Is it allowed to bring dogs and cats on passenger cars in Vietnam?

Is it allowed to bring dogs and cats on passenger cars in Vietnam?

Pursuant to Article 68 of the Law on Road Traffic 2008, regulations on passenger transportation by car are as follows:

1. Carriers and passenger car drivers shall comply with the following provisions:

a/ To embark and disembark passengers at prescribed places;

b/ Not to carry passengers on the car roofs or luggage compartments or let passengers cling to cars from the outside;

c/ Not to carry dangerous goods, fetid goods, animals or other goods adversely affecting passenger health;

d/ Not to carry passengers, luggage and cargo in excess of the prescribed mass or passenger number;

e/ Not to load cargo in passenger cabins; to take measures to keep the cars clean.

2. The Minister of Transport shall prescribe the organization and management of passenger transportation by car.

In addition, Article 23 of Decree 100/2019/ND-CP stipulates penalties imposed upon operators of civil and commercial passenger automobiles, and similar automobiles violating road traffic regulations:

1. A fine ranging from VND 100,000 to VND 200,000 shall be imposed for:

a) Failure to instruct passengers to stand, sit, or lie in place;

b) Failure to wear uniform and the driver’s name tag.

2. A fine ranging from VND 400,000 to VND 600,000 shall be imposed upon the operator of a passenger vehicle (except for buses) for each passenger carried beyond the following permissible limits: 02 or more excess passengers on a 9 seater vehicle or smaller, 03 or more excess passengers on a 10 - 15 seater vehicle; 04 or more excess passengers on a 16 - 30 seater vehicle; 05 or more excess passengers on a vehicle with more than 30 seats, except for the violations mentioned in Clause 4 of this Article. Nevertheless, the total fine incurred by such operator shall not exceed VND 40,000,000.

3. A fine ranging from VND 600,000 to VND 800,000 shall be imposed for:

a) Leaving the door open while the vehicle is running;

b) Allowing the passengers to stay in the vehicle while the vehicle is entering or leaving a barge or a floating bridge (except for weak and old people, the disabled, and sick people);

c) Failure to stick to the prescribed route;

d) Allowing passengers to lie on hammocks in the vehicle or hang from the vehicle while it is running;

dd) Stacking luggage and goods unsafely; dropping luggage or goods from the vehicle; placing goods in the passenger cabin;

e) Carrying luggage or goods beyond the outer size of the vehicle;

g) Carrying stinky goods on a passenger vehicle;

h) Transporting passengers without attendants (if required);

i) Operating taxis without taximeters (in case of vehicles registering for taximeters) or without appropriate taximeters or without using taximeters as per the law when transporting passengers;

k) Operating a fixed-route vehicle without adhering to the route licensed by a competent authority (if any);

l) Operating a fixed-route passenger vehicle and collecting money without giving tickets to passengers, or sell tickets at higher prices than prescribed rates;

m) Operating a passenger vehicle without seat belts at seats and beds as per the law (except for provincial bus lines);

n) Operating a passenger vehicle without providing passengers with instructions on traffic safety and emergency exit upon vehicular accidents as per the law;

o) Operating taxis without using applications to calculate taxi fares (in case of vehicles registering for such applications) or without using applications satisfactory to regulations and law;

p) Operating taxis using taxi fare applications without installing devices to directly connect with passengers on the vehicles as per the law.

4. A fine ranging from VND 1,000,000 to VND 2,000,000 shall be imposed upon the operator of a passenger vehicle with routes longer than 300 km for every excess passenger carried beyond the following permissible limits: 02 or more excess passengers on a 9 sweater vehicle or smaller, 03 or more excess passengers on a 10 - 15 sweater vehicle; 04 or more excess passengers on a 16 - 30 sweater vehicle; 05 or more excess passengers on a 30 sweater vehicle or bigger. Nevertheless, the total fine incurred by such operator shall not exceed VND 40,000,000.

5. A fine ranging from VND 1,000,000 to VND 2,000,000 shall be imposed for:

a) Allowing passengers to get on or off the vehicle while it is running;

b) Transferring passengers to another vehicle without their consents; threatening, humiliating passengers; fighting over passengers; forcing passengers to use services against their will;

c) Forcing passengers to get off the vehicle to avoid inspection by law enforcement officers;

d) Making the vehicle imbalanced when loading cargo;

dd) Picking up or disembarking passengers at improper places on fixed routes where such places are already determined; disembarking passengers or stopping to pickup or disembark passengers longer than permitted, except for the violations specified in Point a Clause 7 of this Article;

