Owners of electric scooters in Bulgaria will be required to register them with their local municipality by 1 July this year, following amendments to the Road Traffic Act. The changes also provide for the creation of a unified national register of electric scooters.
The national register is to be established within five months by the State Agency for Road Safety. Within three months, the Council of Ministers must adopt an ordinance setting out the terms and conditions for registration.
Vladislav Stoitsov, Bulgarian Association for Electromobility:
“People will go to the municipality corresponding to their permanent address, submit an application for registration, and the municipality will then enter both the owner and the scooter into the register.”
The register will combine information about both the owner and the electric scooter.
Vladislav Stoitsev added:
“This includes its characteristics – model, manufacturer, serial number, power output and potential maximum speed.”
Last year, eight people lost their lives in incidents involving electric scooters. For this reason, the Association of Road Accident Victims has expressed support for the creation of the register.
Vladimir Todorov from the association said:
“Electric scooters are often used by minors. With registration, it will be clear which parent is responsible and that person can be held accountable and sanctioned if their child breaks the rules.”
Owners of electric scooters have also welcomed the idea of a register. However, it remains unclear how registration numbers will be displayed.
Asked where a registration number could be placed, scooter owner Valeri Toshev said:
“For my model, for example, it can be mounted at the rear so that it is visible to the control authorities. There are also models that are specifically designed to carry registration plates.”
Vladislav Stoitsev:
“In Germany, the plate effectively represents the compulsory third-party liability insurance and comes in different colours depending on the year.”
Although Bulgarian law provides for mandatory third-party liability insurance for electric scooters, it cannot yet be applied on a wide scale until the national register is put in place.
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