If you're planning to drive in Bhutan, expect a change at the paperwork stage. The Bhutan Construction and Transport Authority (BCTA) has retired the old vehicle Registration Certificate — the familiar blue booklet — in favour of a single-page digital RC that bundles everything into one document.
The new one-pager consolidates the registration certificate, roadworthiness certificate and emissions certificate, complete with validity dates, expiry dates and renewal details. Owners can carry a printed copy or keep it purely digital, since both are accepted. Vehicle details are stored in the BCTA system, and drivers can pull up their RC through the mRSTA app, which has been rebranded as mBCTA.
The motivation is largely administrative: the old system involved buying physical booklets, entering data by hand on every page, then signing and sealing them. Officials describe it as double work that cost the government money each year in booklet procurement. The digital version cuts those costs and trims the process down to a single document.
There is a fee, and it has generated some debate. The digital RC costs Nu 500 as a one-time charge, with another Nu 500 applying when a vehicle changes hands. BCTA defends the price by pointing out that Bhutanese drivers avoid the road taxes and toll plaza fees common elsewhere in the region.
Two practical wrinkles matter for visitors and border-area drivers. First, physical printed copies remain mandatory when driving to India, where documents are verified in person — so if your itinerary crosses the border, don't rely on the app alone. Second, the old blue books haven't vanished entirely just yet. Motorists in border towns such as Phuentsholing, or anyone with a specific requirement for the old-format booklet, can still get one while existing stock runs out. Once those supplies are exhausted, the one-pager becomes the only option.
BCTA is also hinting at the next step: a smart RC card that would bundle everything onto a single physical card, part of Bhutan's broader push to digitise public services.
For travellers, the main takeaway is simple. If you're hiring a car in Bhutan or bringing your own vehicle overland from India, the vehicle paperwork will look different from the multi-page blue book of the past. Renters won't need to do anything themselves — rental companies handle registration — but self-drivers entering from India should double-check that they carry the required physical documents for the border crossing, and confirm current entry requirements with authorities before setting off, since cross-border rules can shift alongside these reforms.
It's a small administrative story with a practical tail: Bhutan is steadily moving its transport paperwork onto screens, and anyone driving the kingdom's famously winding mountain roads should know what the new documents look like and when paper still rules. Details in this brief come from reporting by The Bhutanese.
