Penalize impossible to skip

Complainee: The National Police, Patrol Police Department in Odesa Oblast (Patrol Police) 
Complaint in brief: A steel ropes manufacturer from Odesa Oblast turned to the Council. The company complained against the Patrol Police that systematically and unreasonably brought its employees to administrative liability. 
 
According to the law, technical inspection of all car types and models is optional. The exception is vehicles carrying passengers and goods for profit – a taxi, for example.
 
The company has its own large truck fleet. Trucks carrying products are regularly inspected as required by law. However, the Complainant didn’t conduct a mandatory passenger cars inspection for the administrative staff. These cars are not subject to legal requirement, since the company does not receive income directly from transportation.
 
However, Odesa Patrol Police was not particularly interested in the transportation purpose. When they met the Complainant’s official car (with the director being brought to the meeting, or an accountant to the tax authority’s office), the car was stopped and an administrative fine was imposed on the driver for driving the car which did not pass the technical inspection.
 
And so, the company addressed the Council with such a problem of law interpretation by law enforcers.
 
Actions taken: The investigator examined the subject of the complaint and the legislation governing it. In particular, he found out it was the intended use of the car that was the key criterion in similar situations. If profit is derived directly from carrying passengers or goods, technical inspection is mandatory. However, in the Complainant’s case the situation was quite different. It was used to carry the administrative staff. Therefore, according to the Law of Ukraine “On Road Traffic” and clause 1, 2 of the CMU Procedure No.137, such a passenger car is not subject to mandatory technical control. 
 
The investigator also provided several examples of administrative courts case-law, the decisions of which testified in favor of the complainant.
 
Realizing that the problem may be repeated in other regions of Ukraine, the Council recommended that the Head of the National Police of Ukraine conduct methodological awareness-raising campaign on this subject among his staff members.
 
Result achieved: Following the Council’s recommendations, the National Police provided a written response and informed all regional divisions of inadmissibility of drawing up administrative protocols for drivers of cars registered to legal entities and not carrying passengers to get proceeds from transportation. The case was successfully closed.