The Traffic (Amendment) Act, 2022 has brought about various aspects in the motoring sector mainly in the area of motor vehicle inspection and drunk driving. In this post, we shall focus on the motor vehicle inspection part of it.
Section 16 of the principal Act {Traffic Act CAP 403} is amended by deleting subsection (2) and substituting therefor the 403 following new subsections-
“(2) Every vehicle that has been operated for a period exceeding four years from the recorded date of manufacture shall be subjected to inspection at intervals to be determined by the Authority.
(3) An inspection under subsection (2) shall be conducted by the Authority or persons authorized in writing by the Authority”.
Section 16 (2) of the previous Act reads as follows-:
(2) Every vehicle more than four years old from the recorded date of manufacture shall be subjected to inspection by the motor vehicle inspection unit.
Inspection of motor vehicles is done for Commercial Vehicles by the National Transport and Safety Authority. A commercial vehicle is described under Section 2 of the Traffic Act Cap 403 to mean “a motor vehicle constructed or adapted for the carriage of goods or burdens of any description in connection with any trade, business or agriculture, but does not include any type or class of motor vehicle which the Authority may, by notice in the Gazette, declare not to be commercial vehicles for the purposes of this Act”
However, NTSA has been issuing inspection certificates/ stickers for new vehicles including private motor vehicles where the owners have to part with Kenya Shillings Seven Hundred (700/-)
The National Transport and Safety Authority (NTSA) was established through an Act of Parliament; Act Number 33 on 26th October 2012. Previously, before NTSA came into existence, the inspection of motor vehicles was being carried out by the Kenya Police under the Traffic Department while registration of motor vehicles was under the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA).
Back to the amendments on inspection, the new Section 16(2) of the Traffic Act uses the words “Every motor vehicle” which means that there is no categorization when it comes to inspection. It includes both commercial and private motor vehicles. Unconfirmed reports in Kenya indicate that there are roughly Four Million vehicles in Kenya. NTSA has about 19 inspection centres in Industrial Area, Embu, Thika, Kisumu, Mombasa, Kakamega, Nakuru, Garissa, Nyeri, Nyahururu, Machakos, Meru, Voi, Kisii, Kericho, Eldoret, Kitale, Nairobi Area and Ruaraka. Now, will these centers have the capacity to handle all the vehicles in Kenya?
Out rightly, the answer is a resounding NO. How is this going to be solved? The solution comes in Section 16 (3) which provides that an inspection under subsection (2) shall be conducted by the Authority or persons authorized in writing by the Authority”. This gives leeway to the NTSA to outsource motor vehicle inspection services. How does this work? It should work the same way KEBS has approved inspection firms such as QISJ.
NTSA has formulated Motor Vehicle Inspection Regulations, 2022 to supplement the Traffic Act which addresses this but they have still not come into force. http://www.spaceyamagari.com will comprehensively dissect the regulations once they are in force
Another aspect in the new section 16(2) of the Traffic Act is where it states, “……shall be subjected to inspection at intervals to be determined by the Authority.” The Act does not state the intervals. In this situation, the body responsible for inspection has the duty to determine the interval or period. Currently, inspection is done annually.
Consequently, the inspection will obviously have a great impact on the NTSA portal since inspection bookings are done online. As it is, the NTSA portal experiences challenges from the inspection booking, motor vehicle registration, and license renewal among other services. It remains to be seen whether NTSA will make improvements to its portal in anticipation of the high traffic in terms of Motor Vehicle inspection booking.
THE MOTOR VEHICLE INSPECTION REGULATIONS, 2022
Please note that NTSA rolled out The Motor Vehicle Inspection Regulations, 2022 to also supplement the Traffic Act. However, the regulations are still not operationalized and NTSA has called for the Submission of Memoranda for the regulations. You can find the draft regulations here>>> https://www.ntsa.go.ke/site/?p=1763
We shall however have a quick glance at what the proposed Regulations provide for.
Under regulation 3, the regulations state that all private vehicles which are more than four years old from the recorded date of manufacture shall undergo a motor vehicle inspection test after every two years.
Provided that all private vehicles imported to the country shall be exempt from the requirement of inspection for two years from the date of registration in Kenya provided that they have been inspected prior to importation by the Kenya Bureau of Standards or their agents.
However, some vehicles are exempted, including army vehicles, police armored vehicles, presidential vehicles, tractors used exclusively for agricultural purposes, golf carts, motorized pedal cycles, and all-terrain vehicles.
The Regulations under Regulation 12 provide that the Authority shall license privately owned vehicle inspection centers to conduct motor vehicle inspection tests under a fee-sharing arrangement upon payment of the license fee specified in the First Schedule. The fee-sharing agreement is specified to be at a ratio of 80:20 in favor of the privatively owned inspection center.
Regulation 14. (1) outlines that a person or body corporate shall not operate more than three privately owned vehicle inspection centers.
- (1) provides that a privately owned vehicle inspection center license shall be valid for a period of three years from the date of issue renewable.
The Regulations also provide for the applicable fees as follows:
- Inspection of motorcycles and three-wheelers – 500/-
- Inspection of vehicles below 3000 cc – 2000/-
- Inspection of vehicles above 300cc – 2500/-
- Inspection of trailers under 5tons – 2000/-
- Inspection of trailers over 5tons – 2500/-
- Inspection of heavy commercial vehicles less than 5 tons – 3000/-
- Inspection of heavy commercial vehicles over 5 tons – 3500/-
- Inspection report for accident vehicles – 1500/-
- Application and Renewal fees for Licenses – 3050/-
- Inspector license annually – 3000/-
- Annual Inspection Center License Fee – 200,000/-
Stay tuned as www.spaceyamagari.com shall give a comprehensive review of The Motor Vehicle Inspection Regulations, 2022 issued by NTSA.
Karimi M. Martin
+254704452436
Young Lawyer with a passion for vehicles.
Upcoming Motor Journalist.
L'écriture est ma passion.
Nissan Patrol Y 62 is the goal.
www.karimi.co.ke
karimi@spaceyamagari.com
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