Anhörungsbogen received – what to fill in and what to leave blank

After a speed camera photo or a police check, you usually first receive a hearing letter (Anhörungsbogen) from the fines authority. In Berlin, offences in moving traffic are handled by the Central Fines Office (Zentrale Bußgeldstelle) of the Berlin police. The form gives you the chance to comment before a fine notice is issued (section 55 of the Administrative Offences Act, OWiG).

Many people fill in every field, admit the offence or name a driver – and make a later defence harder. The law requires much less. Aleksander Sigal, a specialist lawyer for traffic law (Fachanwalt für Verkehrsrecht) in Berlin, explains the letter to you in English.

Hearing letter or witness questionnaire?

First check in which role you are being contacted. This is usually printed at the top of the form:

• Anhörungsbogen (hearing letter): you are the person concerned (Betroffener). The authority believes you committed the offence.
• Zeugenfragebogen (witness questionnaire): you are a witness, usually as the registered keeper (Halter) of the vehicle. The authority wants to know who was driving.

The roles carry different rights. If you receive a witness questionnaire but were driving yourself, you are in fact the person concerned – and you do not have to incriminate yourself.

What you must fill in – and what you need not

Personal details: compulsory

You must give your personal details correctly: name, date and place of birth, address, marital status, occupation and nationality (section 111 OWiG). Giving false details or refusing them can lead to a separate fine of up to €1,000. They are usually pre-printed.

Statement on the facts: voluntary

You do not have to say anything about the allegation. As the person concerned you have a full right to remain silent, and your silence may not be held against you. An admission (“Yes, I was driving, I was in a hurry”), on the other hand, is very hard to take back later.

Do you have to name the driver?

As the person concerned: no. You need not name yourself or anyone else as the driver. The authority has to identify the driver itself, for example by comparing the camera photo with the passport or ID card photo held on record.

Witnesses must tell the truth. However, close relatives have a right to refuse to testify (section 52 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, StPO, applied via section 46 OWiG). This covers spouses and civil partners, fiancé(e)s, parents, children, siblings and other close relatives and in-laws. Nobody has to incriminate themselves either.

You need not answer a witness questionnaire in writing, though witnesses can be formally summoned. Knowingly naming the wrong person as driver can be the criminal offence of false accusation. Since 1 July 2026, section 4c StVG also expressly prohibits deceiving the authority about the driver, or offering or brokering such deception (“trading points”), with fines of up to €30,000. Silence is allowed; false statements are not.

Company cars, rental cars and logbook orders

For company cars, the witness questionnaire goes to the company as keeper, which cannot rely on the relatives' right to refuse to testify. For rental cars, the hire company passes the renter's details to the authority, which then writes to you – sometimes weeks later and abroad.

If the driver is not identified, the keeper may be ordered to keep a logbook (Fahrtenbuchauflage, section 31a of the Road Vehicles Registration and Licensing Regulations, StVZO). Every journey must then be recorded with driver, date and time for a set period. Administrative courts accept such an order even after a single offence carrying at least one point. The authority sets the duration case by case.

A logbook order requires proper investigation, which according to case law includes informing the keeper promptly – usually within about two weeks – so that they can still remember. A late letter only helps if the delay actually prevented the driver from being identified.

For parking offences, if the driver is not identified, the keeper can be ordered to pay the costs of the proceedings (section 25a StVG).

Limitation period: six months and interruptions

Regulatory offences under section 24(1) StVG – which include breaches of the road traffic regulations (StVO) such as speeding, red-light, phone or parking offences – become time-barred six months after the offence (section 26(3) StVG). This period has applied since 1 July 2026, both before and after a fine notice; before that it was three months until a fine notice was issued and six months thereafter. It does not cover drink- and drug-driving under section 24a StVG or the alcohol ban for new drivers under section 24c StVG; there the period follows section 31(2) OWiG. For earlier offences there are good arguments that the new period applies if the old three-month period had not yet expired on 1 July 2026 – the individual case matters.

Certain steps by the authority interrupt the limitation period, which then starts again (section 33 OWiG). These include ordering the hearing of the person concerned – usually the sending of the Anhörungsbogen – and issuing the fine notice, provided it is served within two weeks. A witness questionnaire sent to the keeper generally does not interrupt the period for the actual driver, as the proceedings are not yet directed against them. If the driver is identified late, the offence may be time-barred even under the longer period.

The deadline printed on the form

Many forms state a reply deadline, often one week. This is not a statutory cut-off; if you let it pass, the authority simply decides without your statement. The fine notice is different: you have a strict two weeks from service to object (section 67 OWiG), otherwise the notice usually becomes final.

Step by step: how to proceed

1. Check your role. Hearing letter (person concerned) or witness questionnaire (witness)?
2. Check the allegation. Are the time, place and number plate right? What penalty is at stake? With points or a driving ban, look more closely; see penalty points in Flensburg.
3. Give personal details. Only complete or confirm the personal data section.
4. Stay silent on the facts. No ticks, no explanations, no naming of a driver until you know the file.
5. Instruct a lawyer. Your lawyer requests access to the file; then you decide together how to respond.
6. Watch for the fine notice. If one arrives, the two-week deadline for an objection begins.

See also speeding tickets in Germany, using a phone while driving, the overview of traffic fines in Germany and fees and legal insurance. Mr Sigal also advises in German and Russian.

This article gives a general overview of German law (as of October 2026) and does not replace advice on your individual case.