Plates: The new regulation will not come into force on 1 July

The panic will eventually short-lived. The deadline for replacement license plates will not take effect on July 1. This is confirmed by an authoritative source of the Ministry of Public Infrastructure and Transport.

Yet, this morning, the National Transport Authority (NTA) maintained the procedure of entry into force of new regulations for license plates, without "instruction from the ministry and the police." Including the 350 000 vehicles on the roads in Mauritius will be equipped with a white number plate on the front and another yellow on the back.This is a matter of visibility.

Different story on the side of the Ministry of Public Infrastructure and Transport. "The government procedures take time. But we will initiate the necessary steps before the deadline. By next week, the regulations published in the Government Gazette. Only then the authorities will be able to issue a statement, "said the source. Before specifying that it is important to make this regulation and to announce in the Government Gazette, to legalize. Only then the deadline could be extended.

"But most importantly, it''s that the public can be reassured. The new license plates will not be mandatory on 1 July letter, "says this source. In addition, we learn that after the formal proceedings, the new deadline will be made public. 

NTA officials prefer them to be careful and not to comment at this time. However, they, too, said the new deadline may be disclosed in the statement that the NTA will issue soon.

In the meantime, this decision comes relief for many drivers and manufacturers of number plates. These overwhelmed with orders, especially since Wednesday, June 22, did not expect to be in time for July 1. 

One of these "flat-makers' operating at Rose-Hill and a member of the Euro-makers Association, indicates that if the decision stood, the hundreds of manufacturers have been unable to equip 300,000 vehicles in eight days . 

"We have another problem, namely, a lack of required equipment for the manufacture of these plates. Many manufacturers have not taken the risk of importing the necessary lack of orders, "says the manufacturer. 

During the parliamentary proceedings, Tuesday, April 12, the Minister of Public Infrastructure, Anil Bachoo, stated in response to a question from opposition MP Satish Boolell, that drivers will change their license plates according to British standards on a "voluntary basis". All new vehicles leaving dealerships will, in turn, must be equipped with the new plates. 

Previously, namely, on April 8, the NTA had said in a statement that the suppliers of number plates must comply with British standards under the new regulations of the Road Traffic (Construction and Use of Vehicles) Regulations 2010. This despite the fact that many road users had changed their license plates, the deadline for the entry into force of new regulations, namely 1 July. The NTA believed that many license plates installed to date were not consistent with the new law. 

These plates must be manufactured from the same material Reflective used in Britain and must bear the initials "BS AU 145d" and the name of the manufacturer of the plate.