Italian licence suspension

Suspension is the accessory sanction that changes everything: where it applies, the five-day reduction does not.

[ IMG ]int-suspension4:3

The threshold

Where a fine ends and a crime begins

Administrative penalty

Below the first threshold there is no art. 186 offence

Below the first figure art. 186 provides for no offence at all. It is the one point on this page where the answer is «nothing».

0,5 g/l – 0,8 g/lfrom € 543 to € 2.170
art. 186 co. 2 lett. a)Suspension 3–6 monthsPoints 10Reduced payment Available

The threshold

0,8 g/l

Above this it stops being a fine

Crime — ammenda and arresto

0,8 g/l – 1,5 g/lfrom € 800 to € 3.200
art. 186 co. 2 lett. b)Suspension 6–12 monthsPoints 10Reduced payment Not applicable
> 1,5 g/lfrom € 1.500 to € 6.000
art. 186 co. 2 lett. c)Suspension 12–24 monthsPoints 10Reduced payment Not applicable
Refusal to submit to testingfrom € 1.500 to € 6.000
art. 186 co. 7Suspension 6–24 monthsPoints 10Reduced payment Not applicable

Who has that first threshold set to zero

Art. 186-bis co. 2 zeroes the threshold for drivers under twenty-one, for newly qualified drivers in their first years, and for professional and heavy-vehicle drivers: for them any reading above zero, up to the figure shown, is already an administrative offence.

art. 186-bis co. 2> 0 g/l – 0,5 g/lfrom € 168 to € 672Points 5

The threshold

This is our inference, not an express provision

That reduced payment cannot reach a criminal band is something we DEDUCE by reading two texts together: art. 202 speaks of «violazioni per le quali il presente codice stabilisce una sanzione amministrativa pecuniaria», while art. 186 provides an ammenda for those bands. No single provision says expressly that one excludes the other. Confirming it is the reviewer's job, and until then this remains our reading.

The full ladder, row by row

The threshold	Administrative penalty	Amount	Suspension	Points	Reduced payment
art. 186 co. 2 lett. a)0,5 g/l – 0,8 g/l	Administrative penalty	from € 543 to € 2.170	3–6 months	10	Available
art. 186 co. 2 lett. b)0,8 g/l – 1,5 g/l	Crime — ammenda and arresto	from € 800 to € 3.200	6–12 months	10	Not applicable
art. 186 co. 2 lett. c)> 1,5 g/l	Crime — ammenda and arresto	from € 1.500 to € 6.000	12–24 months	10	Not applicable
art. 186 co. 7Refusal to submit to testing	Crime — ammenda and arresto	from € 1.500 to € 6.000	6–24 months	10	Not applicable

In force as of: 1 January 2021
Source: CdS art. 186

Calculator

Details

Reading obtained

Driver

Administrative penalty

art. 186 co. 2 lett. a)

from € 543 to € 2.170

Reduced payment: Available

3–6 monthsSuspension
10 pointsPoints

One honest caveat

That reduced payment cannot operate on a criminal band is our INFERENCE: art. 202 speaks of «violazioni per le quali il presente codice stabilisce una sanzione amministrativa pecuniaria», the penalty here is an ammenda, and no single provision says expressly that one excludes the other. Confirming it is the reviewer's job.

In brief

Suspension is an accessory sanction, and it changes the whole picture

An Italian licence suspension is not an alternative to a fine. It attaches to one, as a «sanzione amministrativa accessoria», and it is ordered by the prefect rather than imposed at the roadside. The officer takes the licence; the prefect decides the period, within the floor and ceiling the charged article itself sets.

Its arrival changes the money as well as the driving. Suspension is one of the two exclusions art. 202 co. 1 names, so wherever it applies the further 30% reduction inside 5 days is unavailable. And where suspension or revocation is ordered, the cap of 15 points on a single occasion's deduction is disapplied entirely rather than reduced.

For a licence issued outside Italy the equivalent is not a suspension of your document but a prohibition on driving in Italy — art. 223 co. 2-bis provides for a national driving ban of the same duration, issued within 15 days. What your own authority then does with that decision is governed by instruments outside our sources, and we do not describe it.

