Red-Light Fine in the Netherlands: EUR 320 in 2026 Explained

Running a red light (door rood rijden) is one of the most common traffic offences in the Netherlands, and in the ordinary case it is dealt with as an administrative fine rather than a crime. The offence and its fixed amount sit in the annex to the Wet administratiefrechtelijke handhaving verkeersvoorschriften (the Wet Mulder, WAHV), each described by a numbered feitcode.

That matters for what the fine means. 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 camera red-light fine sits firmly on the first, administrative track.

This page sets out the 2026 amount, who the fine is addressed to, how to object to it, and the narrow situation in which running a red light stops being a Wet Mulder fine and becomes a criminal matter.

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.

A red-light fine is an administrative Wet Mulder fine

The offence of not stopping for a red light at a three-colour traffic light is feitcode R602 in the WAHV annex. An ordinary traffic fine (verkeersboete) under the Wet Mulder is an administrative sanction, so it carries no criminal record and does not appear on a certificate of good conduct (Verklaring Omtrent het Gedrag).

That is the practical difference from a drink-driving or dangerous-driving case. The fine is a fixed sum (a geldsom) set in the annex, imposed by a beschikking and collected by the Centraal Justitieel Incassobureau (CJIB). It is not a prosecution, there is no hearing unless the recipient objects, and the matter never reaches a criminal court unless the endangerment rule below applies.

The 2026 amount: EUR 320 for a car

For feitcode R602 the 2026 geldsom for a car (a motor vehicle on more than two wheels) is EUR 320. On top of the geldsom the CJIB charges EUR 9 in administratiekosten, so the amount actually paid for a car is EUR 329. The geldsom is re-set each year in the annex, so this is the 2026 figure specifically.

The tariff is lower for lighter road users. The same feitcode carries a reduced geldsom for a moped, a bicycle and a pedestrian, as the 2026 annex sets out.

These are the amounts for the ordinary red-light feitcode R602. A related feitcode, R608, covers not stopping for a red flashing light at a railway crossing, and it carries the same EUR 320 car tariff in 2026. Every figure here should be read as a 2026 amount: the WAHV tariffs are re-set periodically, and a further change to the WAHV is already scheduled for 1 September 2026, so the current figure should be checked against the dated text.

Who gets the fine: the registered keeper

A red-light camera photographs the vehicle, not the driver, so the person behind the wheel is usually not identified. In that situation artikel 5 WAHV imposes the fine on the person in whose name the vehicle is registered, the kentekenhouder. This rule is called kentekenaansprakelijkheid, registered-keeper liability.

The consequence is that the fine lands on the registered keeper even if someone else was driving. The keeper has limited statutory defences, for example that the vehicle was used against their will and they could not prevent it, or that it had already been sold with a transfer receipt, but simply not being the driver is not on its own a defence. For a company car or a rental, the fine reaches the keeper first and is then passed on.

No points, and how to object

A red-light fine does not put a licence at risk by accumulation. The Netherlands has no demerit-points licence system for ordinary fines, so an administrative traffic fine adds no points and cannot on its own suspend a licence. The fine is the fixed geldsom and nothing more.

If the recipient believes the fine is wrong, there is a two-stage route. A Wet Mulder fine is challenged first by administrative objection to the public prosecutor (officier van justitie), and then, if needed, by appeal to the subdistrict court (kantonrechter). The first stage, the objection to the officier van justitie, is free.

The second stage is not free to start. Under artikel 11 lid 2 WAHV, where the sanction is at least EUR 225 a security deposit (zekerheidstelling) must be paid before the kantonrechter will hear the appeal. A EUR 320 red-light fine is above that EUR 225 threshold, so the deposit is required to take a red-light fine to the kantonrechter. The deposit is refunded if the appeal succeeds.

How the wider fine and objection system works is set out on the Netherlands traffic fines page.

When running a red light becomes a crime

The administrative track stops where harm begins. Artikel 2 lid 2 WAHV provides that a gedraging by which injury to persons has been caused, or damage to property has been done, is not a Wet Mulder gedraging at all. Injury or damage pushes the matter out of the fine system and into criminal handling.

So a driver who runs a red light and endangers or injures another road user is not looking at a EUR 320 geldsom but at a prosecution. That is handled under artikel 5 WVW 1994 (causing danger or hindrance on the road, an overtreding) or, for serious dangerous driving, the heavier artikel 5a (a misdrijf). A criminal red-light case can also carry a driving ban (rijontzegging) under artikel 179, which is explained on the Netherlands driving ban page.