New standards for the mandatory scrapping of motor vehicles in China are to be officially implemented on May 1, ynet.com reported today. According to the guidelines, vehicles which are due for periodic inspections and have failed to pass three consecutive tests will be forced to be scrapped.

According to Chinese regulations, following their purchase, new small cars are required to be inspected once every other year for the first six years, than every year for the next four years. Afterwards, they are required to be inspected once every six months. A vehicle which fails to pass three inspections in a row is subject to be forcibly scrapped.

Furthermore, drivers of a vehicle that has not been inspected in over a year risk being fined up to 200 yuan ($31.85) and having three points put on their driver’s license.

According to Yayuncun Automobile Market Deputy General Manager Yan Jinghui, the new standards will force manufacturers to raise the quality of their automobiles in order to ensure they last longer. Mr. Yan believes that the standards will help rid Chinese roads of old vehicles, whose safety standards may be outdated, while reducing automobile emissions at the same time.