Facts
In a judgment dated July 1, 2016, the President of the Criminal Court found A. guilty of driving a defective vehicle for having driven, on November 6, 2015 in Robasacco, a road convoy composed of a lightweight Iveco Daily tractor-trailer and a semi-trailer, exceeding the maximum authorized weight of the combination mentioned in the vehicle registration of the tractor vehicle. The defendant was sentenced to a fine of CHF 200, substituted by a custodial sentence of two days in case of non-payment, and to the payment of court costs.
The Court of Appeal and Criminal Review (CARP) dismissed the defendant's appeal in a judgment dated November 30, 2017, confirming the judgment of the first instance.
A. appealed this judgment with an appeal dated January 5, 2018 to the Federal Court, requesting to be acquitted of the charge against him, to have the procedural costs of the cantonal instance borne by the State, and to be awarded compensation under Art. 429 CCP. The appellant claimed a violation of federal law, in particular Art. 68 para. 5 ONC and Art. 7 OETV.
Considerations
The Federal Court partially upheld the appeal and remanded the case to the Court of Appeal and Criminal Review.
The Court held that Art. 68 para. 5 ONC, which provides that the combination of vehicles is only possible if the weight of the combination mentioned in the registration certificate is not exceeded, must be interpreted in light of the notion of "convoy weight" (Art. 7 para. 6 OETV) and "total weight" (Art. 7 para. 4 OETV). The convoy weight corresponds to the total weight of the combination composed of the tractor vehicle and the semi-trailer, whereas the total weight is the maximum weight with which the vehicles can circulate.
In the present case, the cantonal court found that the total weight of the combination amounted to 10,300 kg, which significantly exceeded the convoy weight mentioned in the…