California Smog Check Biometric Update - What We Know

Hi everyone, we here at Emissions Depot are committed to providing as much support as we can to smog check and related automotive repair businesses.

If you are in California and operate a smog check station, you may have seen the August 22nd announcement about incoming biometric requirements starting October 1st, 2022. This is a still-developing situation and we will keep you updated as we receive more updates, but our understanding from reading BAR's Initial Statement of Reasons is that all smog check stations will need to install a webcam and a biometric palm vein scanner for each BAR-OIS machine, and for each BAR-97 machine. BAR representatives will either enroll the biometric data at your shop, or technicians can travel to a field office to do so. According to BAR, failure to comply will result in fines of $1,000 to $5,000 per violation.

From what we hear, the biometric enrollment will start soon. But because there are thousands of shops to visit, and because there would be a lot of technicians to enroll, we don't think that compliance starting immediately on October 1st will be enforced.

We will keep you updated as we learn more, and if we get the necessary BAR-approved biometric equipment in stock we will let you know so that you can avoid potential fines.

Thank you,

Emissions Depot

**Update**

We now are an official reseller of the BAR-approved Palm Vein Scanner. You can check out the product here. We've also learned that, at the outset, shops will only require one (1) palm vein scanner per OIS machine.