On May 16, 2025, a new PROCEDURE for departmental registration and accounting of heavy and other technological vehicles came into effect. These changes are designed to simplify and accelerate the processes of registering technological vehicles, as well as to ensure greater transparency and control in this area.
Let’s figure out how exactly you need to register your forklifts and other TVs under this new Procedure.
Let’s start with the definition of what a heavy and other technological vehicle (TV) is.
A heavy and other technological vehicle (TV) is a vehicle that does not participate in road traffic, which by its design and equipment is intended for transporting goods or soil at a construction site, bla-bla-bla, which is operated by a machinist (operator, driver) from a workplace on the technological vehicle…
A new clarification has appeared in the definition, which significantly narrowed the range of equipment subject to departmental registration. If earlier even electric trolleys without a workplace were subject to registration, now the situation is different – only equipment operated from the vehicle itself is registered.
The next clarification concerns the center where registration is carried out. From now on, the Territorial Service Centers of the Ministry of Internal Affairs are responsible for the registration of heavy and other technological vehicles.
Let’s break down step-by-step how to register and re-register a forklift.
FORKLIFT REGISTRATION.
Stage 1. To start, you need to collect the following package of documents:
1. Sales contract or other document confirming ownership. If the equipment is being registered for the first time, a customs declaration is additionally attached
2. Declaration of conformity with the technical regulation on machine safety (obtained from the manufacturer or its official representative).
3. Document on compliance with noise standards – for equipment operating outdoors (relevant for diesel and gasoline forklifts).
4. Expert RESEARCH conclusion (if the equipment was used abroad).
5. Organizational and administrative document (order, decision, directive) from the head of the enterprise regarding the registration of your equipment; this condition applies to legal entities.
Attention! Expert research ≠ expert examination!
Research is the verification of identification numbers (to prevent counterfeiting). Examination is the verification of technical condition.
Who does this?
Expert RESEARCH is conducted by employees of the Expert Service of the Ministry of Internal Affairs or other state specialized institutions that have the right and relevant qualifications to do so. Expert EXAMINATION is carried out by ETCs (expert and technical centers), as it was before.
Important! Under the new Procedure, for the registration of a new forklift, you no longer need a technical inspection act, an expert examination conclusion, or even an expert research act (if your TV has not been operated abroad before).
You will only need:
- Sales contract, customs declaration.
- Declaration of conformity.
- Document on compliance with noise standards (for diesel and gasoline models).
- Organizational and administrative document (order, decision, directive) regarding the registration of your equipment – for legal entities.
- Power of attorney – if you are acting on behalf of the owner.
- Passport or other document confirming your identity.
- Application for registration – (download here).
- Receipt for payment of services for the production of a registration certificate and license plates.
Stage 2: Submit all these documents to the Ministry of Internal Affairs service center or the administrative services center. The representative of the Ministry of Internal Affairs or the ASC fills out the electronic application, prints it, you sign it – and that’s it. The review period is now up to 5 business days (it was 30).
Interesting point: Under the new procedure, the application is now filled out by a representative of the Ministry of Internal Affairs or the ASC, and the owner of the TV only has to sign the already completed application. We have not yet seen with our own eyes how this requirement will work. During the first attempts to use the new feature, the ASC employee printed out the application form for us and gave us a pen. Therefore, it is better to fill out the application before going to the Ministry of Internal Affairs service center or ASC (application sample). But such a norm exists. Now you know about it.
For those who don’t like paper, there is a provision that registration can be done through the driver’s electronic cabinet or via Diia. However, de facto, at the time of publication of this article, both functions were still under development.
Forklift Re-registration: When is it needed?
It is carried out in cases of:
- change of ownership;
- loss of documents or license plates;
- change of address or name of a legal entity;
- re-equipment of machinery, replacement of numbered units.
What is needed for re-registration of a technological vehicle?
- Documents confirming ownership of the equipment (if ownership changes), or other documents explaining why the registration data needs to be changed.
- Vehicle registration certificate (TV). If the equipment was previously registered, you need to submit the certificate with a mark of de-registration from the previous authority.
- Expert research conclusion – if it was conducted.
- Power of attorney – if the documents are submitted by a representative and not the owner.
- Identity document.
- Organizational and administrative document (order, decision, directive) from the head of the enterprise regarding the re-registration of your equipment; this condition applies to legal entities.
- Application for re-registration – (download here).
- Receipt for payment of services for the production of a registration certificate and license plates.
