This is not legal advice. This page is general legal information for Mauritius and does not replace a consultation with a lawyer who has the full context of your case.
What is the penalty for drink driving in Mauritius in 2026?
It depends on the offence, your record and the date. As of October 2026, a first conviction for driving over the prescribed limit carries a fine of Rs 20,000 to Rs 50,000 and up to five years’ imprisonment. A repeat conviction carries Rs 50,000 to Rs 75,000 and 12 months to eight years. Disqualification from driving is obligatory. Causing death while driving under the influence is a separate offence, punished far more heavily since 30 September 2026. The penalty that applies is the one in force on the day of the alleged offence.
What happens at the roadside and at the police station?
The police may test a driver’s breath at the roadside. A positive result can lead to further specimens, of breath, blood or urine, under the procedure the Act sets out.
Refusing a specimen without a reasonable excuse can be an offence in itself. If you have a genuine medical difficulty, say so at the time and ask that it be recorded.
You may then be questioned and asked to give a statement under warning. You are generally told that you need not say anything. Ask for a lawyer before the interview, and read the statement before you sign it.
Keep a note of the times, the officers and the readings you were shown. The rules on legal assistance are the same as for any other arrest, set out on the criminal defence page.
The limits are measured concentrations. They are 23 microgrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath, 50 milligrams in 100 millilitres of blood, or 67 milligrams in 100 millilitres of urine. The 2025 and 2026 amendments did not change them. They are not a number of drinks, and no online calculator can tell you that you are under them.
Will I lose my licence? How do penalty points work?
Disqualification from driving is a separate consequence from any fine or prison term. On a first drink driving conviction it lasts at least 12 months. On a repeat conviction it lasts at least 24 months, and the licence is cancelled.
A penalty-points system has applied to driving licences since 31 January 2026, under Proclamation No. 4 of 2026. A full licence holder who reaches 15 points within 36 months, or a provisional holder who reaches 10, is disqualified for six to 12 months. Drink driving itself is not a points offence.
A digital driving licence on a phone is not yet a legal substitute for the card. Until 1 January 2027, the licence itself or an up-to-date, actual-size photocopy must be produced when the police ask.
The loss of a licence can affect work, family and insurance. Evidence of hardship is relevant only where the law allows the court to take it into account, and it must be put before the court properly. Driving while disqualified is a further offence. Ask for a copy of the order before you leave court, and read it with the licensing instructions before you drive again.
What if there was an accident, injury or death?
After any collision, stop, help anyone injured and report it to the police. Keep photographs, dashcam footage, medical records and every message with the insurer. If the police ask you to complete or sign any form, ask what it is, read it, and keep a copy.
Where someone is hurt or killed, the case becomes far more serious. Causing death while driving under the influence is a distinct offence, and a fatal collision may also be prosecuted as involuntary homicide. These cases may go to a higher court than a District Court. The criminal case and any insurance or compensation claim run separately, and what you say in one can matter in the other.
Can a drink driving charge be defended?
Sometimes, but not by a vague claim that the machine was wrong. A defence starts with the record: the grounds for stopping you, the warning given, the device and its records, the readings and which one was used. For a blood or urine sample it covers how the sample was taken, labelled and analysed.
A departure from the procedure does not end a prosecution automatically. Its weight depends on what happened and what evidence it affects.
Timing matters too. When you were stopped, when each specimen was taken and when you last drank all belong in the chronology, so write them down while you still remember them.
Where the evidence is sound, the work moves to plea and sentence. Mitigation, your record and the licence consequences are then prepared with the same care as a defence.
What the chambers does for drivers
Road traffic cases sit within the chambers’ criminal practice, from legal assistance at any police station in Mauritius to trial and appeal. Me Mokshda Pertaub sat as District Magistrate at Flacq and Port-Louis in the early 2000s, after posts at the State Law Office and the DPP’s office.
Barristers advise, draft and litigate; where an attorney is instructed, the attorney also advises and drafts pleadings, besides conducting the procedure, filing and service. You are told after each hearing what happened and what comes next. A visitor charged during a holiday is advised on the bail conditions and on travel before any flight is booked.
The initial consultation is a fixed-fee conference, confirmed in writing when the appointment is made; clients abroad may settle it in euros or US dollars. Fees for the matter itself are discussed at that conference.