The General Department of Customs and Excise has given right-hand drive vehicle owners the opportunity to register their vehicles up until July 31 with a tax payment deadline of 90 days from July 8. Any owners who do not fulfill these obligations will have their vehicles confiscated.
This policy shift came about after Prime Minister Hun Sen granted a favour to the right-hand drive vehicle owners who hadn’t modified their vehicles and could not register them in order to meet their tax payment obligations after roughly 200 of them protested and blocked the road on July 5.
The announcement of the General Department of Customs and Excise dated July 11 stated that right-hand drive vehicle owners who have already paid taxes but have not yet converted to left-hand drive can come and get their vehicle tax receipts with an option to convert or not to convert the vehicle in order to register it and receive number plates.
The General Department further stressed that the remaining right-hand drive vehicle owners who have not yet paid taxes must pay them or apply for registration as grandfathered-in right-hand drive vehicles already in the country in order to pay their taxes without being required to modify their steering columns first.
“The application for registration of existing right-hand drive vehicles in the country with unpaid taxes will start from now until July 31, 2022. After this period, vehicles that fail to register will be considered the same as newly imported vehicles in the country and will be subject to crackdowns and confiscated in accordance with the laws in force. Taxes are to be paid within 90 days from this date which is October 8, 2022,” the customs and excise department announcement said.
According to Prime Minister Hun Sen, as of July 6, Cambodia has 6,999 right-hand drive vehicles registered for modification of the steering wheel and 4,299 of them have already undergone the conversion, while 2,509 had yet to do so.
Asia Injury Prevention Foundation (AIP) country director Kim Pagna, called for stricter law enforcement and for right-hand drive vehicles who have not yet registered to fulfill their duties on time to avoid further illegal acts.
“However, due to the current Covid-19 situation, the government can examine the possibility of simplifying the procedures so that the right-hand drive users do not rush to register, which leads to the risk of Covid-19 transmission. They can do this via online registration or any other remote procedure that is convenient for people,” he said.
Pagna also insists that the government should set a separate speed limit for drivers of this type of vehicle and establish regular training sessions to avoid accidents on the road because driving the right-hand drive vehicles in a traffic system designed for left-hand driving is a huge risk.