First the car stops, then life does. The officer issues a certificate of seizure of your driving licence card and you walk home. It is quick and nobody asks how you will get to work tomorrow. Seizure is not a punishment, it is a precautionary measure: it is meant to stop someone suspected of driving under the influence or of a serious accident from driving until guilt is decided.
Five working days
Within five working days of the police report, the municipal authority must open proceedings on withholding the licence card until a final decision on the misdemeanour or the crime. Often the first step is the decision itself. The Supreme Administrative Court reminds us that these proceedings do not involve full proof of guilt: the suspicion that arose at the roadside check is enough. Arguing that you did nothing makes sense in the main misdemeanour proceedings or in the criminal proceedings, not here.
The authority should not, however, open proceedings if withholding would be disproportionate in the circumstances. And an appeal against the decision to withhold can be filed within fifteen days.
When the card is returned
- When the authority does not open the withholding proceedings or discontinues them.
- When, in the proceedings on the act itself, no driving ban is imposed in the end.
- When the proceedings on the act are still not over and, since the seizure, the period for which a ban was imposed at first instance has passed, or the longest period that could be imposed for that act.
The last point matters in criminal cases that drag on. The Supreme Administrative Court confirmed that a long seizure cannot be "compensated" by a shorter ban at the end: the authority must keep track of the time itself.
Crediting
The whole period of seizure is credited towards the driving ban if you receive one for the same act. A one-year ban imposed after eight months of proceedings therefore means four more months without a licence, not twelve. And after half the term you can apply for the rest to be waived.
If alcohol or drugs were involved, read also alcohol and drugs behind the wheel. If it was an accident with injuries, bodily harm.
What this rests on
No advice on this page is an opinion. Each one has a section of the law and a court decision behind it. Click through, the full text is on Europaius.
Statute
- § 118b zák. o silničním provozua police officer may seize the driving licence card on suspicion of driving under the influence, refusing a test, driving without a licence, an accident with injuries and other grounds
- § 118c zák. o silničním provozuwithin 5 working days the authority opens proceedings on withholding until a final decision; when the card is returned; the time withheld is credited towards the ban
- § 118a zák. o silničním provozupreventing driving and immobilising the vehicle
- § 83 správního řáduappeal within 15 days of notification of the decision
- § 47 zák. o přestupcíchthe time during which the offender was not allowed to carry out the activity by official measure is credited towards the ban on activity
Case law
- 5 As 263/2024 (Nejvyšší správní soud, 1. 10. 2024)seizure of the card is a precautionary measure before the decision on the act; the point is not to take evidence to the same extent as on guilt
- 7 As 313/2022 (Nejvyšší správní soud, 14. 11. 2022)within 5 working days of the report the authority opens proceedings in which withholding until a final decision may be ordered; an action against the withholding can be heard independently of the misdemeanour proceedings
- 5 As 377/2021 (Nejvyšší správní soud, 25. 11. 2021)an unlawfully long seizure of the card cannot be "compensated" by a nine-month driving ban imposed at the end
- 6 As 97/2023 (Nejvyšší správní soud, 31. 5. 2023)seizure of the card is a temporary measure that is easily reversed by returning the card if the proceedings end favourably
- 62 A 85/2025 (Krajský soud v Brně, 11. 3. 2026)for seizure of the card, suspicion of a misdemeanour or crime established at a roadside check is sufficient
A different situation?
- A penalty order for a misdemeanour has arrived
- You have reached 12 points
- You want your driving licence back