House passes bill to implement changes to motor-vehicle registration and certificate of fitness services

Legislation to facilitate the implementation of changes to motor-vehicle registration and certificate of fitness services, was passed in the House of Representatives on Tuesday (July 1).

The Bill, Road Traffic Amendment Act 2025, was piloted by Minister of Science, Energy, Telecommunications and Transport, Daryl Vaz.

In his remarks, Vaz said in pursuing the relevant matters for the implementation of this policy mandate, the inter-ministerial group convened by the Ministry for this purpose assessed and identified legislative and technological changes.

He informed that on the matter of the technological changes, the development phase has been completed, and the implementation date is July 21, 2025.

“In respect of the legislative modifications, the members of this House may recall specifically that the policy changes announced propose the establishment of new maximum validity periods for motor-vehicle registration and certificates of fitness, which are intended to support the Government of Jamaica's planned action in streamlining processes for efficiency and economic development (SPEED),” Vaz said.

“The Bill is being passed now to align with the Government's broader initiative to enhance administrative efficiency and modernise road-user management. It primarily resolves inefficiencies associated with a paper-based system and facilitates smoother and more robust inter-agency data sharing. In this regard, the Bill provides for electronic issuance of fitness and registration certificates,” he added.

Vaz said the focus aligns with global trends, as physical decals and paper documents are costly, inefficient, and on the verge of becoming obsolete.

He noted that this amendment not only benefits the Government by enhancing the efforts towards modernising its processes but also benefits motorists by providing longer certificate validity periods, for example, five years for new motor vehicles, and reduce renewal costs for operators.

“It is emphasised that the measure in this Bill was never intended for revenue enhancement, but rather to improve service delivery and to facilitate a shift towards integration of technology and efficient service delivery,” Vaz said.

Regarding the objectives of the Bill, it seeks to create new periods of validity of the fitness and registration certificate for all categories of motor vehicles, to enhance administrative efficiency and modernise road-user management by applying section 129 of the Act.

“The removal of the requirement to affix physical licence decals to motor vehicles and physically presenting fitness and registration certificates upon demand to a constable will result in the removal of the penalties associated with the current requirements,” Vaz said.

Among the provisions in the Bill is clause three, which will amend section seven primarily to remove the mandatory requirement for the drivers to provide evidence of the motor-vehicle registration and fitness certificates for inspection upon demand by a constable.

“Consequently, a driver will not be penalised for not providing documents related to motor-vehicle registration and fitness for inspection, and as such, the related offence expressed in subsection three of the principal act is removed,” the Minister said.

Clause six anchors the main provisions relating to the new validity period for the motor-vehicle registration.

Specifically, subsection one of section 14 of the principal Act is amended to make provisions for a motor-vehicle licence which may be granted for a period of 24 months, 20 months or six months, as the case may be, commencing from the first day of the month in which the licence first takes effect.

Meanwhile, Vaz said the Bill represents a portion of a comprehensive set of matters under consideration for revision of the Road Traffic Act and Regulations.

“The Bill represents one element of the steps being taken by the Government to improve efficiency, not only with respect to the road matters but also road traffic and safety generally,” Vaz said.

- JIS News

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