Littering will now be fined by municipal agents too, as a draft law was voted.  Guy Wolff/Maison Moderne

Littering will now be fined by municipal agents too, as a draft law was voted.  Guy Wolff/Maison Moderne

Municipal agents will now be able to hand out fines for minor offences such as littering, as deputies voted on a draft bill.

The project n. to extend the powers of communal agents in order to alleviate the burden put on police agents had been discussed as early as 2008. The draft law was submitted to parliament in 2017. 

On 13 July, deputies sat down to vote on the bill. 58 deputies were in support of the law, whereas only 2 were against. Rapporteur Dan Biancalana (LSAP) was in charge of the dossier. 

Under the new law, municipal agents will be able to issue fines from €25 to €250 for offences such as vandalism or littering, as this type of offences can be rectified directly and more efficiently this way. Agents until now mostly issued parking fines. 

Agents will have to undergo training in order to recognise this type of offence, address them and hand out fines.

This vote comes shortly after to remove from a public or private building people who are blocking access, such as someone sleeping in front of an entrance hall.