The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority (DVLA) has announced a new two-year target to change all vehicle number plates in Ghana from January 1, 2027, to December 31, 2028.

In the meantime, beginning August 1, 2026, which is just two weeks away, the DVLA has planned to start piloting the new digital number plate system.

But this pilot will begin with the registration of government vehicles, followed by the registration of all unregistered vehicles on September 1, 2026.

At a media briefing in Accra on Friday [July 10, 2026], the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the DVLA, Julius Neequaye Kotey, said the January 1, 2027 remained the effective date for the re-registration of vehicles in Ghana until December 31, 2028.

He explained that July 31, 2026 had been designated for the completion of system updates for the pilot phase of the exercise.  

Status of legislation

There was no mention of the passage of the supporting legislation by Parliament at the press briefing.

Mr Kotey however reiterated the DVLA’s commitment to implement the new number plates and vehicle re-registration regime to bolster Ghana’s vehicle identification system.

He subsequently called on all stakeholders, including driver unions, to support the initiative.

He explained that apart from helping to stop revenue leakages in the registration process, the new system integrated the vehicle registration database with other agencies such as the Ghana Highway Authority (GHA) toll system, National Insurance Commission (NIC) motor insurance, the police, and the judiciary.  

Mr Kotey said it was disheartening for state enforcement agencies such as the Economic and Organised Crime Organisation (EOCO) or the Ghana Police Service to write to the DVLA for information on vehicles that were involved in crime, but the authority was unable to readily provide it.

“Sometimes this information on vehicles are required to grant people bail, but because we do not have it readily available, they end up spending some days in police custody, and this must change,” he stated.

Context

In October, 2025, the DVLA announced that effective January 1, 2026, it would begin a new registration system for all vehicles under a new digital number-plate regime.

The authority had indicated that the initiative, which is meant to improve vehicle identification, would start with the registration of new vehicles on January 1, 2026, to be followed with the re-registration of Ghana’s over four million existing vehicles from April 1, 2026 to December 1, 2027.

The DVLA had also stated that the new number plates would contain Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) chips for digital activation and instant verification by enforcement agencies.

However, on December 24, 2025, the DVLA CEO announced at a press briefing that the implementation of the policy had been put on hold pending approval of the new process by Parliament.

He explained that the suspension of the policy became necessary because a proposed amendment to the Road Traffic Regulation, 2012 (L.I. 2180), which specified the contents and format of vehicle number plates in the country was still before Parliament and had not yet been approved.

As part of the planned rollout of new vehicle license plates, the DVLA) announced on January 7, this year, that owners of all vehicles registered in Ghana before 2023 are to ensure that their details were migrated from the authority’s manual system to the authority's digital platform.

Why onboard

At last Friday’s press briefing, the Director of Driver, Training, Testing and Licensing, Kafui Semenyo explained that onboarding vehicles to the new digital platform would be a clear testament that all taxes on had been paid and that the vehicle had been properly registered with the authority.

He said the onboarding would also show legal ownership of the vehicle title while also making real-time sharing of information on the machine with the police in the event of theft.

“If you do not onboard your vehicle, you cannot obtain your certificate or title and vehicle registration card; you cannot register your vehicle when the mandated new vehicle registration and re-registration exercise commences; and you will violate road traffic law and get sanctioned,” he stressed.