New certificate of fitness regime to be implemented by July – Vaz
KINGSTON, Jamaica — The new certificate of fitness regime announced by Prime Minister Andrew Holness in his Budget presentation last month that will allow for fitness of up to five years for new motor vehicles will be ready for implementation between June and July.
This was stated by Transport Minister Daryl Vaz, during the weekly post-cabinet media briefing at Jamaica House on Wednesday.
Currently, motorists must renew their certificate of fitness every year. Based on the pending changes, new vehicle fitness will last five years, vehicles three years old and younger will be certified fit for three years while vehicles over three years old will be certified for up to two years.
Vaz told the media briefing that a multi-agency team, led by his ministry, has been established “to determine the steps and actions to be taken to implement the policy change”.
“In addition, provisions are to be made for motorists to licence their vehicle for up to two years at a time,” said Vaz.
The transport minister said the multi-agency team is “working on a technology solution to integrate the fitness and registration systems, enabling the Jamaica Constabulary Force to access all necessary vehicle information, via the licence plate”.
“This will require amendments to the road traffic regulations to give effect to these changes. The projected implementation time for this is within the next two to three months, between June and July…” he said.
Meanwhile, Vaz said that contrary to reports in the traditional and social media space, the policy position announced by the prime minister does not currently exist in legislation. He emphasised that there will be no increase in fees as a result of the policy change.
Commenting on the pending changes, Vaz cited that “there will be three classifications rather than what obtains now which, as we know, is quite tedious”.
“We’re going to use technology to drive this. So the days of the stickers on your car and the paper certificate of fitness and all that goes with it are a thing of the past,” he stated.
