China streamlines vehicle safety inspections

New private cars in China will be exempt from on-spot safety inspections within the first six years of purchase, according to the Ministry of Public Security (MPS) on Thursday.

Under the new policy to be effective from September, car owners only need to provide relevant documents to acquire a safety certificate every two years, instead of queueing in long lines of vehicles to past safety test to acquire the signature, as they used to do.

The move is aimed at addressing the imbalance between the growth of vehicles and the shortage of inspection stations. Official statistics show car ownership has seen a sharp increase in China, soaring from 24.21 million in 2003 to 137 million in 2013.

However, the severe lack of inspection stations has annoyed car owners in many big cities in particular, with an average of 50,000 cars using one inspection line, said Li Jiangping with the ministry's traffic management bureau.

The new policy also allows cars to go through safety inspections at locations other than where they are registered.