MPs on Wednesday called for the police to halt plans to serve people with notification of previously incurred traffic fines at ports of entry and exit to the Republic of Cyprus.

Traffic police representative Charis Evripidou had been informing the House legal committee about the police’s work in serving people with incurred fines, saying that the police initially sends notice by mail and then by courier.

He then said people could be informed of any outstanding fines “by a simple phone call to the company which manages the system”, and noted that due to the fact that many people do not update their address when they move house, many people do not receive the letters.

He said the police’s intention is to be able to serve notification of those fines at entry and exit points to the Republic, before receiving a swift backlash from MPs and others present at the meeting.

Committee chairman and Disy MP Nicos Tornaritis was the first to react, asking Evripidou whether he had sought the legal service’s opinion on these plans. Evripidou responded in the negative, and Tornaritis asked him to publicly announce that the plans would not be implemented.

A legal service spokesman then told MPs that the online platform on which people can currently check whether they have incurred traffic fines does not constitute notice of a fine, and that as such, people cannot be legally considered to have been given notice of a fine based off the fact that it appeared on the online platform.

This was corroborated by a justice ministry spokesperson, who said the online platform is “simply informative and helps people see if they have a fine, without any repercussions”.

Data protection commissioner Irini Loizidou Nicolaidou steered the discussion back to the matter of notice of fines being served at entry and exit points, saying the police had submitted an impact assessment on the matter to her office and that her office had offered approval.

She added that she would “reserve a position on the substance of the issue” until an updated impact assessment would be submitted.

Law commissioner Louiza Christodoulidou Zannetou said she had carried out a study on the matter of traffic fines and that she had found that “in no other country is the service of fines carried out by mail”.

She pointed out other methods, including e-mail, before saying that on the matter of serving notice at entry and exit points, “such practices are only applied for serious offences”.

Disy MP Fotini Tsiridou said the government “has not consulted the legal service or the data protection commissioner” on the matter of serving notice of fines at entry and exit points, and said no study has been conducted on its implementation.

“Therefore, it is clear that this specific measure has no legal basis and cannot be implemented,” she said.

Akel MP Aristos Damianou said the competent authorities “did not even apply the letter of the law” in their proposal on the matter, and added that if plans are not halted, “it could even violate the constitution”.

Diko MP Christiana Erotokritou said MPs “are not going to accept the arbitrary procedure at entry and exit points of the country”.

Check whether you have an outstanding fine here