The Road Trafffic Infringement Agency (RTIA) has noticed that recent media articles do not fully capture the processes proposed to address and enhance efficiencies in the AARTO Act.

The intention of the draft AARTO Amendment Bill, 2013 published in Government Gazette (No. 36613) on 28 June 2013 for public comments is to address the challenges identified and experienced in the Act. The Bill seeks to introduce amongst other issues the simplification of the application of the Act and the introduction of modern and effective means of service of documents.

In order to address critical issues affecting the Agency the abridged version of the Bill has been published for public comments for 30 days from 28 June 2013. The Bill is intended to introduce efficiencies in the service of documents; hence some of the proposals contained therein are service by electronic platforms.

Legislative amendments are the function of government and the process to amend the Act has been subjected to an extensive public consultation process from as far back as February 2013 when the Amendment Bill was published for comment and various stakeholders and interested parties submitted their input for consideration.  The assertion by The Star reporter that the RTIA quietly approached Parliament to change the law is unfounded and misleading. The publication of the Amendment Bill for comment is a result of the interactive engagement with various stakeholders after consideration ofcomments and the related innovations required for efficient implementation.

Furthermore, the impression created that the Bill seeks to replace registered mail by ordinary mail is completely incorrect.  The Amendment Bill does not eradicate the traditional methods of service by registered mail or in person.  It simply introduces other methods, in addition to these tried and tested methods, in order to introduce the related technological efficiencies, which will benefit all stakeholders concerned.