Facts

On November 6, 2015, X. drove a truck belonging to his employer, company A., from Hendschiken to their location in Kloten for a transfer drive. There, he noticed that he had forgotten the dealer plates for the return journey with another vehicle. Since A. Kloten did not have any replacement plates, X. had employees of the company copy the previously used plates on paper. He then mounted the paper plate copies on the rear of the vehicle with insulating tape and placed them behind the windshield at the front. He then drove the delivery van with the attached paper plates from Kloten to the Würenlos motorway rest stop, where he was subjected to a traffic control.

By penal order dated January 22, 2016, the Public Prosecutor's Office in Baden convicted X. of misuse of identification documents and plates as well as failure to carry the vehicle registration certificate, sentencing him to a conditional fine of 60 daily rates of CHF 40 and a fine of CHF 620. Following an objection by X., the President of the District Court of Baden reduced the sentence on February 17, 2017 to 10 daily rates of CHF 60 fine and CHF 140 fine. X.'s appeal against this was dismissed by the High Court of the Canton of Aargau on June 7, 2017.

In a criminal complaint, X. requests that he be acquitted of the charge of misuse of identification documents and plates within the meaning of Art. 97 para. 1 lit. f RTA.

Considerations

The Federal Supreme Court dismisses the complaint. According to Art. 97 para. 1 lit. f RTA, anyone who uses false or forged control plates shall be punished with imprisonment of up to three years or a fine. The objective elements of the offence require as the act the falsification of a genuine and thus issued by the competent authority control plate or the production of a new false control plate for the purpose of use. Subjectively, the use of false or forged control plates under Art. 97 para. 1 lit. f RTA can be committed both intentionally and negligently.

The Federal Supreme Court states that the control plates attached to the vehicle and used in public traffic were copies of a genuine, i.e. issued by the competent authority, control plate. The control plates were therefore objectively forged, because they did not originate from the prescribed issuer. For the classification as forgery,…