DVLA ramps up digital vehicle registration - Directs all vehicles predating 2023 to be digitally registered
The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority (DVLA) is ramping up the migration of manual data to a digital platform to facilitate service delivery in line with global best practices.
In that regard, the authority has asked owners of all vehicles registered before 2023 to visit its offices across the country to ensure seamless migration of their data.
The Director of Corporate Affairs at the DVLA, Stephen Attuh, explained that vehicles registered manually before the introduction of digital registration in 2023 would have to be onboarded onto the digital platform as a matter of necessity.
"Customers whose vehicles fall under this category need to visit any of our offices across the country to ensure that their manual registration files are migrated to the digital platform before we finally roll out the new licence plate system," he said.
In an interview with the Daily Graphic last Monday, Mr Attuh stressed that vehicles that were not onboarded onto the digital platform would not be able to acquire the new licence plate when parliamentary processes were eventually completed for the initiative to take off.
Context
In the middle of last year, the DVLA announced the introduction of a new licence plate policy schedule to take effect at the beginning of this month.
The new system seeks to introduce licence plates embedded with Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) to allow for traceability to promote road safety.
However, on December 24 last year, the DVLA Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Julius Neequaye Kotey, announced at a press briefing that the implementation of the policy had been put on hold pending approval of the new process by Parliament.
He explained that the suspension of the policy became necessary because a proposed amendment to the Road Traffic Regulation, 2012 (L.I. 2180), which specified the contents and format of vehicle number plates in the country was still before Parliament and had not yet been approved.
Mr Kotey had added that until the legislative requirements were fully settled, the DVLA was unable to proceed with the rollout of the new RFID-embedded licence plates.
Following that development, there was uncertainty surrounding the registration of new vehicles.
New registrations
When the Daily Graphic visited the DVLA headquarters to ascertain whether new vehicles were being registered amid the suspension of the new licence plate policy, it came to light that the first day of registration (January 2, 2026) recorded 810 registrations.
This comprised 659 vehicles, 37 motorcycles, 109 tricycles and five other equipment.
Mr Attuh said the figures recorded on the first day were significant given the uncertainty that had been created by the suspension of the new licence plate policy, which was initially scheduled to take effect at the beginning of the year.
He urged members of the public to continue with the registration of their vehicles under the existing regime while waiting for the new system to start as soon as practicable.
"The fact that the implementation of the new licence plate policy has been suspended does not mean that people have to wait until such a time when the way will be cleared for it to take effect.
If you want to wait for the new regime before registering your vehicle, then you must get a DV number plate," he said.
He stressed that the DVLA was focused on registering vehicles using the existing system because the authority could not suspend the performance of its mandate with an administrative directive.
Mr Attuh said as a measure to make vehicle registration easier and accessible, the DVLA was focused on expanding its reach across the country by establishing more offices.
He said the ultimate plan was to establish at least 40 offices across the 16 regions within four years.
“We have already opened 10 offices last year, and we hope that the remaining offices will be opened in the next three years to bring our services closer to Ghanaians,” he said.
He added that the authority was also making efforts to expand the current computer-based testing for licence applicants from the current six Ghanaian languages to as many of them as possible.
Mr Attuh also said the DVLA would give more attention to removing middlemen in the driver and vehicle licensing and registration process.
