The Department of Land Transport (DLT) will issue a set of new regulations governing the auction of personalised licence plates following cabinet approval.
On Tuesday, the cabinet approved a ministerial regulation draft on new plates for personal vehicles that carry up to seven people, deputy government spokeswoman Traisuree Taisaranakul said.
The regulations were proposed by the Transport Ministry.
The plates can have a combination of letters, tone marks and numbers not exceeding seven characters, she said.
With the new regulations, licence plates will become more diverse and appropriate, Ms Traisuree said.
The regulations will apply to a total of 301 popular licence plate numbers covering one-digit numbers, two-digit numbers, three-digit numbers and four-digit numbers, she said.
The new plates will have two lines. The first will consist of Thai letters, tone marks as well as numbers covering no more than four digits. When combined, they must not exceed seven characters.
The second line will show the name of the province where the vehicle was registered, except for vehicles registered in Yala's Betong district, which will use the word Betong instead.
DLT director-general Jirut Wisanjit said yesterday the DLT is drawing up a set of criteria for applications for new licence plates, the auction of these plates and setting minimum prices for them.
It will work with a committee to scrutinise the choice of words from applicants for new plates.
Mr Jirut said the plates must contain general words without any meanings that may affect national security, corrupt public morals or break the law. Impolite and sarcastic words will not be allowed either, he said.
The next move will be for the DLT to forward the criteria and regulations for final scrutiny by the Council of State, the government's legal advisory body, before being submitted to Transport Minister Saksayam Chidchob to sign.
The new regulations and criteria will then be announced in the Royal Gazette and take effect 60 days later, Mr Jirut said.
