First Round of Vehicle Inspections to Cover Trucks and Cars in Georgia
By Tea Mariamidze
Friday, December 8
(TBILISI) -- The launch of mandatory technical inspections of all registered vehicles in Georgia will begin January 1 with a pilot program requiring trucks of over 3.5 tons and passenger cars with more than 8 seats to undergo safety checks.
The government plans to introduce a series of inspections that cover every registered car on Georgia’s roads by 2020.
The next stage will be launched from July 1, 2018 and require all vehicles registered to state entities to undergo a mandatory check, which will be followed by inspections of all automobiles with 3.0 engines and above on October 1, 2018.
By January 1, 2019 the government expects to launch the final phase of the campaign and require all other vehicles to undergo mandatory testing.
Driving a car that has not passed an inspection will result in a GEL 50 ($18.50) fine. The transfer or disposal of a vehicle that has failed to undergo a check will be subject to the same fine, but legal entities and small business owners will be hit with a GEL 200 ($74) penalty.
A final price for the check has yet to be finalized, but Finance Minister Dimitri Kumsishvili gave an initial estimated price of GEL 60 ($22) for each inspection when commenting in October.
All vehicles will have to meet the state’s safety requirements for brakes, steering wheel, suspension, visibility and lights, tires and exhaust as well as emission standards.
Cars less than 4 years old are not subject to a mandatory inspection.
As part of the Georgia-EU Association Agreement, signed in 2014, Georgia is obligated to ensure all vehicles are compliant with EU safety and emission standards.
According to data released last year, 46% of vehicles in Georgia fail to meet modern standards, while the number of cars on the road increased 8 percent in 2016.
The mandatory inspection of vehicles is aimed at reducing the number of car accidents and improving the air quality in Georgia, which exceeds permissible health norms in most of the country’s major cities.
