SHANGHAI, Jan 24 – Shanghai’s Urban Transportation Administration Bureau has announced that any representative office established in Shanghai before January 7, 2007 has until February 5, 2007 to apply for a vehicle license plate free of charge.

In the past, every representative office in Shanghai was entitled to one vehicle license plate. However, early this year, the Shanghai government changed that policy and it was determined that any representative office established after January 7 would have to pay to obtain a vehicle license.

The administration built in the one-month grace period so that representative offices established before January 7 could still apply for a vehicle license plate without paying the license plate fee.

Shanghai limits the number of cars in the city by limiting the number of license plates it issues every year. In order to obtain a license plate, vehicle owners must buy them at auction, with plates usually selling for around RMB23,000.