Checks for the Vehicle Entry Permit (VEP) will not be enforced during both peak and non-peak hours until further notice, the Ministry of Transport told Channel News Asia. Registration for the VEP was opened in April this year, with owners of foreign vehicles given six months to apply for and install the RFID tag. The VEP for each registered vehicle is valid for five years.

The Malaysian government announced in April that it would begin enforcement of the VEP beginning October 1, though the requirement of the VEP for vehicles entering the country was deferred at the end of last month at the Sultan Abu Bakar Complex (Tuas) and Sultan Iskandar Building (Woodlands) checkpoints.

The transport ministry also announced the opening of another VEP RFID Tag fitment centre at the outbound Sultan Abu Bakar Complex JPJ office at a date yet to be announced. The first phase of enforcement was to have commenced at the southern border with Singapore; the author of the Channel News Asia report noted that there was no enforcement of the VEP when their vehicle both entered and departed from Malaysia on October 1, when the VEP was to have taken effect.

The Malaysian government said that the VEP “is a vital component in its efforts to address the problems with owners of foreign vehicles that have violated our road transport laws and the issues with irresponsible parties exporting/importing stolen or illegitimately registered vehicles across the country’s borders.”

The latter was in reference to ‘cloned vehicles‘ or those that were supposed to be scrapped in Singapore, but instead illegally imported into Malaysia for sale below market prices and subsequently run on fake number plates mirroring those of a similar vehicle.