The planned amendment is intended to introduce comprehensive regulations to prevent illegal interference with the vehicle counter (driver). Vehicle owners will have new administrative responsibilities and the penal code will include a completely new type of prohibited act.
The so-called ‘back’ or ‘spinning’ procedure, i.e. falsifying the status of the vehicle counter by underestimating its actual course, has become common on the market for used vehicles. The response to this is the draft amendment to the traffic law. On 12 April 2019, After the adoption of the text of the bill without amendments by the Senate, the President was transferred to sign the text of the bill of 15 March 2019 amending the Act – Traffic Law and the Act – Criminal Code.
New administrative obligations for vehicle owners
According to the newly added Article 81a to the Act of 20 June 1997 - Traffic law (Journal of Laws of 1997, item 602, i.e.
Journal of Laws of 2018, item 1990 ‘Road traffic law’ means the replacement of a speedometer where it does not measure the running of a vehicle in a situation where, by reason of the intended use of the speedometer, it should measure that distance or where it is necessary to replace a vehicle component with which the speedometer is inextricably linked.
The replacement of the router may only take place on a speedometer which is efficient and suitable for the vehicle type.
It needs to be stressed that the criminalisation is not only subject to a change in the motor vehicle's router or to interference in the correct measurement of the vehicle, but also to the commission of such an activity
Vehicle owners indicated in Article 81b(1) The Road Traffic Law, which will replace the road meter, will be required within the time limit 14 the days from the date of replacement of this router, present the vehicle at the vehicle control station for reading the indication of the router to which the old router has been replaced.
Where the owner of the vehicle fails to meet the time limit 14-the day-to-day, the vehicle control station shall not refuse to make a reading of the router’s indication together with the unit of measurement.
The legislator also pointed out explicitly that the condition for reading the indication of the router is that the owner or the vehicle holder pays the fee for reading the router, together with the unit of measurement and the registration fee. The maximum fee may not exceed 100 PLN and is the income of an entrepreneur operating a vehicle control station.
The reading of the router’s indication shall be carried out after the owner or the holder of the vehicle has submitted a written declaration of the replacement of the router, drawn up on an official form according to specified formal requirements.
The declaration shall be made under the penalty of criminal liability for the submission of a false statement. In accordance with the new provisions, the criminal liability clause for a false statement contained in the statement replaces the criminal liability instruction for a false statement.
Finally, the date and reason for the replacement of the roadway meter shall state, on the basis of a declaration, the authorised diagnostician employed at the vehicle control station. Vehicle inspection stations will also be required to provide information on the exchange of the counter and the state of its course for the moment of reading.
Offence of falsification of router indications and authorities entitled to read vehicle speedometer indications
The legislative amendment also provides for criminal sanctions. To the Act of 6 June 1997 - Criminal Code (Journal of Laws of 1997, item 553, i.e. Journal of Laws of 2018, item 1600), (hereinafter referred to as ‘KK’) a new type of offence has been introduced — a crime of change or interference in the correct indication of the vehicle pathometer.
According to the new Article 306a(1) KK who changes the indication of a motor vehicle pathometer or interferes with the correct measurement of a motor vehicle is subject to imprisonment from 3 months to years 5. But in thought Article 306a(2) The same penalty is imposed on the person who orders another person to perform the act referred to in section 1.
Article 306a(3) KK, on the other hand, constitutes a type of privileged new offence, indicating that in the case of a minor offence, the perpetrator of the act specified in section 1 and 2, be fined, sentenced to imprisonment or imprisonment for up to years 2.
In addition, the police, border guards, road transport inspection, military police and customs authorities will carry out each reading check and then the data obtained will be transmitted to Central Vehicle Records.
Undoubtedly, it is positive that the legislator takes legal steps to contribute to the elimination of the so-called "spinning" or "withdrawal" of meters. It should be borne in mind that, in principle, the replacement of a speedometer becomes unacceptable and illegal unless it is carried out in the cases referred to in the new Article.
Article 81a. On the other hand, with regard to the changes in the criminal law relating to the amendment, it must be stressed that not only the change of the motor vehicle's router or interference in the correct measurement of the vehicle, but also the order for such action, is to be punished.
Author:
Michał Skwarek - counsel application in the legal department Russell Bedford Poland. Graduated from the Faculty of Law and Administration of the University of Warsaw.