The traffic police of Belarus is ready for an increase in the number of registered vehicles due to higher import customs duties

March 2, Minsk /BELTA/. The Belarusian traffic police are ready for an increase in the number of registered vehicles due to the increase in customs duties on the import of passenger cars for individuals from July 1, 2011. This was announced today at a press conference by the Deputy Head of the Main Traffic Police Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Belarus, Maxim Podberezkin, as reported by a BELTA correspondent. Maxim Podberezkin emphasized that Belarus has always been ahead of neighboring countries in terms of motorization. In the past year alone, the number of registered vehicles in the country increased by 250,000 units. "This is not just an additional burden on the infrastructure, but also a burden on the traffic police registration departments," he noted. Nevertheless, the registration departments of the traffic police are currently coping with their tasks. "While the law obliges us to register a vehicle within 10 days, today the entire registration process is carried out on the day of application," Maxim Podberezkin stressed. Currently, there are 37 registration departments operating in Belarus, three of which are in Minsk. In the capital alone, about a thousand vehicle registration and deregistration operations are performed daily. It should be recalled that the customs duty on the import of passenger cars for individuals in Belarus will increase by more than 4 times from July 1, 2011. The customs duty rate on cars up to 3 years old with an engine displacement of 1.4 thousand cubic centimeters and a value of 8 thousand euros will be 54% of the customs value, but not less than 2.5 euros per cubic centimeter. Currently, the applicable customs rate for new cars is 0.6 euros/cubic centimeter. Thus, the total customs duty on cars up to 3 years old will increase from 840 euros to 4,320 euros (based on value) or to 3.5 thousand euros (based on volume). As for used cars aged 3 to 5 years with an engine displacement of 2 thousand cubic centimeters, the rate will increase from 0.4 euros to 2.7 euros. The total duty will increase from 800 euros to 5.4 thousand euros. -0-