New Delhi | The government has proposed to extend the validity of the Pollution Under Control Certificate (PUCC) for up to six-year-old BS-VI-compliant private vehicles to three years instead of the current one year to ease the burden on owners.

The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH), in a draft notification, has said that BS-VI vehicles aged between six and ten years will be required to renew their PUCC certificate and those above 10 years every six years.

According to the draft notification, while all motor vehicles complying with BS-IV emission norms will have to renew their PUCC every six months, all motor vehicles complying with BS-I, BS-II and BS-III emission norms will have to renew their PUCC every three months.

BS, or Bharat Stage, refers to India’s vehicle emission standards that set limits on pollutants, such as carbon monoxide (CO), nitrogen oxides (NOx), hydrocarbons (HC) and particulate matter (PM).

The standards are aligned with European emission norms and are enforced to gradually phase out vehicles that emit higher levels of pollutants.

BS-IV was applicable from 2017 to 2020. BS-VI has been in force since April 2020.

India skipped BS-V and moved directly to BS-VI to accelerate pollution control. These vehicles emit far lower pollutants and require low-sulphur BS-VI fuel.