Between 1 January and 30 September 2025, Polish tax offices received 4,400 court rulings ordering the confiscation of vehicles. By comparison, from 14 March to 31 December 2024 there were 1,300 such rulings. In the first nine months of 2025, 3,500 vehicles subject to confiscation under Article 44b of the Criminal Code were sold. The total amount obtained by tax authorities from these sales reached PLN 14.2 million. During the same period, courts issued 978 rulings ordering the forfeiture of the monetary equivalent of a vehicle, with a combined value exceeding PLN 42.9 million.
On 14 March 2024, Polish law introduced a new criminal measure allowing for the confiscation of a motor vehicle driven by a perpetrator of an offence against road traffic safety. According to data from the Ministry of Finance, 4,400 confiscation rulings were submitted to tax office heads between 1 January and 30 September 2025, compared with 1,300 rulings between 14 March and 31 December 2024.
Attorney Dr. habil. Piotr Jóźwiak, Professor at SWPS University, notes that the sharp increase in confiscation rulings over three quarters of 2025 shows that this measure is being used more frequently and has found real application in court practice. He also suspects that it was applied less often in 2024 because many cases concluded that year were still governed by earlier, more lenient rules applicable at the time the offences were committed.
“The figures indicate that this measure can be considered moderately common. It is neither marginal nor mass-scale when compared with the overall number of road offences committed by intoxicated drivers,” Jóźwiak explains. “It would be worth examining how often courts refrain from ordering confiscation or its equivalent in cases where the driver had at least 1.5 per mille of alcohol in their blood, which legally triggers mandatory confiscation.”
The expert adds that Article 178a §5 of the Criminal Code allows courts to waive this measure in “exceptional cases justified by special circumstances.” In his view, the data demonstrate that courts and law enforcement authorities are treating this new legal instrument seriously in cases involving drunk drivers.
“At the same time, it is worrying that in less than a year more than 4,000 drivers were caught with over 1.5 per mille of alcohol in their blood, a level that entails mandatory confiscation,” Jóźwiak warns. “This shows that despite harsher penalties, the number of such incidents remains high, suggesting that further education, prevention, and road controls may be needed. Simply increasing the severity of sanctions does not appear to deliver the expected results.”
Vehicle Sales and Financial Impact
Between 1 January and 30 September 2025, 3,500 confiscated vehicles were sold under Article 44b of the Criminal Code. The total proceeds from these sales amounted to PLN 14,208,964.85. In the period from 14 March to 31 December 2024, 598 vehicles were sold for PLN 2,328,457.56.
Legal adviser Marek Niczyporuk from the Ars Aequi law firm points out that these figures suggest an average vehicle value of around PLN 4,000.
“This may indicate that offenders are aware of confiscation rules and avoid using expensive vehicles,” Niczyporuk says. “In doing so, they significantly limit their financial risk. However, this should not be an argument against confiscation—quite the opposite. Drivers must be fully aware that the law will be enforced strictly and that punishment will be inevitable and real.”
If, at the time of the offence, the vehicle was not the sole property of the perpetrator, or if the offender sold, donated, or concealed the vehicle after committing the crime, police refrain from temporarily seizing the car. In such cases, courts order forfeiture of the vehicle’s monetary equivalent or impose a compensatory payment. Between 1 January and 30 September 2025, tax offices received 3,500 rulings ordering forfeiture of the vehicle’s equivalent value, compared with 619 rulings between 14 March and 31 December 2024. Courts may also order a compensatory payment to the Victims and Post-Penitentiary Assistance Fund if the offender was driving a vehicle owned by someone else while performing professional or official duties for an employer.
“It should also be remembered that vehicle confiscation is not the only penalty imposed on road offenders,” Niczyporuk adds. “Courts and authorities are able to assess whether a driver attempted to dispose of assets to avoid punishment, and such circumstances should be taken into account when imposing penalties.”
Monetary Forfeiture on the Rise
From 1 January to 30 September 2025, courts issued 978 rulings ordering forfeiture of the monetary equivalent of vehicles, amounting to PLN 42,860,241.87. In the period from 14 March to 31 December 2024, there were only 128 such rulings.
According to Piotr Jóźwiak, the recovery of more than PLN 42.8 million during this period highlights the scale and real financial impact of this criminal sanction.
“The increase in successfully enforced cases from 128 in 2024 to 978 in 2025 shows that the mechanism is beginning to function effectively in practice,” he says. “These high amounts demonstrate that confiscation is not merely symbolic, but represents a genuine economic burden for offenders. That is the purpose of criminal sanctions—although the total severity must not become disproportionate. The enforcement system is becoming more efficient, and the state is recovering sums ordered by the courts.”
Deterrence Depends on Consistent Enforcement
Maria Dąbrowska-Loranc from the Road Traffic Safety Centre at the Motor Transport Institute (ITS) believes that recent legislative measures targeting drink-driving are intended to reduce—or even eliminate—the phenomenon altogether. Lawmakers hoped that vehicle confiscation would be severe enough to deter drivers from getting behind the wheel after drinking alcohol.
“However, penalties must be clearly defined,” she emphasizes. “They must be unambiguous, severe, unavoidable, and apply equally to all drivers. If any of these conditions are not met, the effectiveness of the measure will be limited. To properly assess the impact of these regulations, driver behavior before and after their introduction should be analyzed, taking into account offences, accidents, and road collisions.”
Source: managerplus.pl
