Loke: VEP enforcement at Malaysia-Singapore land border to start July 1

PUTRAJAYA — The government will fully enforce the Vehicle Entry Permit (VEP) at the Malaysia-Singapore land border starting July 1 to ensure the safety of all road users.

Transport Minister Anthony Loke (picture) said the enforcement aligns with Section 66H(7) of the Road Transport Act 1987 (Act 333), which states that it is an offence for any person to drive a foreign motor vehicle without a valid permit before entering or while in Malaysia.

According to him, the Road Transport Department (JPJ) will issue warning notices to foreign vehicle owners who have not registered or activated their VEP.

“If private vehicles enter Malaysia without a valid VEP, they will be fined RM300, and the fine must be settled before they leave the country.

“Why are we implementing this on July 1? Because ample time has been given – starting with a soft advocacy approach from Oct 1, 2024,” he said at a press conference here today.

Regarding enforcement, he said that private vehicles without a valid VEP will be issued a summons and required to settle the fine and register for the VEP before being allowed to leave Malaysia.

For individual private vehicle owners who have pre-registered for a VEP but have not completed activation, a summons will be issued and must be paid before they are allowed to leave Malaysia.

“There is another category involving company-owned private vehicles. If these vehicles do not have a valid VEP or are not registered at all, the summons will be issued to the person operating the company vehicle,” he said.

“… but if they have pre-registered, we will issue a warning notice instead. For this category, we’re providing some flexibility, as the process involves submitting various company documents and additional steps,” he explained.

He added that foreign-registered vehicle owners who are issued summonses for not having a valid VEP must settle the fines before being allowed to leave Malaysia.

He stressed that all enforcement operations related to the VEP will be conducted outside the entry points to prevent congestion at the border.

“Summons payments must be made using cashless methods, either at the JPJ office counters, JPJ mobile counters, or online via myEG,” he said.

Loke said that during the first phase of enforcement, a total of 52,012 Singapore-registered vehicles were randomly inspected, resulting in 2,245 warning notices or 4.32 per cent being issued to vehicle owners who had not registered for a VEP.

As of June 2, a total of 231,018 Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tags had been issued for individual private vehicles, while 2,660 tags were issued for private company vehicles.

“All foreign-registered vehicle owners are urged to promptly register, install, and activate their VEP RFID tags to avoid any complications when entering or exiting Malaysia in the future,” he said. — BERNAMA