Annual Fee for Issuance and Renewal of Vehicle License Comes Into Force
Saudi Arabia started charging an annual fee for the issuance and renewal of Vehicle Registration License (istimara) in accordance with the vehicle’s fuel efficiency effective from Sunday, Oct. 22. In the first phase, the fee will be applicable to only owners of 2024 model new light vehicles.
The second phase will come into force during the year 2024 and will cover owners of all light and heavy vehicles. The annual fee will be calculated according to two criteria. The first criterion is engine capacity for all light vehicles model 2015 and before and all heavy vehicles while the criterion will be fuel efficiency for light vehicles model 2016 and later.
The fee has been divided into five levels according to fuel consumption efficiency and no fee will be charged for low-consumption vehicles.
It is noteworthy that the Council of Ministers decided in August 2021 to charge an annual fee for the issuance and renewal of vehicle licenses according to their fuel efficiency. A number of government agencies are participating in the application of the annual fee and these include the Ministry of Commerce; the Saudi Standards, Metrology and Quality Organization; the Zakat, Tax and Customs Authority; the General Traffic Department; the National Information Center, and the Saudi Energy Efficiency Center.
