KEY POINTS:
All new and used vehicles imported into New Zealand are to be microdotted with a unique number to help reduce vehicle thefts, the Government announced today.
Police Assistant Commissioner Grant Nicholls said the move would help reduce vehicle crime as stolen vehicles would be more easily traced.
Under the mandatory new identification system, called whole of vehicle marking, a unique 17-digit identification number will be assigned to each vehicle when imported.
The numbers, in the form of thousands of microdots, will be placed over various parts of the vehicle to make it more difficult to change the vehicle's identity. It will also make it easier to identify stolen vehicles and parts.
Justice Minister Mark Burton said it would apply to all light passenger vehicles with nine seats or fewer, which were less than 15 years old.
The Government expects the new system to come into effect in about a year. It will cost about $88 per vehicle to be microdotted with the cost initially worn by the importer and then passed on to the consumer.
From then on, about 200,000 vehicles a year -- based on the number of vehicles imported in 2006 -- will have to undergo whole of vehicle marking before they can be registered and sold.
Existing cars will not need to be microdotted, and the system will not apply to motorcycles.
Police Minister Annette King said the system would speed up police investigations into vehicle theft.
It would also disrupt organised crime networks as the sale of stolen vehicles and parts were a major way of funding such networks.
It would make it easier to solve crimes, such as identifying vehicles used in hit-and-run incidents when part of the vehicle was left behind.
Stolen vehicles were often involved in dangerous police pursuits so any reduction in the number of stolen vehicles on the road should make roads safer, she said.
Sometimes vehicles were partly rebuilt with stolen parts which could compromise safety.
Mr Nicholls said theft of vehicles had been an issue over recent years with increasing sophistication by car ringers and organised criminals disassembling and reassembling vehicles.
"Now we will have a sophisticated new system that will very effectively combat many of the tricks of the professional car thieves," he said.
- NZPA
