Joe McHugh (Donegal North East, Fine Gael)
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Question 400: To ask the Minister for Finance the reason a private company has been contracted to carry out a public service (details supplied); if he will respond to a concern that this requires the company to collect personal information such as PPS, VAT numbers, proof of ID and so on; if he will confirm that this contract was also offered to Irish companies; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [32245/10]

Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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I am informed by the Revenue Commissioners that on the introduction of vehicle registration tax (VRT) on 1 January 1993, there was a requirement for all vehicles to be presented for examination prior to registration. However, by the early years of this decade, the Revenue Commissioners had adopted a risk-based approach to the registration of vehicles, thus eliminating the need for all vehicles, save those that posed a serious risk of loss to the Exchequer, to be examined prior to registration. While this risk-based approach proved satisfactory to protect the VRT yield, it meant that a significant number of the used vehicles entering the State were being registered in the State without prior examination.

The Deputy will be aware that Revenue, as the registration authority for the State, also has a responsibility to ensure that all vehicles presented for registration are registered correctly. This responsibility became more onerous with the transposition into Irish law in March 2009 of EU Directive 2007/46/EC, which laid down minimum European vehicle standards as a pre-condition for registration. While the Directive impacts only on new passenger cars at present, its scope will be extended to all vehicles by 2014. Additionally, other EU Directives will extend obligations on the registration authorities of all Member States to examine all vehicles prior to registration.

In addition to the EU vehicle inspection requirements mentioned above, concerns were raised by members of the Oireachtas and stakeholders in the National Fleet Management Group (namely, An Garda Síochána, the Road Safety Authority, the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, the Department of Transport and the Revenue Commissioners) regarding the provenance and safety of some of the used vehicles presented for registration.

Taking the above factors into account, and bearing in mind that examination of vehicles is by no means the optimum use of the Revenue Commissioners' scarce resources whose core work is the assessment and collection of taxes and duties, the Government decided to make legislative provision to allow for the appointment of a competent person to carry out a pre-registration examination on all vehicles presented for registration. The intention of the relevant law is to ensure that all the conditions necessary for the registration of a vehicle and the proper administration of VRT are complied with before a vehicle may be registered in the State.

Thus, section 131 of the Finance Act 1992 (as amended by section 104 of the Finance Act 2010) provided for the appointment of a "competent person" to carry out certain functions relating to the registration of vehicles in the State on behalf of the Revenue Commissioners, while section 109 of the Finance Act 2010 provided for the authorisation of such competent person in respect of the collection and payment of the tax to the Revenue Commissioners.

Following a competitive procurement process carried out during 2008, in accordance with the public sector procurement rules, Applus Car Testing Limited (who also have responsibility for the operation of the National Car Testing Service (NCTS)) were appointed and authorised to carry out specified registration functions in relation to the operation of VRT and have been performing those functions in the State since 1 September 2010.

The requirement to present personal identification at an NCTS centre when registering a vehicle ensures that the person presenting a vehicle for registration is accountable for the vehicle. It also ensures that the registration and ownership details for the register of the national fleet of vehicles are as accurate as possible at the time of first registration in the State. It should be noted that a clause regarding taxpayer confidentiality was included in the letter of appointment issued by the Revenue Commissioners to Applus Car Testing Limited. Accordingly, details relating to taxpayers held by that company may not be used for any purpose other than one relating to the registration of vehicles.