Question NW2703 to the Minister of Trade and Industry
07 December 2016 - NW2703
De Freitas, Mr MS to ask the Minister of Trade and Industry
(1)Was there any public participation and consultation with regard to the new SA Bureau of Standards policy on number plates; if not, why not; if so, (a) in what form did the participation and consultation take place, (b) which organisations participated and (c) on what dates did the participation and consultation take place; (2) (a) when will a national standard be concluded, (b) where can the original specifications be accessed, (c) what testing has been conducted on number plates in the (i) 2013-14, (ii) 2014-15 and (iii) 2015-16 financial years and (d) what were the test results in each of the specified years?NW3194E
Reply:
1. Yes, there was public participation and consultations with affected stakeholders in the number plate industry.
(a) Participation and consultation took place in the form of meetings with affected stakeholders.
(b) The number plate industry, comprising number plate blankers/manufacturers and embossers participated in the meetings with the SABS. The industry was represented by South African Number Plate Association, the Number Plate Association of South Africa, the Retail Motor Industry Organisation(RMI) and the companies Uniplate, New Number Plate Requisites and ARGA. Meetings were also held with all the provincial transport departments except those of the North West and the Western Cape provinces.
(c) Meetings were held on 8 February 2016, 10 February 2016, 06 April 2016 and 18 April 2016 with the various stakeholders mentioned in (b) above.
2. (a) Number plates are controlled by the existing South African National Standard (SANS) 1116. There are no new national standards being developed to control number plates.
(b) The original specifications that are contained in SANS 1116 can be assessed through the SABS Sales Office in Pretoria and also through the SABS regional offices. These specifications can also be assessed on the SABS online webstore.
(c) Responses to the following sub questions: i, ii and iii and also (d) are all captured in tabular form below.
Summary of tests conducted in 2013/14, 2014/15 and 2015/16
|
Tests conducted according to SANS 1116-2 and 4 |
2013/14 |
2014/15 |
2015/16 |
Current failures |
|
License Numbers (characters) |
X |
X |
||
|
Setting out characters |
X |
|||
|
Color and luminance factors |
X |
|||
|
License number and border |
X |
|||
|
Graphics |
x |
X |
||
|
Workmanship |
x |
|||
|
Retro-reflective material |
x |
|||
|
Resistance to weathering |
x |
|||
|
Resistance to scratching |
x |
x |
x |
|
|
Resistance to bending |
x |
x |
x |
|
|
Resistance to impact (applies only to plastic number plates) |
x |
x |
x |
|
|
Resistance to abrasion (applies to aluminium number plate) |
x |
x |
x |
|
|
Packing |
X |
X |