PRISTINA – Facilities for changing vehicle registration from Serbian license plates to RKS will available until March 31st. After that date, preregistration will be possible until April 21, but the facilities will no longer be available, the Kosovo Ministry of Internal Affairs confirmed today, KoSSev reported.
At the same time, this Ministry added that starting from the first of November owners of vehicles with license plates with Serbian markings of towns in Kosovo will be issued a reprimand, with the request that they go to the Vehicle Registration Center to register their vehicles.
Despite the continued calls from the EU and the US to extend the re-registration process from Serbian plates to RKS for another ten months, this Friday – three days before the deadline (October 31st), the Kosovo government decided to implement its decision on reregistration in phases.
In practice, their decision on the removal of Serbian plates will be applied until April 21, 2023 – starting with reprimands, fines, and temporary license plates, ending in the complete abolishment of these plates.
With the new decision, starting from 1st November 2022, all owners of vehicles with Serbian license plates with markings of towns in Kosovo will be issued a reprimand, with the request that they go to the Vehicle Registration Center to register their vehicles with RKS license plates.
The ministry reminded that from November 21st, 2022, all owners of vehicles with license plates „PR“, „KM“, „PZ“, „GL“, „UR“, „PE“, „DA“ or „ĐA“ will be subjected to a fine of EUR 150.00, as well as that temporary license plates will be introduced in the next two months. In addition, the owners of such vehicles may register to RKS license plates with the facilities provided – the ministry added.
They specified that all owners of vehicles with the above-mentioned plates will be able to use the facilities provided while registering to RKS until March 31st, 2023.
The MIA pointed out that – after that date – re-registration will be possible until April 21, 2023, but without the offered facilities.
The United States, alongside our international partners, urges the government of Kosovo to extend the implementation period for the new license plate regime.
“Kosovo has the right to implement the license plate regime under the Brussels Agreement, but an extension of the timeline is in the interest of making progress on the EU-facilitated dialogue to normalize Kosovo-Serbia relations. The United States is disappointed and concerned that the government of Kosovo has rejected requests to do so from its international partners”, State Department announced.
In the statement the added that Kosovo and Serbia should urgently and flexibly work to reach a comprehensive agreement on normalized relations, centered on mutual recognition.
“It is important that both parties reduce inflammatory rhetoric and undertake concrete actions to demonstrate their commitment to constructive collaboration to ensure a stable and prosperous future for the region”, they concluded.