Key points
- A Bulgarian driver was fined 1,500 leva (about €767) for using another person’s tachograph card.
- The CJEU ruled that a very high fixed fine that cannot be reduced in any circumstances may breach the principle of proportionality.
- The ban itself does not change: using someone else’s tachograph card is still one of the most serious infringements.
Case C-437/25 was referred to the CJEU from Bulgaria.
The driver was stopped during a roadside inspection on 26 July 2024. He was driving a vehicle covered by Regulation (EU) No 165/2014 while using a tachograph card (driver card) issued to another person.
The Bulgarian authorities fined him 1,500 leva, or about €767. National law set a fixed penalty for this infringement, which neither the administrative authority nor the court could reduce.
The driver challenged the fine, arguing that such a rigid system made it impossible to take the circumstances of his case into account.
Using someone else’s tachograph card is still a serious infringement
The CJEU did not soften its view of the offence itself. It recalled that under Article 27 of Regulation 165/2014, a driver may hold only one valid driver card and may use only their own card.
Using a tachograph card issued to another person remains classified under EU rules as one of the most serious tachograph infringements.
The Court also stressed that using someone else’s card for only a short time does not change the classification of the infringement. What matters is the very fact that the card of another person was used.
A very high fine must be proportionate
The core of the judgment concerns how the penalty is set. Under Article 41 of the same regulation, penalties imposed by member states must be effective, proportionate, dissuasive and non-discriminatory.
The CJEU found that a national system providing for a very high fine while completely ruling out any reduction in special circumstances may breach the principle of proportionality.
In the Bulgarian case, the Court also looked at the amount of the fine in relation to the average pay of truck drivers in the country.
It concluded that EU law precludes national rules that impose a very high, rigid fine for using another driver’s tachograph card where neither the authority nor the court can take the specific circumstances of the case into account.
What can affect the amount of the fine?
Being able to tailor the penalty does not mean it will automatically be reduced.
The fact that the driver used someone else’s card only briefly is not, on its own, a sufficient argument for a lower fine – the infringement remains very serious regardless of how long it lasted.
Other circumstances may matter, however, including the driver’s degree of fault.
The CJEU said a penalty system should not completely exclude cases where another person’s card was used, for example, through negligence rather than intentionally.
What does the judgment mean for hauliers and drivers?
The judgment does not automatically lower fines for using another driver’s tachograph card, nor does it change the ban itself. Drivers must still use only their own card.
It does, however, set limits for national penalty systems. Member states may decide how high their fines are, but they must respect the principle of proportionality.
Where a fine is very high, the system must not completely rule out taking the specific circumstances of the case into account.
For hauliers and drivers, the practical message is twofold: using someone else’s tachograph card is still a serious infringement, but very high fines must leave room to assess the facts of each individual case.
