Motorcycles must also have front license plates or face legal action

Although motorcycles have long been required to display digital license plates at the rear, they must now also have license plates at the front. The Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA) has made it mandatory to display registration numbers of specified dimensions at the front of motorcycles. Motorcycle owners have been instructed to comply with the requirement by November 15.

The BRTA announced the decision in a public notice on Friday morning.

According to the BRTA, the Road Transport Act, 2018 and the Road Transport Rules, 2022 require motorcycles to display registration numbers on high quality retroreflective metal plates with authority approved radio frequency identification (RFID) at the rear. Until now, motorcycles were required to have digital license plates only at the rear. From now on, a manual license plate must also be added at the front. The deadline for installation is November 15.

The notice initially instructs motorcycle owners to arrange the license plates themselves and display them according to the specified dimensions. For scooters, the manual license plate must be 200 millimeters long and 100 millimeters wide. The letters and numbers must have a font height of at least 20 millimeters.

For motorcycles other than scooters, the license plate must be 285 millimeters long and 50 millimeters wide. The letters and numbers must have a font height of at least 20 millimeters. The plate must be made of stainless steel or aluminum. The registration number must be written in black Bengali letters and numerals against a white background. No additional decorations or designs are allowed on the license plate.

For motorcycles other than scooters, the registration mark may be displayed on a single horizontal line, such as Dhaka Metro-La-11-1212.

The BRTA has requested motorcycle owners to install and display the license plates within the specified deadline. Otherwise, legal action will be taken, the notice said.