Rijontzegging: the Dutch Criminal Driving Ban Explained

A driving ban in the Netherlands is called a rijontzegging, in full an ontzegging van de rijbevoegdheid. It is a criminal penalty imposed by a judge, and it is not the same thing as the police taking a licence at the roadside or the driver-fitness authority declaring a licence invalid.

Those three events are often described loosely as losing your licence, but they come from three different parts of the law and have different consequences. This page sets out what a rijontzegging is under artikel 179 WVW 1994, and how it differs from the two administrative mechanisms that can also take a licence away.

Dutch traffic enforcement runs on two separate tracks: most ordinary offences are administrative sanctions under the Wet Mulder (WAHV), collected by the CJIB with no criminal record, while serious conduct is prosecuted criminally under the Wegenverkeerswet 1994. A rijontzegging belongs entirely to the second track.

Information last verified on 22 July 2026. This page provides general legal information about Netherlands law and does not constitute legal advice in an individual case.

What a rijontzegging is: a criminal penalty imposed by the court

A driving ban (rijontzegging) is a criminal penalty imposed by the court under the Wegenverkeerswet 1994, and it is a different thing from the administrative seizure or invalidation of a licence handled by the driver-fitness authority (CBR).

Artikel 179 WVW 1994 makes it a bijkomende straf, an additional penalty ordered on conviction (or by a punishment order, a strafbeschikking). It is not automatic and it is not administrative: a judge, or the OM through a strafbeschikking, imposes it as part of a criminal sentence.

The maximum length depends on the offence the driver is convicted of. Under artikel 179 lid 1 the ban may run up to five years for the serious offences, which include artikel 5a (serious dangerous driving), artikel 6 (causing a serious accident), artikel 7 (failing to stop after an accident), artikel 8 (drink-driving or drug-driving), artikel 9 (driving during a ban) and the refusal offences of artikel 162 and 163. Under artikel 179 lid 2 the lesser offences carry up to two years.

Recidive raises the ceiling. Artikel 179 lid 4 allows a ban of up to ten years where, when a lid 1 offence was committed, fewer than five years had passed since the end of an earlier irrevocable rijontzegging for such an offence. Artikel 179 lid 6 then works the other way for the driver: any period the licence was already seized under artikel 164 is deducted in full from the ban.

Three different ways a licence can be taken, and why they are not the same

This is the point that causes the most confusion, so it is worth setting out plainly. Three separate mechanisms can each remove a driver from the road, they rest on different articles, and they can apply to the same incident at the same time.

Roadside seizure by the police (artikel 164)

Artikel 164 lets the police take the licence on the spot when they draw up an official police report (a proces-verbaal). Artikel 164 lid 2 makes this mandatory in defined cases: drink-driving above 570 microgram per litre of breath (or 1,3 milligram per millilitre of blood) for an ordinary driver, above 350 microgram per litre for a beginner, refusing the breath or blood test, and speeding 50 km/h or more over the limit for a car where the driver is stopped at the roadside (op staandehouding). A camera-only measurement of the same speed does not trigger roadside seizure, because that power applies only on an actual stop.

The seized licence goes to the officier van justitie. Artikel 164 lid 6 requires it to be returned within ten days unless the prosecutor invokes the power to hold it, and in any event it is returned if the case has not started or no strafbeschikking has issued within six months. This is a holding measure, not the final penalty, and any time it lasts is later deducted from a rijontzegging under artikel 179 lid 6.

The CBR driver-fitness track (artikel 130 to 132)

The second mechanism is administrative and has nothing to do with punishment. Where the police suspect that a driver lacks the skill (rijvaardigheid) or the physical or mental fitness (geschiktheid) to drive, for example after a high alcohol reading, they send a notification (a mededeling) to the CBR under artikel 130.

The CBR then decides, within four weeks under artikel 131, to impose either an educational measure (educatieve maatregel), which includes the Educatieve Maatregel Alcohol (EMA), or an investigation (onderzoek) into fitness or skill. It may suspend (schorsen) the licence in the meantime. If the driver does not cooperate or does not pay the costs, artikel 132 lets the CBR declare the licence invalid (ongeldig).

This is a bestuursrechtelijke maatregel by the CBR, and it runs independently of the criminal case. A drink-driver can therefore face both a rijontzegging from the court and an EMA or onderzoek from the CBR for the same night. Because it is not a punishment, the CBR measure should never be called a rijontzegging.

Driving during a ban is itself an offence (artikel 9)

A rijontzegging is not just a piece of paper. Artikel 9 lid 1 forbids anyone who knows, or should know, that a court judgment or strafbeschikking has withdrawn their driving privilege from driving during the ban.

Driving during a ban is a serious offence in its own right. It carries up to one year in prison under artikel 176 lid 2, and because artikel 179 lid 1 lists artikel 9, it exposes the driver to a further rijontzegging on top of the one already running. Artikel 9 also covers driving on a licence that has been declared invalid, seized and not returned, or suspended by the CBR.

Dangerous driving: artikel 5 and artikel 5a are different offences

Dangerous driving is not one offence but two, and the difference decides how serious the case is. Artikel 5 is the general prohibition on behaving in a way that causes, or can cause, danger or hindrance on the road.

By artikel 178 that ordinary conduct is an overtreding, and artikel 177 lid 1 sets its penalty at up to six months of hechtenis or a third-category fine, with up to two years of ban exposure. Artikel 5a, added later for the most serious dangerous driving, is a misdrijf: artikel 176 lid 1 sets its penalty at up to two years in prison or a fourth-category fine, and it carries the higher five-year ban exposure. Treating dangerous driving as a single thing misses the sharp step in seriousness between the two.

How a driving ban connects to a speeding case

The most common route to a ban for an ordinary driver is serious speeding. A rijontzegging enters once the speed reaches 50 km/h or more over the limit, at two months for a first offence and rising with each higher speed band.

Where the speed sits below the criminal threshold, the fine stays administrative and no ban applies. How the speeding tariff is built and where it crosses into the criminal band is covered on the Netherlands speeding fines page. The wider system, including the codes and courts named above, is set out on the Netherlands law overview.