STARTING Dec. 31, 2018, Shenzhen will cancel the renewal of license plates for gasoline-powered vehicles of the National I emissions standard, as the city tries to accelerate the phasing out of higher polluting models.

Car owners are entitled to use their old license plates for the registration of a new car if their existing car has been sold or scrapped. License plates for new cars are either sold at auction — which currently costs about 50,000 yuan (US$7,627) — or given out for free by lottery, at a success rate of less than 0.4 percent.

The new policy means that from Dec. 31, 2018, owners of cars of the National I emissions standard will no longer be able to obtain new license plates for a new car for free by selling the existing car to another city or scrapping it. The new policy encourages car owners to replace their old cars with new ones that meet the more environment-friendly National V emissions standard. Cargo vehicles will not be affected. The city’s environment authority will release a list of car models that meet the National I standard.

Authorities remind car owners to complete the registration for scrapping or selling their old cars, as well as the application for new car plates, before Dec. 30, 2018 to ensure they will be able to apply for renewal. The new car should be registered by March 30, 2019. (Zhang Yu)