Penalties mulled in car plate lottery

BEIJING - Residents in the capital may receive penalties if they fail to buy cars within the required half year after winning a car registration lottery, a mechanism the city introduced late last year to reduce vehicles on roads.

Traffic authorities launched a survey on Thursday at www.bjhjyd.gov.cn, the website to apply for car license plates, to solicit public opinion about possible penalties.

One option is to keep the current policy that prospective car owners can continue applying for the right to register a vehicle if the right they won is not used within six months. Another choice is to bar them from applying for a year, or, the third option, for two years, according to the survey.