ROAD TAX - A SECOND CHANCE FOR CYPRIOTS AT THE LAST MINUTE - LAST MINUTE RENEWALS LED TO CRASH OF SYSTEM - Filenews 13/3 by Charalambos Zakos
Cypriots remain last-minute citizens, even in the renewal of traffic permits. This is at least derived from the data of the Department of Road Transport (TOM), since in the last few days before the deadline, close to 100,000 licenses were renewed, while the Parliament decided yesterday to give them a second chance.
In fact, this seems to be the reason why the TOM website on the last day before the deadline faced a problem, since the requests were thousands and the electronic system due to the increased traffic could not manage everything.
Due to this, the Parliament and the competent committee, after consultation with the Ministry of Transport, submitted a relevant law proposal in the form of urgency, which it voted in favour of yesterday's Plenary Session of the Parliament. In short, it was possible to extend, without charge, the renewal of traffic permits, with retroactive effect.
As noted, this extension could not be given by the Ministry of Transport, but by the Parliament, as the expiration of the deadline is based on relevant legislation.
In particular, according to the TOM, based on the relevant legislation, the deadline for the renewal of marketing authorizations is completed within 70 days from the end of the reference year, i.e. December 31. Therefore, as explained, the last renewal day is set every year on either March 10 or 11.
Now, with the decision of the Parliament, citizens can renew their registration until March 31, 2026 without charge, while those who renewed after March 11 and paid a surcharge, it will be returned to them, due to retroactivity.
According to TOM data, until March 11, when the deadline had normally expired, the registration certificates of 780,395 vehicles had been renewed, while 96,277 were carried out only in the last three days, i.e. from 9/3 to 11/3.
Based on the data, it should be noted that every year there is an increasing trend in renewals from year to year, as in 2024 renewals were at 745,363 (until 10/3/2024), in 2025 at 772,069 (until 11/3/2025), while in 2026, as we mentioned above, they increased by 780,395 (until 11/3/2026).
The TOM reminds that those who had renewed the registration certificate of their vehicle for the year 2025, but do not intend to renew it for the year 2026, should submit a notice to the TOM for the immobilization of the vehicle. The immobilization is also done online on the website of the TOM (Road Transport Department).