All forklifts that were registered BEFORE the new Procedure came into effect must undergo an expert research – verification of unit and assembly numbers – during re-registration. Also, the TV registration certificate will be checked. It’s all the same as when buying a car.
Do forklifts previously registered with the State Labor Service need to be re-registered? The Resolution does not have such a direct requirement. However, sooner or later, already registered TVs will change their owners one way or another, and here we face a very interesting legal conflict. If a forklift was previously registered with the State Labor Service (which is about 90% of registered TVs), there is currently no official procedure for its de-registration. We are awaiting clarifications from the legislator.
TEMPORARY REGISTRATION.
Regarding temporary registration, it is carried out:
- in case of temporary import;
- or long-term lease (leasing) of a TV.
Documents submitted for temporary re-registration:
- Documents confirming the right to use the equipment (e.g., a lease or leasing agreement).
- Registration certificate – if the equipment was previously registered.
- Expert research conclusion – if the TV was registered before the new Procedure, as well as temporarily imported into Ukraine under an obligation for re-export.
- Passport or other document confirming your identity.
- Power of attorney (if documents are submitted by a representative).
- If the equipment was temporarily imported into Ukraine (e.g., for rent or testing), for temporary registration, you must additionally submit a certified copy of the re-export obligation.
- Organizational and administrative document (order, decision, directive) from the head of the enterprise regarding the temporary registration of your equipment; this condition applies to legal entities.
- Application – (download here).
- Receipt for payment of services for the production of a registration certificate and license plates.
Important: After the expiration of the temporary registration period, the equipment is considered unregistered. This means the owner must either re-register it or de-register it.
DE-REGISTRATION OF A TECHNOLOGICAL VEHICLE.
De-registration of a technological vehicle is carried out due to its unsuitability for further use and write-off or export of the technological vehicle abroad.
To de-register a technological vehicle, the owner submits to the Ministry of Internal Affairs (de-registration via ASC is NOT possible):
- Vehicle registration certificate.
- License plate – it also needs to be surrendered.
- Act of write-off or liquidation – for enterprises that officially write off equipment from their balance sheet.
- Expert research conclusion – if it was conducted (for example, in case of doubts regarding numbers or documentation).
- Power of attorney – if you are acting on behalf of the owner.
- Passport or other document confirming your identity.
- Organizational and administrative document (order, decision, directive) from the head of the enterprise regarding the de-registration of your equipment; this condition applies to legal entities.
- Application – (download here).
If the vehicle is already unusable and subject to write-off, but you have lost documents (registration certificate or license plate), submit certified copies of documents confirming the fact of loss (e.g., a police report or an act of loss) to the Ministry of Internal Affairs service center. After this, the equipment is officially considered de-registered. It can be exported abroad or scrapped.
Two more important novelties: Any registration actions – registration, re-registration, temporary registration, de-registration – are now paid. Also, the production of the license plate is additionally paid for – the cost of which varies depending on either the weather or the cost of metal. Who knows. The approximate cost of the service is UAH 600 with the issuance of a license plate (registration certificate form – UAH 54 and administrative service – UAH 350, UAH 138 – license plate).
On the positive and free side – any registration actions can now be carried out regardless of the enterprise’s registration location. This means that forklifts purchased by your Kyiv branch can now be registered at the Cherkasy Ministry of Internal Affairs.
In what cases can problems arise with equipment registration, and can it be canceled?
Here are the main reasons:
1. Document forgery – if it turns out that:
- the owner’s passport or other documents are fake;
- the power of attorney or sales contract is forged;
- the expert’s conclusion or declaration of conformity is “fake”.
In such a case, the Ministry of Internal Affairs employee immediately notifies the police.
2. Debt or encumbrance – if:
- the owner has debts entered in the Unified Register of Debtors;
- the equipment is seized or otherwise encumbered, recorded in state registers;
- the submitted documents do not match the data in the registers.
3. Invalid transaction – if a court declares the contract on the basis of which the registration was carried out invalid.
4. Court decision – a direct basis for canceling any registration action.
5. Customs problems – for example, the equipment was not properly cleared upon import or customs documents were forged.
In such cases, the equipment loses its registered status, and all further actions are only possible after correcting the violations or by court decision.
And as some news portals write – THE NEWS IS BEING SUPPLEMENTED!!! Because the Procedure must be! And not all this!
Kateryna Grimovych
Occupational health and safety engineer
