Minor offences law
Traffic offences
Withdrawal of a driving licence
Has your driving licence been withdrawn because of an offence, or has it been temporarily withdrawn by a court order?
Everyone deserves a second chance!
If an authorised official at the scene finds that you have committed an offence carrying the number of penalty points that results in your driving licence ceasing to be valid, the official will immediately prohibit you from driving further and withdraw your driving licence. The court then decides on the temporary withdrawal by an order (Articles 113a and 113b of the Minor Offences Act, ZP-1). You may lodge an objection against the order on temporary withdrawal within three days of receiving it.
Until the minor offence proceedings are finally concluded or until the order on the cessation of validity of the driving licence is enforced, you may apply for the return of the temporarily withdrawn driving licence (Article 113d of ZP-1).
Application for the return of a temporarily withdrawn driving licence
What to do:
- Act quickly. You must enclose a medical certificate of a completed medical check-up with the application, otherwise the court will dismiss it.
- Call us on +386 40 832 660 or write to [email protected]. In a free initial conversation, we will explain what to do.
- Book a medical check-up with an authorised provider as soon as possible – you can view the list of authorised providers of medical check-ups for drivers (Ministry of Health, in Slovenian) by clicking the link.
- Write the date of receipt on the order you received. Send us the order, the date of the medical check-up and your telephone number at [email protected].
- You can also bring all the documents to our office by prior arrangement.
The court grants the application if the medical certificate shows that you are fit to drive and if the circumstances indicate that temporary withdrawal is not strictly necessary for road traffic safety.
ADDITIONAL SERVICES:
We prepare the application for the return of your temporarily withdrawn driving licence and advise you throughout the minor offence proceedings. We also offer:
- advice on the proceedings before the court (manner and content of your defence, course of the proceedings, time limits);
- advice on drafting an application to replace payment of a fine with community service (where you are in financial or social hardship or do not have sufficient funds to pay the fine);
- advice on drafting an application for exemption from payment of court fees (if you cannot pay the fees due to your poor financial situation).
If you need defence counsel in the proceedings before the court, we help you work with an attorney (odvetnik).
If the competent court decides in your favour (grants the application for the return of the temporarily withdrawn driving licence), you get your driving licence back, which means that you can use your vehicle even while the minor offence proceedings against you are pending.
Important: if you do not act in time, you may be left without your driving licence for the entire duration of the proceedings. Call us on +386 40 832 660 or write to [email protected].
Cessation of validity of a driving licence
As the perpetrator of an offence by which you reached or exceeded the relevant number of penalty points, has the cessation of validity of your driving licence been imposed on you?
Have you committed several offences in the last two years for which a total of 18 or more penalty points were imposed on you by various final court decisions, and are you therefore at risk of your driving licence ceasing to be valid?
An application to postpone the enforcement of the cessation of validity of a driving licence must be lodged within 15 days of the order becoming final. If you do not lodge the application with the appropriate enclosures within this time limit, your driving licence ceases to be valid. An application lodged in time suspends enforcement of the cessation (Article 202d of ZP-1).
An order on the cessation of validity of a driving licence is issued when a driver reaches or exceeds 18 penalty points in road traffic within two years. The cessation of validity applies to all categories of motor vehicles for which the offender held a licence when committing the offence by which the prescribed number of penalty points was reached.
Application to postpone the enforcement of the cessation of validity of a driving licence
What to do:
- Act QUICKLY, as the time limit for lodging the application is very short (15 days from the order becoming final).
- Call us on +386 40 832 660 or write to [email protected]. In a free initial conversation, we will explain what to do.
- Complete a medical check-up with an authorised provider as soon as possible (list of authorised providers of medical check-ups for drivers (Ministry of Health, in Slovenian)). You must enclose the medical certificate with the application unless you have already submitted it in the proceedings for the return of the temporarily withdrawn driving licence, otherwise the court will dismiss the application.
- Write the date of receipt on the order you received. Send us the order, the date of the medical check-up and your telephone number at [email protected].
- You can also bring all the documents to our office by prior arrangement.
- In deciding, the court takes into account your personality, previous life, conduct after the offence and the circumstances of the offence. If it grants the application, it sets a probation period of 6 to 24 months and obligations: participation in an additional safe driving training programme, a rehabilitation programme or both. You must submit proof of enrolment in the programme to the court within 15 days of the order becoming final.
- If you do not commit a serious offence during the probation period and fulfil your obligations, the court decides that the cessation of validity of the driving licence will not be enforced. Once this decision becomes final, the penalty points are deleted from the records, except those for offences committed during and after the probation period (Articles 202d and 202e of ZP-1).
Warning: a further postponement is not possible if two years have not yet passed since the end of the last probation period.
How we help you: we prepare the application to postpone the enforcement of the cessation of validity of your driving licence and advise you throughout the proceedings, including on choosing and fulfilling the obligations set by the court. We also offer:
- advice on the proceedings before the court (manner and content of your defence, course of the proceedings, time limits);
- advice on drafting an application to replace payment of a fine with community service (where you are in financial or social hardship or do not have sufficient funds to pay the fine);
- advice on drafting an application for exemption from payment of court fees (if you cannot pay the fees due to your poor financial situation).
CAUTION: if you do not lodge the application for postponement in time and correctly, your driving licence will cease to be valid. You can obtain a new driving licence only six months after enforcement (in some cases after one year), once you have completed a medical check-up, an additional safe driving training programme (for driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs, a rehabilitation programme) and passed the driving test again (Article 64 of the Drivers Act, ZVoz-1).
Requests for judicial protection / Objections to a payment order
Have you received a payment order but believe you were penalised unjustly?
Hardly anyone has not received a decision or PAYMENT ORDER from a minor offence authority at some point. This can happen because of incorrect parking, speeding, crossing the road incorrectly, etc.
If you agree with the payment order, it is usually most favourable to pay the fine in time: you pay half of the imposed fine if you settle it within eight days of the payment order becoming final (Article 57c of ZP-1).
If you believe that you did not commit the offence or that you were penalised unjustly, we help you prepare a request for judicial protection or, for parking offences, an objection.
WARNING: by lodging a request for judicial protection, you lose the right to pay half of the fine. However, if you pay half of the fine before the payment order becomes final, you can no longer lodge a request for judicial protection or an objection (Article 57c of ZP-1). We therefore advise you to opt for a request only when you are convinced that the payment order is unjustified.
What is a payment order?
A payment order is issued by an authorised official of a minor offence authority when the official personally detects the offence or establishes it with technical means (e.g. radar). It may also be issued on the basis of information and evidence collected at the scene immediately after the violation, but you must first be given the opportunity to make a statement about the offence (Article 57 of ZP-1). A payment order has the effect of a written decision on a minor offence.
When to lodge a request for judicial protection?
Against a payment order – except for stopping and parking – you may lodge a request for judicial protection within eight days of service, in writing, with the minor offence authority that issued the payment order (Article 60 of ZP-1).
When to lodge an objection?
A request for judicial protection is not allowed against a payment order for violating the rules on stopping and parking. You may lodge an objection within eight days of service, in which you must state all the facts and evidence in your favour, as you will not be able to rely on them later (Article 57b of ZP-1).