WESTENDORP SETS NEW DEADLINE FOR EXCHANGE OF REGISTRATION PLATES

PLATES ( Editorial: --> 8353 ) SARAJEVO, April 21 (Hina) - All vehicles registered in Bosnia- Herzegovina which fail to have joint registration plates by 1 June 1998, will not be able to cross the state border, spokesman for the Office of the High Representative, Aisling Burne, said on Tuesday in Sarajevo. The final deadline for the exchange of all registration plates is 31 August 1998, Burne added. This decision was made by High Representative Carlos Westendorp, Burne said, adding the interior ministries of the two Bosnian entities and the Ministry of Civil Issues and Communications had been informed about it. Westendorp also decided that the charge for issuing new registration plates by 1 June must not be more than DM15. Deadlines for the exchange of registration plates have been extended because their issue has practically ceased although they were promoted back in February. The stall was caused by the need for issuing, along with new registration plates, joint drivers' licences whose printing has just been completed. The High Representative believes that the introduction of joint registration plates in Bosnia will improve freedom of movement and bring minimise the possibility of ethnic discrimination of passengers. New registration plates will be white with six numbers and one of the six letters which are shared by the Latin and Cyrillic scripts. Police vehicles and vehicles of foreign citizens living in Bosnia will also have these registration plates. Diplomatic missions and international organisations in Bosnia- Herzegovina will have black registration plates with yellow letters and numbers, which were previously in use. Vehicles which are exported from the country will have blue plates while temporary registration plates will be yellow. The registration of vehicles in Bosnia-Herzegovina will be carried out by a central office with a main database. A special computer programme will randomly choose 100,000 digit combinations and codes; 600,000 combinations will be grouped into 6,000 sets with 100 registration codes each, which will be forwarded to the entities' interior ministries and police stations. (hina) rm/mrb . 211422 MET apr 98