This article was originally published by RFID Update.
April 25, 2008—More evidence that electronic vehicle registration is growing as a niche RFID application came this week as the Philippines Land Transportation Office (LTO) announced its intention to deploy RFID stickers for vehicles across the country. The stickers will serve as documentation that a vehicle is registered, that appropriate taxes have been paid, and that it complies with government regulations pertaining to the environment and emissions. Additional information will be stored for non-standard vehicles like public utility trucks.
The Filipino government cites two primary benefits for the program. The first is an improvement in compliance; the RFID stickers will allow officials to better enforce compliance by detecting non-compliant vehicles. The second, and perhaps more impactful, benefit is the increased tax revenue. The government expects collections related to vehicle registrations and emissions compliance to grow to 13 billion pesos this year, or approximately US$309 million. That figure represents a major bump from last year, all thanks to RFID. “A 20 to 25 percent increase in collection is expected with the implementation of the RFID project,” said Transportation Secretary Leandro Mendoza. LTO chief Alberto Suansing commented, “Millions of pesos in potential government revenue are lost annually due to non-compliance with vehicle registration requirements.”
Other benefits include improved customer service and increased automation of the registration process.
Electronic vehicle registration, or EVR, is gaining traction with governments around the world. Last year, Bermuda announced an RFID-based EVR initiative with similar goals as the Filipino one: recouped tax revenue and increased vehicle regulatory compliance. The Bermuda government also estimates that lost taxes are in the millions.
Just last month, RFID hardware and solutions provider Sirit announced its acquisition of RSI ID Technologies, which Sirit CEO Norbert Dawalibi told RFID Update was motivated by, among other reasons, increasing demand for electronic vehicle registration. “We’re seeing lots of demand around the world for this application,” he said at the time (see Sirit to Acquire RSI ID Technologies).
Read the full article on the Filipino initiative