Articles 186 and 187 of the Italian Road Traffic Code (Codice della strada) establish a complex system of penalties for driving under the influence of alcohol. Three distinct thresholds are defined, each carrying increasing penalties.
Specifically, if the blood alcohol content (BAC) is between 0.5 and 0.8 grams per liter, two administrative penalties may be imposed: a monetary fine (ranging from €532 to €2,127) and the suspension of the driver’s license for three to six months. This act is not considered a criminal offense.
The situation becomes more serious if the detected BAC is between 0.8 and 1.5 grams per liter. In this case, in addition to the administrative penalty of the suspension of the driver’s license for six months to a year, a criminal penalty is also imposed: a fine ranging from €800 to €3,200 and up to six months of imprisonment.
If the BAC exceeds 1.5 grams per liter, the penalties provided for by the law are even more severe: imprisonment from six months to a year and a fine from €1,500 to €6,000. At the administrative level, the suspension of the driver’s license for one to two years and the confiscation of the vehicle owned by the driver are also provided for.
Aggravating circumstances exist if the driver under the influence causes a road accident (in this case, from an administrative point of view, the license is revoked if the threshold of 1.5 grams per liter is exceeded) and if the test is carried out at night.
The penalties provided for the most serious category (Article 186, paragraph 1, letter c) also apply in the case of driving under the influence of drugs (Article 187) and in cases of refusal to undergo a breathalyzer or toxicological tests. Essentially, therefore, the sanctioning system is based on a kind of dual track, a double punishment of the same violations in the form of both administrative and criminal sanctions, with increasing severity depending on the various hypotheses.