The General Department of Customs and Excise (GDCE) has launched a campaign to round up untaxed vehicles – both left- and right-hand drive – that had not registered before the July 31 deadline.

The ultimatum for paying import taxes and VAT on both left- and right-hand drive vehicles is October 18.

According to a GDCE report, in the first five days of the crackdown, almost 30 vehicles had already been seized. And from August 8-12, customs forces – in cooperation with the gendarmerie – confiscated 27 vehicles, 11 left-hand drive vehicles and 16 right-hand drive (RHD) vehicles.

GDCE spokesman Keam Chankosal said they had made it clear that RHD vehicles must be registered by July 31 and that they would be strictly enforcing penalties immediately after the deadline had passed.

“Customs forces are now conducting operations to seize untaxed vehicles. We set a fair deadline and encouraged vehicle owners to meet their obligations, so they were fairly warned,” he told The Post.

San Chey, executive director of the NGO Affiliated Network for Social Accountability, welcomed the move.

“The fact that the government is tightening its expectations regarding tax payments is a good thing. It contributes to the national revenue and is desired by the vast majority of the Kingdom’s people.”

Citing a July 31 report, GDCE deputy director Pha Eng Veng said there are more than 9,800 RHD vehicles in the Kingdom, of which just 3,000 had fulfilled their tax obligations.

The owners of these vehicles have already been warned that if they registered them by July 31, the vehicle would be considered as already present in the country, but if they missed the deadline, they would be treated as a new untaxed imports, and illegal.

“From August 1 onwards, all customs and excise units must mobilise and carry out a rigorous campaign to track down untaxed vehicles in all corners of the Kingdom,” he said.

As of June 30, the customs department had collected $76 million in unpaid vehicle taxes.