Only one in five attempts to serve traffic camera fines has been successful, lawmakers heard on Wednesday, as authorities defended the current enforcement process while work continues on legislation that would allow fines to be served electronically.

Figures presented to the House legal affairs committee by the road transport department showed that just 20 per cent of approximately 190,000 attempts to serve out-of-court fines had been successful.

The committee examined the authorities’ practice of serving outstanding fines through the so-called “Photo Radar List” at police stations and crossing points, amid concerns over how motorists are notified and whether some drivers may be unaware of fines because of incorrect address details.

Officials from the road transport department said draft legislation allowing fines to be served by SMS and email has completed public consultation and has been with the Law Office for legal vetting since February 4.

Committee members requested further information on the number of outstanding fines, the procedures followed when notices are served and the progress of the proposed legislation.

Concerns were also raised by Mps about motorists who may never have received notification because of incorrect addresses, with questions over whether they could later face court proceedings or accumulated penalties through no fault of their own. Lawmakers also questioned reports that some motorists had been informed of outstanding fines while passing through crossing points or airports, raising broader concerns over whether the current enforcement process fully complies with existing legislation.

Justice ministry officials said the “Photo Radar List” is not used at airports or ports and stressed that outstanding fines are served at police stations. They added that the document-checking system used at airports is not linked to the outstanding fines database, meaning motorists are not identified through passport or identity checks.

Police representative Harris Evripidou said fines are served at police stations, crossing points and other locations where police are authorised to carry out checks.

He confirmed that information on outstanding fines does not appear during routine identity checks at airports and acknowledged that, if motorists had been informed of outstanding fines during passport control as alleged, “it was wrong”.

Evripidou added that only fines for which previous attempts at service by a private process server had failed are included in the current enforcement process.

A representative of the Law Office told the committee that the legislation permits fines to be served anywhere within Cyprus, while noting that the practical implementation of the process is an operational matter for the police and the private process-serving company.

The committee is expected to revisit the issue at a future meeting.