Proposal for COEs to be Classified by Open Market Value

Assoc Prof Jamus Jerome Lim asked the Minister for Transport (a) whether the Ministry has considered reclassifying the COE categories by open market value rather than engine capacity; and (b) if not, why not.

Mr Chee Hong Tat: The suggestion to use Open Market Value (OMV) to differentiate between Category A and B Certificate of Entitlement ( COE) has been raised several times both in and out of this House, including by Mr Ang Wei Neng in 2013.

The proposal to use OMV has its merits, but also comes with some challenges as these values can fluctuate quite significantly for different batches of the same car model, depending on movements in exchange rates and the prices set by the car manufacturer. This means that the same car model with similar specifications may require a Category A COE at one point in time and a Category B COE at another time.