Motorists can now pay for vehicle licences and book driving tests and inspections online.

Minister of Tourism and Transport Dr. Ewart Brown launched a new Internet service ? www.etcd.gov.bm ? at a press conference at the Transport Control Department (TCD) on Wednesday.

?Today I am pleased to highlight another major step forward at TCD ? the launch of the TCD Online Re-Licensing System,? Dr. Brown said. ?Starting today, residents who have completed all of the requirements ? inspection and insurance ? to license their car will be able to register for the eTCD site and complete their re-licensing online using a major credit card.?

The service only applies to motorists who fully own their vehicles.

In addition, only private cars, auxiliary cycles and motorcycles can be re-licensed online, a TCD guide said, but all other vehicles ? such as trucks and vans ? must still be re-licensed in person.

And the Guide said motorists will also not be able to register online if their vehicles have not been inspected or have already been passed or licensed, or if they do not have valid assessment numbers or insurance.

But Dr. Brown continued to say his new Online Re-licensing System was an extension of a 2005 programme which has already seen ten percent of all appointments currently being booked by computer.

A total of 2,000 people have registered and 1,800 appointments were booked online, while TCD sent 5,128 appointment reminder and expiration e-mails/mails and answered 325 calls for technical help online.

TCD said this online system will provide added convenience when the two satellite testing stations in St. George?s and Somerset were completed ? expected by the end of 2006 ? as motorists will not have to come to Hamilton to pay for licences for their passed vehicles.

Completed licences can be mailed to addresses or picked up from TCD on the following business day, he said.

Security was not a problem he said, as local digital authenticators QuoVadis will encrypt all credit card details will will not be stored after transactions were completed.

The move comes just days after Government announced people can now pay land tax online through Internet banking services.

In addition to being able to pay land tax via the Government's website www.etax.gov.bm, taxpayers can now make payments through the bank through the Bermuda Financial Network's Easy Pay.

Payroll taxes have been paid via the Government website since July 2002 and as a result more than $85 million or 35 percent of annual payroll tax has been made online.