Are traffic police in Vietnam allowed to stop vehicles to check documents? Are plainclothes traffic police in Vietnam stop vehicles and issue fines?

Are traffic police in Vietnam allowed to stop vehicles to check documents?

Pursuant to Article 16 of the Circular 32/2023/TT-BCA stipulating regulations on stopping vehicles for inspection

Stopping vehicles for inspection

1. Traffic police officers carrying out patrol and inspection duties in accordance with the plan are allowed to stop vehicles for inspection in the following cases:

a) Directly detecting or detecting through operational technical equipment violations of road traffic laws and other legal violations;

b) Executing orders, conducting overall vehicle inspection plans to ensure road traffic order and safety, social order; patrol, inspection, and handling violation plans by theme to ensure road traffic order and safety, social order issued by the competent authority;

c) At the request of the heads or deputy heads of investigative agencies; at the request of relevant functional agencies to stop vehicles for inspection to serve the work of ensuring security and order; combating crime; disaster, fire, and disease prevention; rescue and other legal violations. The request must specify the time, route, vehicles to be stopped for inspection, handling, and the participating forces;

d) Based on reports, feedback, recommendations, and denunciations from organizations and individuals about the legal violations of people and vehicles participating in road traffic.

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According to the above regulations, even if the road user is not violating any laws, the traffic police still have the right to request the vehicle to stop for document inspection.

However, this can only be done in one of the following cases:

- Executing orders, conducting overall vehicle inspection plans to ensure road traffic order and safety, social order.

- At the request of the heads or deputy heads of investigative agencies.

- At the request of relevant functional agencies to stop vehicles for inspection to serve the work of ensuring security and order.

Note: The request must specify the time, route, vehicles to be stopped for inspection, handling, and the participating forces.

- Based on reports, feedback, recommendations, and denunciations from organizations and individuals about the legal violations of people and vehicles participating in road traffic.

Are traffic police in Vietnam allowed to stop vehicles to check documents? Are plainclothes traffic police in Vietnam stop vehicles and issue fines? - image from the internet

What documents can traffic police in Vietnam inspect?

According to Article 12 of Circular 32/2023/TT-BCA, the content of patrols and inspections is stipulated as follows:

Article 12. Content of patrols and inspections

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2. Inspection content

a) Inspection of documents related to the operator and vehicle, including:

Driver's license; Certificate of road traffic law knowledge training; Certificate of specialized motorcycle operation; Vehicle registration certificate or a certified copy of the registration certificate accompanied by the original copy of the credit institution's receipt (during the time the credit institution holds the original vehicle registration certificate); Technical safety and environmental protection inspection certificate, inspection seal, and certificate of validity of the inspection certificate and seal (for vehicles that are required to be inspected); Compulsory civil liability insurance certificate for motor vehicle owners and other necessary documents as prescribed (hereinafter collectively referred to as "documents"). When the data systems have been connected to the electronic identification and authentication system, and the status of the documents can be determined, the inspection through checking and comparing the information of those documents in the electronic identification account is as valid as direct inspection of the documents.

b) Inspection of the traffic participation conditions of the vehicle

Perform the inspection in the order from front to back, from left to right, from outside to inside, from top to bottom, including the following contents: Shape, external dimensions, color, license plates in front and rear of the vehicle, and on both sides of the vehicle; technical safety and environmental protection conditions of road motor vehicles and specialized motorcycles as prescribed.

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According to the regulations, the traffic police are authorized to check the following documents:

- Driver's license.

- Certificate of training in road traffic law knowledge, Licenses, Certificates for operating specialized vehicles.

- Vehicle registration certificate or a certified copy of the vehicle registration certificate accompanied by the original vehicle receipt from the credit institution (during the time the credit institution holds the original vehicle registration certificate).

- Vehicle inspection certificate, safety and environmental technical inspection seal.

- Confirmation of the validity period of the Inspection Certificate and Inspection Seal (for vehicles that are required to be inspected).

- Compulsory civil liability insurance certificate of the vehicle owner and any other necessary related documents.

Are plainclothes traffic police in Vietnam stop vehicles and issue fines?

According to Clause 4 Article 11 of Circular 32/2023/TT-BCA, the public patrol and inspection combined with undercover operations is stipulated as follows:

Public Patrol and Inspection Combined with Undercover Operations

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4. Conditions for Public Patrol and Inspection Combined with Undercover Operations

a) There must be a patrol and inspection plan issued by the competent authority as stipulated in Clause 3 of this Article. The content of the plan must clearly state the implementation method; forces; uniforms; communication methods, time, routes, and areas of patrol and inspection; means of transportation; professional technical equipment and tools; weapons, support tools, and other technical means used for patrol and inspection.

The Director of the Traffic Police Department, the Director of the Provincial Police, the Head of the Road and Railway Traffic Patrol and Inspection Guidance Department, the Head of the Traffic Police Department, and the District Police Chief as stipulated in Clause 3 of this Article shall decide on wearing police uniforms or plainclothes during public patrol and inspection combined with undercover operations.

b) The undercover officers and the public patrol and inspection officers in the Traffic Police Task Force must maintain an appropriate distance to ensure timely and lawful handling of violations.

The undercover officers have the responsibility to directly observe, use professional technical equipment and tools to monitor the traffic order and safety situation, and detect violations of road traffic laws and other laws. When a violation is detected, they must immediately inform the public patrol and inspection officers to stop the vehicle, inspect, and handle the case as stipulated. In case of detecting serious violations of road traffic, security, and public order that, if not timely prevented, will cause dangerous consequences to society, damage the property of agencies, organizations, and individuals, and harm the life and health of road users, they shall use the People's Police Identification Card to notify and mobilize the people to cooperate and immediately prevent the violation; notify and coordinate with the public patrol and inspection officers to handle the case at the scene of the violation or bring the violator to the nearest police station for handling as stipulated.

According to the regulations, plainclothes traffic police officers are not allowed to directly stop vehicles to issue traffic violations.

However, in some cases where serious traffic, security, or social order violations are detected, and if the violations are not promptly prevented, they will cause dangerous consequences for society, damage the property of agencies, organizations, and individuals, and harm the lives and health of traffic participants, the traffic police may then notify and mobilize the public to cooperate in immediately stopping the violation.

Additionally, they can notify and coordinate with the public patrol and control team to resolve the violation at the location where it was detected, or take the violating individual to the nearest police station to handle the case as per regulations.

Best regards!