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Please review and distribute as appropriate.
Security features were recently implemented for temporary timed permits (72-Hour, 144-Hour, 30-Day, and One Trip), including permits issued by the county using the Registration and Title System (RTS). The department updated the permit designs in response to reports of some fraudulent permits. The new permit security features are an important part of the department’s efforts to assist law enforcement to easily identify fictitious permits.
The new permit security features include a geometric lathe (2-dimensional representation of a hologram); Bezier curves across the license plate number; the State seal; and a barcode. While some of the new features specifically address fraudulent copying of timed permits, other features such as the State seal and bar code allow law enforcement to visually verify the authenticity of a timed permit. The barcode, located in the lower right corner, facilitates law enforcement confirming the authenticity of a permit by providing permit and vehicle information when scanned.
Counties have recently notified us of an issue when printing permits using RTS. Permits issued out of RTS are printed on RTS receipt paper (VTR-500-RTS), which features pre-printed elements such as the department logo in the top left corner and a patch code in the top right corner. Printing a permit on VTR-500-RTS paper results in pre-printed elements overlapping permit security features. Covering the permit’s security elements with the VTR-500-RTS pre-printed elements could result in law enforcement questioning a valid permit.
A RTS programming fix to eliminate the pre-printed elements from overlapping the permit security features was implemented after hours on May 24, 2018. Permits issued prior to the fix remain valid until the expiration date. We apologize for the inconvenience caused by this issue. This issue only applies to temporary permits issued in county or TxDMV offices. Buyer Tags and other tags issued by dealers should not be printed on VTR-RTS-500 paper.
We will continue to work on a solution to eliminate the printing of permits on VTR-500-RTS paper. The department’s goal is to ensure that all Texas permits looks exactly the same to assist law enforcement in identifying fraudulent permits.
Thank you,
Jeremiah Kuntz, Director
Vehicle Titles and Registration Division
Texas Department of Motor Vehicles
CS:TT:JK
If you have any questions concerning this communication, please contact your local TxDMV Regional Service Center.
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