How it works

The sequence, in days

The licence is taken at the roadside, and the seizing authority forwards it with the notice to the prefettura within 5 days. A permit for work-related driving may be requested within 15 days, and where it is granted it is narrow — the article caps it at 3 hours a day.

The prefect then issues the suspension order within 15 days, or 30 days where a work permit was requested, fixing the period between the article's own minimum and maximum by reference to the harm done, the seriousness of the violation and the danger further driving would create. If that window passes without an order, art. 218 co. 2 lets the holder obtain the licence back from the prefettura.

Where the suspension follows a criminal hypothesis rather than an administrative violation, art. 223 governs instead: the document is transmitted within 10 days and a provisional suspension can run up to 24 months, up to 36 months where responsibility for a crash is evident, up to 60 months for road-traffic homicide or serious injury, and up to 120 months on a non-final conviction.

RoadsideThe licence is taken; a provisional permit covers only the drive to where the vehicle is left.
Within 5 daysThe seizing authority forwards licence and notice to the prefettura.
Within 15 daysA work-related limited permit may be requested — capped at 3 hours a day.
Within 15 daysThe prefect issues the suspension order, or 30 days where a permit was requested.

What we found

Where the fine stops being a fine

Alcohol is where Italian law changes instrument rather than degree, and the boundary is exact. Between 0,5 g/l and 0,8 g/l the offence is administrative: a corridor of from € 543 to € 2.170, € 543 payable, an accessory suspension of 3 to 6 months, and 10 points. The art. 202 machinery — the corridor, the payable minimum, the windows — works normally.

Above 0,8 g/l it is a crime. Art. 186 co. 2 lett. b) provides an «ammenda» of from € 800 to € 3.200 together with detention, and a suspension of 6 to 12 months; the top band, art. 186 co. 2 lett. c), provides from € 1.500 to € 6.000, a longer period of detention and a suspension of 12 to 24 months, with revocation on a repeat inside the stated period and confiscation of the vehicle on conviction. Refusing the test is treated at the top band's level.

Drugs are handled by art. 187 and are presence-based rather than threshold-based: there is no concentration to be under. The corridor is from € 1.500 to € 6.000 with detention, a suspension of 12 to 24 months and 10 points — and, like the upper alcohol bands, it is a criminal matter from the start.

Stricter rules again apply to drivers under twenty-one, to those inside their first years of licence and to professional drivers: art. 186-bis makes any reading above zero and up to 0,5 g/l an offence in its own right, with a corridor of from € 168 to € 672 and 5 points.

That reduced payment cannot reach a criminal band is our inference

Art. 202 speaks throughout of an administrative pecuniary sanction; art. 186 co. 2 lett. b) and c) impose an «ammenda», which is a criminal fine paired with detention. Reading the two together, the reduced-payment mechanism cannot apply to the criminal bands at all — no payable minimum, no further reduction, no 60 days close-out. But no single provision says so expressly. We label this as our inference rather than dress it as a quoted exclusion, and confirming it is the reviewer's job.

CdS art. 202 co. 1 read with art. 186 co. 2 lett. b) and c)

Revocation, and the bar on getting a licence back

Revocation is a different sanction from suspension: the document ceases to exist rather than being held. Where it is an accessory sanction the ascertaining office notifies the prefect within 5 days and the prefect issues the order. Re-acquisition is barred for 2 years in the general case, and for 3 years where the revocation followed a drink or drug offence under artt. 186, 186-bis or 187.

CdS art. 219 co. 1, 2, 3-bis and 3-ter

Driving while suspended

Art. 218 co. 6 provides a substantial corridor of its own, plus revocation of the licence and administrative impound of the vehicle, with confiscation on a repeat. Our data set does not carry that corridor's figures, so the page names the comma rather than printing an amount it has not sourced — but the shape is worth knowing: it is the point at which a temporary problem becomes a permanent one.

CdS art. 218 co. 6

Draft in progress: the long-form text of this page is still being written.

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