JOHOR BARU (THE STAR/ASIA NEWS NETWORK) - There are teething problems with the online registration of foreign vehicles for Malaysia's Vehicle Entry Permit (VEP), the Road Transport Department (JPJ) acknowledged.

The Transport Ministry has been working on the issues since the registration started on Aug 15, said JPJ Deputy Director-General (Administration) Datuk Arifin Che Mat.

It is learnt that the Johor JPJ has been receiving more than a dozen enquiries about the online registration daily.

Asked whether booths had been set up at the Causeway or Second Link for people to register, Arifin said that this would be done at a later date.

He was speaking to reporters after attending a corporate integrity pledge with 38 representatives from driving schools in Johor, Negri Sembilan and Malacca here on Tuesday.

The Star reported that Johor exco man Datuk Hasni Mohammad had asked for the registration period to be extended due to the online problems.

Arifin said that based on feedback, the JPJ needed to address some issues, such as the registration forms being too complicated or ambiguous.

Earlier, the ministry announced that the VEP registration could only be done at www.jpj.gov.my/vep to encourage online transactions.

The affected categories of vehicles are private (vehicles owned by individuals, companies or organisations for private usage); commercial (vehicles owned by companies and used to transport goods or persons for hire), and VIP or Diplomat (vehicles owned by governments, consulates or embassies).

The VEP is implemented by the Transport Ministry via JPJ for foreign­registered vehicles entering Malaysia.

It will initially involve foreign-registered vehicles entering via Johor and will be implemented at the rest of the 12 road entry points in Malaysia in stages.

The second phase will cover Thailand, the third phase Brunei and Indonesia, and the fourth phase other designated entry points.