A total of 25.831 passenger vehicles were imported in BiH in the first four months of 2016 and their total value is 198 million BAM. This is the data of the Indirect Taxation Authority of BiH.
This is a continuation of the upward trend of the import of vehicles. More than 36.3 million ABAM have already been paid this year for import duties only. However, effects of the recently adopted decision by the Council of Ministers of BiH on the limitation of the import of used vehicles to those which meet at least the Euro 4 norm will be known in the coming period.
According to one showroom from Mostar which deals with the sale of new and used vehicles, it is still early to talk about the possible increase in the sale of new vehicles.
“At least one or two months must pass in order for the real situation on the vehicle market to be seen. Only one month before, vehicles with the Euro 3 norm were still being imported. If you look at the statistics from last year and before, the increase in sales of vehicles with year of production between 2001 and 2005 is evident,” the source said.
Certified court expert for traffic Ševal Kovačević said that the Euro 4 norm was introduced in the EU in early 2015.
“That is over ten years now and such vehicles are still of very good quality. True chaos emerged when the import of vehicles with the Euro 3 norm was approved because the general age of vehicles in BiH increased to 17.5 years. That also decreased the average roadworthiness on the roads,” Kovačević said.
According to Kovačević, this was also contributed to by the difficult economic situation where people are forced to buy a used car.
Kovačević explains that the Ministry of Internal Affairs should be equipped with fast vehicles and laptops which they can use to access the central register and increase the control of participants in traffic.
“We must understand that traffic is a dangerous environment. Vehicles in traffic must be technically right, but investments must be made in road infrastructure as well. Today you can see a new gas station being constructed every 100 or 200 meters, and there are no investments in infrastructure. Legal sanctions for perpetrators and those who offenses are rarely implemented,” Kovačević said and added that “the most substantial criminal nowadays is the one on the wheels”.
(Source: faktor.ba/photo radiokameleon.ba)
