This paper presents several examples, illustrating the problems which occur during the defining of common European legal regulations for drinking and driving. In one group of countries (Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Luxemburg, Norway, Spain and Switzerland), blood alcohol concentration (BAC) is used as evidence of intoxication. In Austria, Great Britain, Poland, Portugal and Sweden, BAC and BrAC (breath alcohol concentration) are regarded as having the same evidential value. In The Netherlands, BrAC serves as the only basis for any penal procedure. In principle, BAC can be recalculated from BrAC in a specific concentration range, using a general conversion factor of 2100 to 2300, but these recalculations cannot fulfil the accuracy required by German law, especially for BAC values near the legal limits. It is well-known that inter- and intra-individual factors can affect the value of the conversion factor. Even between countries using BAC to assess intoxication, there are some difficulties with formal matching of results. Some of these countries use analytical criteria for blood determination that do not fulfil German legal requirements. Germany has introduced a regular external quality control programme, but many other countries have not.
Abstract