32% of Vehicles Fail to Pass Mandatory Technical Inspection
By Tea Mariamidze
Tuesday, March 6
Around 32% of 12 thousand tested vehicles could not pass mandatory technical inspection, due to which the drivers were given a one-month period to eliminate shortcomings.
Obligatory technical inspection of cars took effect on January 1, 2018, and two months after, the information about the results of the process was presented by the Deputy Minister of Economy Giorgi Cherkezishvili.
He said since January 1, up to 12 thousand drivers applied to the inspection centers. In particular, from January 1 to February 28, 2018, 11.457 vehicles underwent technical inspection.
“2,935 vehicles were found as unusable and the drivers were given a month to eliminate shortcomings. The most shortcomings were about the faulty brake systems, emission and lights,” Deputy Minister explained.
According to Cherkezishvili, 2.405 vehicles belong to physical persons.
“From July 1 new categories will be added to this group. Expressions of interest will also be announced in order to create additional inspection centers in the nearest future,” he added.
The first stage of the mandatory technical inspection, launched two months ago, requires trucks of over 3.5 tons and passenger cars with more than 8 seats to undergo safety checks.
The system will also 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 from October 1, 2018.
From January 1, 2019 the government expects to launch the final phase of the campaign and require all other vehicles to undergo mandatory testing.
Vehicles which are four years old or less will not have to undergo an inspection. Cars that are four-six years old will undergo testing once every two years and cars older than six years will have to be tested every year.
Furthermore, driving an uninspected car will result in a 50 GEL fine. Moreover, transfer or disposal of the vehicle which has not gone through a periodic technical inspection will be subject to a fine to the amount of 50 GEL and legal entities or individual entrepreneurs will be fined 200 GEL.
Consequently, the amendments will increase the amount of the fee; in particular, a 10 GEL fine becomes 50 GEL and fines for legal entity and / or individual entrepreneur will be 200 GEL instead of 100 GEL.
At this stage there are 26 testing centers throughout Georgia, which have 35 lines. One car is able to be tested per line.
While testing, the cars will also have to comply with the following seven main criteria: quality of brakes, steering wheel, suspension, visibility and lights, exhaust and tires.
Within the Georgia-EU Association Agreement signed in 2014, Georgia is obligated to ensure all vehicles are compliant with EU standards.
