
Drinking and driving in the EU
The legal limit
The legal limit is not the same in all EU-member states. In Table 1 the legal limits of the 25 EU-member states are presented. Some EU-member states have different penalties for different limits and have different limits for novice drivers and professional drivers. These limits are not mentioned in Table 1.
Table 1: legal alcohol limits for the general driver population
Country | Standard BAC limit |
Austria | 50mg |
Belgium | 50mg |
Cyprus | 22mg |
Czech Republic | 0mg |
Denmark | 50mg |
Estonia | 20mg |
Finland | 22mg |
France | 50mg |
Germany | 50mg |
Greece | 50mg |
Hungary | 0mg |
Rep. of Ireland | 50mg |
Italy | 50mg |
Latvia | 50mg |
Lithuania | 40mg |
Luxemburg | 50mg |
Malta | 80mg |
Netherland | 50mg |
Poland | 20mg |
Portugal | 50mg |
Slovakia | 0mg |
Slovenia | 50mg |
Spain | 50mg |
Sweden | 20mg |
United Kingdom* | 80mg |
* Plans are underway in Northern Ireland and Scotland to move to 50mg