I am informed by the Revenue Commissioners that section 131 of the Finance Act 1992 (as amended by section 104 of the Finance Act 2010) provided for the appointment of a "competent person” to carry out certain functions relating to the registration of vehicles in the State on behalf of the Revenue Commissioners, while section 109 of the Finance Act 2010 provided for the authorisation of such competent person in respect of the collection and payment of the tax to the Revenue Commissioners. Statutory Instrument 400/2010 outlines the timeframe and the conditions under which used vehicles brought into the State must be registered.
The Deputy may wish to note that following a procurement process carried out during 2008 by the Road Safety Authority and which the Revenue Commissioners were party to, in accordance with the public sector procurement rules, Applus Car Testing Limited were awarded the tender. Subsequently Revenue appointed Applus Car Testing Limit as the "competent person" and authorised them to carry out specified registration functions in relation to the operation of VRT. They have been performing those functions in the State since 1 September 2010. All management and operational guidelines issued to Applus are governed by both the primary and secondary legislation outlined above. The VRT manuals, which are available on the Revenue website, (http://www.revenue.ie/en/tax/vrt/index.html) outline in detail the requirements for registering vehicles in the State.
