1 und 2 StPO). Whether the requirements are met is for the court to decide. Anyone who has missed a time limit should therefore have this checked without delay.

The Fahrerlaubnisbehörde decides on the new grant. It orders an MPU, a medizinisch-psychologische Untersuchung (a medical and psychological assessment), among other cases where there are indications of alcohol abuse, where there have been repeated contraventions under the influence of alcohol, or where a vehicle was driven with a blood alcohol level of 1.6 Promille or more or a breath alcohol level of 0.8 mg/l or more (§ 13 Satz 1 Nr. 2 Buchstaben a bis c FeV). Where facts justify the assumption of alcohol dependency, it orders a medical opinion (§ 13 Satz 1 Nr. 1 FeV).

For as long as criminal proceedings are pending in which withdrawal under § 69 StGB comes into consideration, the authority may not take the same facts into account in withdrawal proceedings of its own (§ 3 Abs. 3 Satz 1 StVG). After the judgment it may not depart, to the detriment of the person concerned, from the findings made in it on the facts, on guilt and on fitness; a Strafbefehl has the same effect (§ 3 Abs. 4 StVG).

The defence has no influence on the decision about the MPU. What happens in the criminal proceedings does, however, affect the starting position before the authority.

Which courses of action are open only becomes clear after inspection of the case file, above all of the doctor's record and the result of the blood analysis. Blood alcohol limits and time limits can change; the version in force at the relevant time is the one that applies. You will find an overview on our page on traffic criminal law.