The situation is gone with the license plates that experts use to drive unregistered or immobilized luxury vehicles, without being taxed on them and, of course, without paying a license fee.
< p>According to information from “P”, nominal complaints were filed before MPs for businessmen and not only those who drive luxury vehicles worth more than € 100,000, belong to the category of super vehicles or luxury SUVs or limousines, which are therefore not registered. the prescribed taxes were not paid, nor the fee for the issuance of a traffic license, but they circulate on the Cypriot roads bearing test plates. It is emphasized that according to the current legislation, the use of test plates is allowed only until a purchase agreement is signed and the vehicle is registered and in no case is the use of the same plate, in the same vehicle, by the same buyer allowed for a period of more than 15 days. According to the information presented to MPs, there are cases where test plates have been used for more than five years! Therefore, a serious issue of loss of public money arises.
They rent them
Test plates are provided for the convenience of motor vehicle dealers & lt; including importers and resellers. By obtaining a demonstration and test permit from the Department of Road Transport (TOM) for the amount of € 1,300 per year, motor vehicle dealers have the right to use on any road unregistered or immobilized motor vehicles that are traded for demonstration or testing purposes. . It is noted that for each pair of test plates, which according to the current legislation should not be used by the same person for more than 15 days, the charge is € 200, so one can easily understand the financial benefit for those who use the use. of the test plates. According to information, there are cases of vehicle dealers who rent these test plates to the persons on whose behalf they import luxury vehicles in Cyprus. So instead of registering them in the TOM by paying thousands of euros in taxes, as they are large-capacity luxury vehicles, and issuing a license plate, they use the test plates that cost just € 200.
The mats
From the sudden investigations carried out in the recent past by officials of the TOM and the Audit Office in premises (yards) of car dealers, it was found that there is a systematic and illegal use of test plates. In particular, the following were observed:
- License plates are permanently affixed to vehicles used by the vehicle dealers and their families or by the directors and employees of the vehicle sales companies.
- License plates are issued to vehicle buyers for a period of more than 15 days or remain affixed after sale and registration.
- License plates were stated to be located on different premises at the same time. dealers as lost and canceled by the TOM were in use.
- Cases were found where the two plates of the same pair were placed in different cars that circulated with only one plate.
- License plates were issued by vehicle dealers to individuals who placed them in luxury vehicles that they imported on their own and circulated illegally for months.
To combat the phenomenon of illegal use of license plates, the Police in the past pan-Cypriot control campaigns, distributing extrajudicial fines. As it turns out, the controls are ineffective and the illegality continues.
Legislation and penalties
The use of test plates is regulated by the Motor Vehicle Dealer (Demonstration and Testing) Law of 2000 which provides for the following penalties:
- A person who uses plates in violation of the provisions of paragraphs (5) and (6) commits an offense and in the event of conviction is subject to imprisonment not exceeding one year or to a fine not exceeding € 5,000 or both.
- Any dealer or any other person who delivers, uses or allows, tolerates or contributes in any way to the use of an unregistered or immobilized vehicle in violation of the provisions of this Law commits an offense, which is punishable by imprisonment of up to one year or a fine of up to € 1,700 or with both of these penalties, without affecting the right of the court to impose additional penalties where this Law or other laws provide for & # 8217; this right.
Measures by Karousos
The Minister of Transport, Communications and Works, Mr. Giannis Karousos, speaking yesterday to “P. »Confirmed that there are abuses with the test plates. “This is an issue that concerns the ministry and the TOM and a series of measures are being taken to address it,” the minister said. One of the measures that are being launched, Mr. Karousos typically told us, is to grant licensed motor vehicle dealers a number of test plates depending on the extent of his work.
