The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (“Ministry”) has notified the Central Motor Vehicles (Sixteenth Amendment) Rules, 2018 (“Amendment Rules”), effective 1st April, 2019.

Key Highlights of the Amendment Rules:

As per the Amendment Rules, a proviso to Rule 50, which deals with Form and manner of display of registration marks on the motor vehicles, has been substituted. The amended provisos which substitutes one proviso and inserts another are a prerequisite for the High Security Registration Plate (“HSRP”) which needs to be displayed both at the front and at the rear of all motor vehicles, mentioned as follows:

Firstly, the HSRP including the third registration mark, wherever required, shall be supplied by the vehicle manufacturers along with the vehicles manufactured on or after the 1st day of April, 2019 to their dealers and dealers shall place a mark of registration on such plates and affix them on the vehicle.

Secondly, the dealers of the vehicle manufacturers may also affix such plates, supplied by the vehicle manufacturers, on old vehicles after placing the registration mark of registration.

To bring in more clarity, the Ministry has rolled out the Motor Vehicles (High Security Registration Plates) Order, 2018 (“Order”) dated 6^th December, 2018, which shall come into effect on the 1^st day of April, 2019.

Applicability of the Order:

This Order shall apply to motor vehicles or vehicle as defined under the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988. As per the definition, a motor vehicle means any mechanically propelled vehicle adapted for use upon roads whether the power of propulsion is transmitted thereto from an external or internal source and includes a chassis to which a body has not been attached and a trailer; but does not include a vehicle running upon fixed rails or a vehicle of a special type adapted for use only in a factory or in any other enclosed premises or a vehicle having less than four wheels fitted with engine capacity of not exceeding twenty-five cubic centimeters.

Key highlights of the Order:

• A vehicle manufacturer must comply with the following procedure in regard to HSRP for a new vehicle to be sold on or after 1st April, 2019  namely:-

(a)  The type approved HSRP including the third registration mark, shall be supplied by the vehicle manufacturers to their dealers, who shall place a mark of registration on such plates and affix them on the automobiles.

(b)  A manufacturer of the motor vehicles shall ensure that the requisite infrastructure required for placing the mark of registration on the security licence plates and printing the third registration plate are available with their dealers.

(c)  The cost of HSRP and its affixture on the vehicle after placing the mark of registration shall be included in the price of the new vehicle and no additional or itemised cost shall be charged from the vehicle purchaser by the dealer for the same.

(d) For the affixation of HSRP on existing vehicles, the HSRP including the third registration mark may be supplied and affixed by the dealers of the vehicle manufacturers after placing the mark of registration thereon.

(e) The manufacturers or suppliers of HSRP, if so authorised by the State concerned, may also supply the HSRP including the third registration mark on old vehicles after placing the registration mark.

• A manufacturer of the motor vehicles and their dealers or the manufacturers or suppliers of HSRP shall comply with the following specifications, namely: —

(a) The HSRP shall have a certificate from the Central Road Research Institute, New Delhi or any one of the testing agencies authorised by the Central Government under rule 126 of the Central Motor Vehicles Rules, 1989.

(b) The Registration Plate shall conform to the specifications spelt out in Rule 50 of the Central Motor Vehicles Rules, 1989, which deals with Form and manner of display of registration marks on the motor vehicles.

(c)  The Registration Plate shall be guaranteed for imperishable nature for a period of 5 years and in case of damage or withering due to natural usage before such periodand it shall be replaced by the motor vehicles manufacturer or their dealers in respect of vehicles mentioned as mentioned above, or the licence plate manufacturer or suppliers or their dealers, as the case may be, in other cases.

(d) The replacement for any existing registration plate may be made by the motor vehicles dealers or the authorised HSRP manufacturer or supplier, only after ensuring that the old plate has been surrendered and destroyed.

• The manufacturer of a motor vehicle shall exercise complete control over all the security features in their possession and shall be responsible for the use of any of the security feature on registration plate in the open market either by themselves or by any other person on their behalf.
• The manufacturer of a motor vehicle shall not be authorized to sell incomplete plates or the security features separately to anyone.  However, they shall be authorised to replace the third number plate in form of the self-destructive tape sticker for the already registered vehicles.
• The type approval certificate issued shall be liable for suspension or cancellation by the concerned testing agency for failure to comply with the Order.
• To protect against counterfeiting, a chromium-based hologram of the size 20 mm x 20 mm shall be applied by hot stamping on the top left-hand corner of the plate in both front and rear plates.

Key Requirements:

1. The hologram shall contain CHAKRA in blue colour as specified in the Annexure appended to this Order.
2. The permanent identification number of minimum 10 digits shall be laser branded into the reflective sheeting on the bottom left-hand side of the registration plate with the letter size being 5 mm. Provided that the permanent consecutive identification number shall be preceded by two alphabets representing the name of the vendor or the manufacturer or the supplier, as the case may be, for whom the type approval certificate shall be issued by the test agencies. Provided further that the test agencies specified in column (2) of the Table below shall use the alphabets specified in column (3) and (4) of the said Table as under:—

Also, provided that the height of the digits shall be 5mm for the front and rear registration plates and shall be 2.5 mm for the third registration plate, which shall be in the form of a sticker.

3. The hot stamping film to be applied on the letters or numerals of the licence number shall bear the inscription “INDIA”.
4. The letters “INDIA” shall be in blue colour with the font size of 10 (Ten) in Type Arial Bold script at 45 degrees’ inclination with sequential lines being the mirror image of the other.
5. The third registration plate in the form of a self-destructive type chromium based hologram sticker shall be of the size of 100 mm x 60 mm is to be affixed on the inner side of left hand corner of windshield of the vehicle.
6.  The sticker shall be required to be a diffraction foil film with high reflective index and shall have the chromium based hologram embedded.
7.  The details on the sticker shall be-

(a) Name of registering authority;

(b) registration number of the vehicle;

(c) laser branded permanent identification number; and

(d) Date of first registration of the vehicle.

8.  On the bottom of the right corner of the sticker, the chromium based hologram of size of 10 mm x10 mm shall be embedded and in the said sticker the registration number of the vehicle shall be in the centre with a letter size of 10 mm in height.
9. The laser branded permanent identification number shall come in the bottom left side of the sticker with numeral size being 2.5mm.
10. A depiction of the sticker shall be as specified in the Annexure appended to this Order.
11. The background colour for the self-destructive type chromium based hologram sticker for the
12. Diesel vehicles shall be Orange and it shall be Light Blue for the Petrol and CNG vehicles.
13. For all other vehicles, the background shall be of grey colour.
14.  A proper record of the registration plates issued should be maintained on a daily basis by manufacturer of motor vehicle or dealer.
15. The unique HSRP shall be linked electronically to the vehicle after its affixture on the vehicle on registration.

Source: Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (Amendment Rules Notification)

               Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (Order, 2018)

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