Microdot Technology News: Avis welcomes new vehicle microdotting legislation Article 8

2010-09-07

Avis welcomes new vehicle microdotting legislation
Avis applauds the announcement by the South African Police Services


Avis applauds the announcement by the South African Police Services (SAPS) at its National Vehicle Crime Forum that microdot technology will become compulsory for all vehicles from January 2011.

Microdot technology is implemented by spraying the essential parts and panels of vehicles with thousands of dots that are invisible to the naked eye. A vehicle's "Vin Identification number" can only be revealed by using specialised scopes to read the dots. These scopes can be used by police services to identify vehicles and vehicle parts, especially in instances where the original vehicle identification (Vin and Engine) numbers have been tampered with.
Avis chief executive Wayne Duvenage says Avis is delighted with the legislation, which it believes will be an excellent deterrent to vehicle theft and a useful aid towards fighting vehicle crime in South Africa. "Avis was one of the first companies to embrace this crime fighting technology around eight years ago," he says.

Understanding the use and successful implementation of "microdot" technology in Australia and other parts of the world, Avis and the South African Vehicle Rental and Leasing Association (SAVRALA) began to urge vehicle manufacturers to apply microdot technology to all their cars as early as 2003. "While the technology is excellent, its ability to become a highly effective vehicle theft deterrent and crime fighting tool has been hampered by the low number of vehicles to which it has been applied.  While the police have embraced the use of this technology, with less than 7% of new cars being microdotted over the past five years, they simply can't get into an efficient mindset of using the scopes and methodology applicable to identify stolen or potentially stolen vehicles," says Duvenage.

The new legislation will affect all vehicles registered for the first time in South Africa on or after 1 January 2011;  all vehicles the SAPS allocates a new VIN (SAPVIN) number to on or after 01 January 2011; and all vehicles imported into South Africa on or after 1 January 2011.

Duvenage believes microdot technology will lead to the arrest and demise of many of this country's illegal "Chop Shop" syndicates. "We congratulate the Department of Transport for driving this initiative and look forward to seeing the long term benefits of this action," he says.

At the request of the SAPS, the Minister of Transport will publish amended regulations to the National Road Traffic Act (Act 93 of 1996) to legislate the application of microdot technology in line with SANS 534-1 (SA's microdotting standard). 

Graham Wright of Business Against Crime South Africa (BACSA) confirmed that SANS 534-1 is currently been revised in anticipation of the publication of the regulation amendments. "We are extremely pleased that our hard work has paid off and would like to thank all the players in the industry who have made this legislation a reality," he says.

Avis donated over R62 000 worth of transportation to South African Tourism and the Federated Hospitality Association of Southern Africa (FEDHASA) to conduct training at various tourism sector businesses around the country.

When SA Tourism and FEDHASA approached Avis in April with a request to support their countrywide initiative to improve South Africa's customer service at all service "touch points", the car rental company immediately saw the benefit for tourism of the initiative and agreed to help out.

Avis CE Wayne Duvenage says because the initiative was all about helping to transform the country into a globally competitive service economy and a world class destination of choice, Avis did not hesitate to get involved. "We were asked to provide transportation to help FEDHASA get the training teams to their various training sessions in the nine provinces," he says.

Over 20 000 people in the private and public sector attended the 74 training seminars, which were conducted by the Disney Institute between 3 May and 10 June. "We provided a minibus for local travel and vehicles in the various provinces throughout the entire training process," says Duvenage.

The 2010 FIFA World Cup is largely viewed as a catalyst to generate recognition for South Africa as a world class travel destination. "Because the local tourism industry is a major economic driver for the country, we have an obligation to be the best we can be during the World Cup and encourage increased inbound travel to the country in years to come," says Duvenage.

FEHASA national chairman, Eddy Khosa, says it was due to the support of partners such as Avis that FEDHASA was in a position to report a successful delivery of the project. "We are extremely grateful to Avis for its generous support of our service excellence initiative," he says.

(www.avis.co.za)