Lost property
- Service
- Nationwide
- Public service
The owner must be notified of found lost items or they must be returned to the police as soon as possible. Typical items returned to the police include mobile phones, keys and bicycles found outside (e.g. on the streets or in parks).
Lost items found in public transport, train stations, bus stations or other similar places of transportation or business premises, offices, place of work, education ...
Do the following
The owner must be notified of found lost items or they must be returned to the police as soon as possible. Items whose acquisition or possession is prohibited or requires a permit from the authorities, e.g. drugs, illegal alcohol and firearms, must be delivered to the police immediately.
If you cannot transport the discovered lost items without danger or difficulty, it is enough to notify the police of the discovery. The police will give the finder a receipt for discovered items.
You can also return the item to a citizen service point that has agreed with the police to accept lost items or notify this kind of a service point.
To whom and on what terms
Owners of lost property are entitled to claim their property back if they pay the finder a finder’s fee and compensate them for any costs incurred. By law, the finder’s fee is 10% of the current market value of the item, though no less than EUR 4. The specified fee for storage costs is 5% of the current market value of the item, though no more than EUR 17. If the general storage costs amount to less than EUR 4, compensation may be waived.
No finder’s fee is paid for property found in a public place.
If the owner of a lost property item does not claim the item from the police within three months, it becomes the property of the finder, with a few exceptions. If the finder too fails to claim the lost property item within three months, the property is forfeit to the government. Lost property acquired by the government will be auctioned off or sold in some other way, adopted for government use or disposed of.