Vehicles are registered by Revenue under the provisions of the Finance Act 1992, Part II, Chapter IV. Motorcycles, scramblers and other off-road vehicles must be registered if they are designed and constructed for road use and as such have type approval under the EU system of classification for vehicles. Vehicles which are not designed and constructed for road use cannot be registered under the above mentioned provisions.
The registration record produced when a vehicle is registered includes data in relation to the vehicle and data in respect of the person registering the vehicle. With regards to the vehicle, the data captured is based on the vehicle’s Certificate of Conformity in the case of new vehicles or the previous registration document in the case of used vehicles. Some data, such as the Vehicle Identification Number, is common to all vehicles and other data captured will depend on the type of vehicle (e.g. a passenger car, a bus, a heavy commercial). In relation to the person registering the vehicle, Revenue captures the name and address of the person and, in the case of used vehicles, the PPSN.
The vehicle and personal data (except for the PPSN) is transmitted on a daily basis to the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport, which maintains the National Vehicle Driver File and records changes in ownership.