All foreign licences are accepted for up to six months (or 12 months for a temporary stay only), but a translation may be necessary. If you want to continue driving after this period, you must obtain a German licence. These rules do not apply to driving licences issued in EU member states. Traffic offences are almost always fined and severe offences will lead to "points" being registered for your licence. Too many points will lead to your driving licence being confiscated. As this system can not be applied to foreign licences, fines for severe offences are often significantly higher for foreign drivers to make up for the lack of long-term control. Some severe infractions carry a driving ban (usually a couple of months) in addition to a fine and points. As the central registry that keeps track of the "points" is located in Flensburg, people say they have "Punkte in Flensburg".