While in judicial criminal law, the prosecuting and sentencing authorities are separate, administrative offense law follows the principle of inquisitorial proceedings – the prosecuting and sentencing authorities are thus identical.
In administrative offense law, mere negligence is generally sufficient to establish liability. In judicial criminal law, the negligent commission of an offense must be explicitly punishable (e.g., Section 80 Criminal Code – Negligent Homicide). Conversely, with regard to attempts, while in judicial criminal law the offenses can be committed by mere attempt (see Section 15 Criminal Code), in administrative offense law, attempts are only punishable if expressly provided for in the subject-specific law.
A significant difference also lies in the fact that the principle of in dubio pro reo – the presumption of innocence – does not apply to disobedience offenses in administrative offense law.
Additionally, in administrative offense law, the range of penalties is limited, and if multiple offenses are committed, a separate penalty is imposed for each offense, instead of aggregating them as in judicial criminal law.
