The Sale of the New Vignettes shall Commence Prior to Christmas. The Prices of the Stickers shall be Preserved in 2017. The Annual Vignette for Motor Vehicles shall Remain 97 BGN
The Minister of Regional Development and Public Works (in resignation) Lilyana Pavlova and the Chairman of the Management Board of the Road Infrastructure Agency – eng. Doncho Atanasov presented the vision for the vignettes in 2017. The prices for all types of stickers shall remain unchanged. The annual vignette for light vehicles shall be 97 BGN, the monthly one – 30 BGN and the weekly one – 15 BGN.
We propose that from next year there should be a new kind of penalty for violators, who have not stuck up their vignettes or are driving without having bought a vignette, the Regional Minister announced. She clarified that the reason for this were the mass inspections, conducted in 2016, at which it turned out that there was no problem with false stickers, but there was a problem with the so called migrant workers, who purchased vignettes but did not stick them up or handed over the same monthly sticker from truck to truck. Pavlova also announced that 99% of the motor vehicles, passing in transit through the country were at fault and that was why a compensatory penalty was proposed, which would not be subject to appeal. It shall be considered in the National Assembly and much stricter procedure shall also be projected. The motor vehicle, for which a violation is established, shall be decommissioned from traffic until the driver pays the penalty. In this manner the better collectability of fines and penalties would be guaranteed from offenders, the Minister indicated. She also announced that the inspections of the Traffic Police teams of the Road Infrastructure Agency and the Road Administration would continue in 2017.
The Regional Minister also informed that from next year at the purchase of a vignette sticker, the registration number of the motor vehicle would also be filled in, so that it would not be possible to use it in several motor vehicles.
6,411,252 vignettes have been sold from the beginning of the year by the end of November 2016. The accrued revenue amounts to 317,520,700 BGN. As compared to the same period of last year the accrued revenues increased by nearly 90 million BGN and the number of stickers sold also increased by about 250 thousand, Minister Pavlova reported. As a result of the increased revenues, the budget of the Road Infrastructure Agency was increased by 80 million BGN, she indicated. It was expected that by the end of the year, the number of sold stickers shall reach 7 million. There was no change in the purchased annual stickers. Serious reduction was observed in the sales of the weekly, for the account of the monthly stickers. The number of monthly vignettes, sold for heavy-duty motor vehicles also increased, announced the Regional Minister.
210,903 gratuitous annual vignettes were provided to the Social Assistance Directorates by the end of November this year. They were worth 20,457,591 BGN and were at the expense of the budget of the Road Infrastructure Agency. 189,271 were presented last year by the end of November, which was less by 21,632.
The distribution of the vignettes would commence prior to the Christmas Holidays. There would be over 2 million vignettes in the distribution network, of which 860 thousand – annual stickers for motor vehicles. By the end of January in the distribution network there would be about 4,8 million vignettes of the various types and for the various categories of motor vehicles.
Until the 31st of December of this year there would be a parallel sale of vignettes for 2016 and 2017. This means that if a user buys a weekly or a monthly vignette for 2016, for instance, on the 31st of December – it shall be valid from the 31st of December and shall be valid during the next seven days or one calendar month. The annual stickers for 2016 for all kinds of motor vehicles shall be valid until 31 January 2017.
As each year, for the sake of higher protection and reduced possibility for forgery, the graphic layout was changed. Two holograms were embedded on the stickers. The first is the so called first level of protection for visual recognition. It is "green" and a protuberant digit "7" is to be seen on it, there is also a Bulgarian embroidery, which makes its imitation impossible. The second hologram is "silver“ and is of the newest generation of visual protection. This hologram is in 3 levels – for visual control, for control with portable means and for expert control. An innovative multi-colour print, difficult for reproduction, was used in the printing of all the types of vignette stickers.
The second hologram is different for the individual types of vignettes and contains additional protections for an expert evaluation. All the stickers have double numbering – a consecutive and an accidental number. The combination of the two numbers is also a kind of protection.
The drivers should buy vignettes only from the places, officially designated for the purpose. Such as the big petrol stations and the commercial chains the Bulgarian Post Offices, the regional road administrations and the Border Control Checkpoints. Vignettes are sold in over 2,100 distribution points. 372 of them work round the clock. At the purchase of the vignette, the citizens should request a cash register receipt, with the registration number of the motor vehicle registered in it.
The complete list of the distribution network is published on the web site of the Road Infrastructure Agency – www.api.bg. You may find information about the prices of the various types of vignettes in 2017 and the model forms of the stickers on the following link: http://old.api.bg/index.php/bg/vinetni-stikeri.