More than a week has passed since the start of the implementation of the decision on the extension of the deadline for the re-registration of vehicles with license plates with Serbian markings of towns in Kosovo to RKS. So far, a total of 851 vehicles have been re-registered, the Kosovo Police confirmed for KoSSev.
Although new license plates are issued, drivers are not issued with Kosovo driving licenses after re-registration. The KP of the region north announced a request to Pristina to enable the conversion, that is, the issuance of Kosovo driver’s licenses.
The deadline for re-registration expires on December 1st, and after that date, drivers who have not switched to RKS will be fined and their license plates will be confiscated. If the police pull over the same vehicle again, the vehicle itself will be confiscated.
In late October, the Kosovo government decided to extend the deadline for re-registration of vehicles and make it possible for citizens with license plates of Serbian markings in towns in Kosovo (namely, KM, PR, PZ, GL, UR, PE, and ĐA) to re-register to RKS from November 1 to December 1, 2023.
This decision stipulates that after December 1, vehicles that were registered in the period from June 10, 1999, to April 21, 2022, with these license plates, will no longer have the possibility to register to RKS, enter, or operate in the territory Kosovo.
The Kosovo government, as well as the police, revealed that the decision to extend the deadline for re-registration was made following „great interest and demand for vehicle registration to RKS“, and that the same facilities and all conditions from the Administrative Instruction from July of last year apply this time as well.
The deadline extension was followed by a new wave of re-registration. People are waiting in lines to re-register but refuse to speak to the media, saying only that they are being forced to re-register their vehicles so they can drive them. On the other hand, Srpska Lista and official Belgrade have yet to react.
A total of 851 vehicles have been re-registered since November 1, Veton Elshani, the deputy commander of the Kosovo Police for the region north, confirmed for KoSSev.
Only yesterday, 174 vehicles have switched to RKS license plates, he added, 64 in Leposavic, 37 in North Mitrovica, 27 in Zubin Potok, and 26 in Zvecan, while another 20 were re-registered in South Mitrovica.
Elshani states that vehicle re-registration is taking place without major issued. He stated that in order to switch to RKS, it is not necessary for the owner of the vehicle to have a Kosovo driver’s license.
Re-registration can also be done with driver’s licenses of towns in Kosovo issued by Serbia, explains Elshani, stating that car owners will be able to drive with the same licenses, despite the fact that, at least for now, they do not have Kosovo driver’s licenses.
He added that the Kosovo Police of the region north plans to send a request to enable the conversion, that is, the issuance of Kosovo driver’s licenses.
„Today we talked about it with the Ministry of the Interior, but I don’t know who should make that decision, the MIA or the Government, but there was a period when licenses were converted and we are asking for it to be the same now and that will be our next request and it is not related to the re-registration of the vehicle,“ Elshani elaborated.
No reports of threats or intimidation
Elshani points out that so far no cases of threats or intimidation of citizens who have re-registered vehicles to RKS have been reported to the KP.
„We don’t have any cases, but if they were reported, the police would investigate those cases very seriously,“ he said.
What will happen after December 1st
Elshani repeats that re-registration of vehicles can be done until December 1, after that period, vehicles with Serbian license plates of towns in Kosovo will not be allowed to operate anymore.
The Kosovo police will first issue a fine to drivers and confiscate their license plates, and if they pull over the same vehicle again, it will be confiscated, he explained.
The deputy commander of the KP for the region north emphasizes that only vehicles that are in traffic will be confiscated, but that there will be no „mass confiscation“, and „no closing down of the entire north of Kosovo“.
„If the vehicle is parked, we will not deal with the car. We will handle these cases as we would any unregistered car. If ten cars pass by with KM plates, we will pull over one of them – take the plates, issue a fine, and then let them go, stating that such a vehicle should not be driven. The second time, the vehicle will be confiscated,“ Elshani said.
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