Updates & sources

6 August 2026 — publisher content expansion

Added methodology, corrections, living demerit-status, notice field guide, notice-options and pay/represent/nominate frameworks, two worked scenarios with Schedule 3 ledgers, a handheld-phone offence deep-dive, and an explicit “what we cannot do” boundary page. No change to the Schedule 3 pin (GG 54922) or the enforcement caveat on sections 24–28. Driver-facing status summary: /aarto-demerit-status.

August 2026 — content review

Full review of every legal statement on this site against the July 2026 position. No changes to demerit values, the 15-point threshold, or the enforcement caveat were required. The source pin remains Gazette 54922. This "last verified" stamp now appears on our main guides.

15 July 2026 — OUTA files an urgent review application

The Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (OUTA) filed an urgent application in the High Court, Pretoria, challenging the lawfulness of the AARTO rollout — principally that the AARTO Appeals Tribunal was not operational before enforcement was switched on, and that the 2026 regulations were published one day before commencement without meaningful public participation. This is a challenge to implementation, not a constitutional challenge to AARTO itself. It does not change which gazette defines Schedule 3, and no order suspending the 2026 regulations has been located.

1 July 2026 — AARTO Regulations, 2026 commence

Government Notice R.7646, published in Government Gazette 54922 on 30 June 2026, came into operation on 1 July 2026 under regulation 41(1) and repealed the 2008 regulations (regulation 39). This instrument carries Schedule 3, whose column 6 sets the demerit value for every charge code, and regulation 20, which sets the demerit attachment rules and the 15-point disqualification total. Every point value on this site is derived from this gazette.

29 June 2026 — Proclamations 322 and 323 (AARTO Phase 2)

Proclamation Notice 322 of 2026 (Gazette 54917) brought listed sections of the AARTO Act into operation in 62 municipalities from 1 July 2026 — the administrative infringement-notice and fine framework, including sections 17 to 20, 23, and 29 to 35. Proclamation Notice 323 (Gazette 54918) brought the AARTO Amendment Act 4 of 2019 into operation in the same areas, except section 2(g) on rehabilitation programmes.

Critically, sections 24 to 28 were omitted from the commencement list. Those are the sections that allocate demerit points to a licence, disqualify a driver above the threshold, require surrender of the licence, provide for cancellation, and provide for points to decay. Their omission is the single reason this site describes the demerit system as on the books but not live. What sections 24–28 provide for →

29–30 June 2026 — SALGA's urgent interdict dismissed

The South African Local Government Association sought an urgent interdict to halt Phase 2 commencement. The Gauteng High Court, Pretoria dismissed the application for want of urgency, and Phase 2 proceeded on 1 July 2026. SALGA has indicated it will continue on the ordinary court roll. The challenge targets municipal readiness and the administrative rollout, not the Schedule 3 demerit values. Secondary reporting.

28 November 2025 — the 2025 regulations package is withdrawn

Gazette 53743 withdrew the AARTO regulations package published on 31 October 2025 (Gazette 53605, Notice 6782) and its associated commencement notices. This matters because that withdrawn package is where the widely quoted 1 September 2026 demerit go-live date came from. That date is superseded and should not be cited as current law — but it still circulates in older articles, insurer blog posts, and fleet-compliance summaries. If you see it, check the publication date. Secondary reporting for the withdrawal gazette number.

31 October 2025 — 2025 regulations published (later withdrawn)

Gazette 53605 (Notice 6782) published a full AARTO regulations package, including a demerit schedule. It was withdrawn a month later and never became the operative instrument. We do not encode any value from it. The 2026 package that replaced it is the one this site uses.

12 July 2023 — Constitutional Court upholds the AARTO Act

In Minister of Transport and Another v Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse and Another[2023] ZACC 22, the Constitutional Court set aside the High Court's 2022 declaration that the AARTO Act and the AARTO Amendment Act were unconstitutional, holding that the legislation falls within national legislative competence. The practical effect is that AARTO itself is constitutionally sound; subsequent litigation, including the 2026 OUTA application, has been about how it is being implemented rather than whether it may exist at all.

2 October 2020 — draft regulations and the learner 6-point claim

Gazette 43758 published draft AARTO regulations for public comment, together with an explanatory memorandum on Schedule 3. That memorandum is the origin of the frequently repeated claim that learner drivers face a lower 6-point disqualification threshold. It was a draft-and-explanatory document, never an in-force instrument, and no such separate learner threshold appears in the enacted 2026 regulations. Our calculator therefore applies a single 15-point threshold to every natural-person driver. FAQ: learners →