A bill opening the way for driver’s licences, warrants of fitness and certificates of fitness to live on motorists’ phones has started its journey through Parliament.
Kiwis would have the option of carrying their licence in their wallets or on their phones under the new regime. Under current laws, drivers must carry their physical licence when behind the wheel.
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said yesterday digital driver’s licences are a “common sense thing”.
“We’re all using digital wallets to buy products and services across the country,” he said.
Transport Minister Chris Bishop told 1News the option for Kiwis to have a digital driver’s licence on their phones was something many were keen for.
“So we’re updating the law to allow this to happen.”
He said it would take time to roll digital licences out, but “given New Zealand will be among the first in the world to implement digital driver licences, we need to make sure we get it right”.
Digital licences are already available in Denmark, Iceland, Norway and several US states.
Luxon keen on rolling out digital driver licences for Kiwis – Watch on TVNZ+
Tidy up the law
The Regulatory Systems (Transport) Amendment Bill was introduced by Associate Transport Minister James Meager this week to tidy up New Zealand’s land transport, aviation, and maritime legislation.
It’s also aimed at modernising some transport laws and allowing them to catch up with technology.
The bill, which was supported at first reading by all six parties in the House, seeks to expand the definition of a driver’s licence to include both electronic and physical versions. It also creates a framework to allow the Government to introduce further legislation regarding digital licences. When introducing the bill, Meager said digital licences would extend beyond the roads to most instances where people need to show ID.
“It will help achieve the solution of what happens, you know, when we maybe forget our driver’s licence on the way to a visit to the ports, because we’re very interested in port security and we need our driver’s licence to prove our ID,” he said in Parliament.
“Or maybe when we’re going to the local wine bar in Christchurch central, and we have to provide our ID to the bouncer, and we pad our pockets, and we’ve left our driver’s licence at home – we can bring up our digital driver’s licence on our phone and show that to the bouncer.”
He said it was “important to note” that physical licences would “always be an option”, as the Government knew some had issues accessing technology.
Another thing the bill allowed for was a shift away from paper-based warrants of fitness, certificates of fitness and alternative fuel inspection certificates.
‘Just annoying’
In May of last year, then Transport Minister Simeon Brown said the Government was looking at ways of digitising the process. WoF and vehicle registration information are already stored in the NZTA app.
Like driver’s licences, the digital version of the certificates would be optional.
Meager described putting a registration sticker on a vehicle’s windscreen as “just annoying”, and “a waste of time”.
“This bill will help modernise that system so that not only will we do away with a paper-based system of indicating whether your registration or your warrant is up to date, we will also be able to eliminate the requirement for notices and fees to be posted out.”
He said this could save money. “NZTA spent nearly $17 million a year in March on printing and postage for about 14 million items. This will go a significant way to reducing that time and resource.”
Bishop said the changes made through the bill were expected to be in place by the middle of next year.
“The Government Chief Digital Officer, NZTA, and the Ministry of Transport are working closely so that New Zealanders can hold and use their licence from their smartphone after the law change is in place.”
Labour’s spokesperson for transport Tangi Ukikere described it as a “good move” but said it was important that motorists’ privacy was being protected.
Labour MP Camilla Belich said it would be interesting to see how digital licences would intersect with New Zealand’s laws regarding the use of phones while driving.
“If we were stopped by the police and asked to show our digital driver’s licence and it was carried on our phone, and, in fact, we’re not, technically, allowed to utilise our phone when we are in charge of a motor vehicle.
“We also wouldn’t want people to be looking at their phone and have a photo of them taken by the police, and then have them say, “Oh, I was just checking my driver’s licence.”
The bill will go to select committee before its second reading.
Luxon keen on rolling out digital driver licences for Kiwis – Watch on TVNZ+