e) Picking up or disembarking passengers where stopping or parking is prohibited or at a curved segment where view is blocked, except for the violations specified in Point a Clause 7 of this Article;

g) Operating a vehicle providing passenger transportation services without installing tracking devices on the vehicle as per the law, except for violations specified in Point dd Clause 6 of this Article;

h) Operating a tourist vehicle or contract-based passenger vehicle using written contracts without a list of passengers, carrying passengers not on the list or carrying passengers inconsistent with regulations and law (applicable to vehicles under contracts for transporting students and employees to schools and to workplaces); failure to have or carry the transport contract or a conformable one as prescribed;

i) Transporting passengers along a fixed route without carrying a transport order or one that has sufficient information and certified by both stations at the route ends;

k) Picking up or disembarking passengers at places not specified in the contract, except for the violations specified in Point a Clause 7 of this Article;

l) Operating a fixed-route international passenger transport vehicle without a list of passengers or carrying passengers not on the list; except for the violations specified in Point c Clause 1 Article 35 hereof;

m) Carrying luggage or cargo beyond the GVWR of the vehicle;

n) Operating a vehicle providing transportation for tourism or a contract-based passenger transportation vehicle and picking up, charging or verifying booking of individual passenger; operating contract-based vehicle and designating fixed-routes to serve different customers and service recipients;  

o) Failure to use driver identification cards to input information as per the law or using driver identification cards of other drivers to input information when operating passenger vehicle;

p) Operating a vehicle providing passenger transportation services without installing cameras as per the law (if required by the law) or installing cameras without capability to record and store images on the vehicle (including those of the driver) during the vehicle's operation as per the law;

q) Operating a vehicle transporting tourists or passengers under contract using electronic contract without having devices to access contents of the electronic contract and the passenger list or failure to provide the electronic contract and passenger list for competent authorities where requested, transporting passengers whose names are not on the passenger list or transporting passengers inconsistent with regulations and law (with respect to contract-based vehicle transporting students and employees to schools and workplaces). 

6. A fine ranging from VND 3,000,000 to VND 5,000,000 shall be imposed for:

a) Transporting dangerous, toxic, flammable, explosive goods, transporting animals or other goods that affect the health of passengers on the passenger vehicle;

b) Carrying people on the hood, roof, or in the trunk;

c) Attacking passengers physically;

d) Operating the vehicle beyond time limits specified in Clause 1 Article 65 of the Law on Road traffic;

dd) Failure to install functional tracking devices on vehicles providing passenger transportation services as per the law or  using technical measures, peripheral equipment or other measures to falsify data of tracking devices installed on automobiles;

e) Operating an international passenger transport vehicle without a national symbol or international transport badge or an unexpired one or one issued by a competent authority.

7. A fine ranging from VND 5,000,000 to VND 7,000,000 shall be imposed for:

a) Picking up and disembarking passengers on a freeway;

b) Operating an international passenger transport vehicle without a badge or an unexpired one or one issued by a competent authority.

8. Apart from incurring fines, the vehicle operator that commits the violations shall also incur the following additional penalties:

a) The violation(s) specified in Clause 2, Clause 4 (in case of exceeding from more than 50% to 100% of number of passengers permissible for transportation); Points c, d and e Clause 3; Points a, b, c ,d , dd, e, h, i, k, l, m, o and q Clause 5; Clause 6; Point b Clause 7 of this Article shall lead to suspension of driving license from 1 month to 3 months;

b) The violation(s) specified in Point a Clause 7 of this Article shall lead to suspension of driving license from 02 months to 04 months;

c) The violation(s) specified in Clause 2 and Clause 4 of this Article (in case of exceeding 100% of number of passengers permissible for transport) shall lead to suspension of driving license from 3 months to 5 months;

d) The violation(s) specified in Point e Clause 6, Point b Clause 7 of this Article shall lead to confiscation of expired badges or badges issued by other than competent authorities.

9. Apart from the penalties, the violating vehicle operator shall be compelled to:

a) The violation(s) specified in Clause 2 and Clause 4 of this Article (in case of passenger transportation) shall lead to allocation of other vehicles to carry passengers exceeding permissible amount;

b) The violation(s) specified in Point l Clause 3 of this Article (in case of charging beyond the limit) shall lead to return of illegal profit earned from the administrative violation.

Thus, according to current regulations in Vietnam, compared to the case you mentioned, the garage has the right to refuse you to bring your dog or cat in the passenger car if it thinks it will affect the health of other passengers (also depends on each passenger). Allowing you to bring animals on board the vehicle operator can be fined from 3,000,000 to 5,000,000 VND and driving license revoked for 01 - 03 months.

Best Regards!