Guidance on handling cases of exemption from road user charges in Vietnam from October 01, 2024

Guidance on handling cases of exemption from road user charges in Vietnam from October 01, 2024 (Image from the internet)

On September 30, 2024, the Government of Vietnam issued Decree 119/2024/ND-CP regulating electronic payments for road traffic.

Guidance on handling cases of exemption from road user charges in Vietnam from October 01, 2024

According to Article 18 of Decree 119/2024/ND-CP, guidance on handling cases of exemption from road user charges in Vietnam from October 01, 2024 is as follows:

- Vehicles exempt from road user charges by law will be tagged at the endpoint and have a traffic account with priority vehicle information. When traveling through electronic non-stop toll lanes, these vehicles will be automatically recognized and allowed to pass through the toll stations.

- Monthly, quarterly, or yearly toll payments:

+ In case vehicle owners wish to pay monthly, quarterly, or yearly road user charges for one or several specific non-stop electronic toll stations, the road toll payment service provider will deduct the toll fee from the vehicle owner's payment account at the time of registration for monthly, quarterly, or yearly payment.

+ For vehicles registered for monthly, quarterly, or yearly road toll payments passing through registered toll stations, the road toll payment service provider will not deduct toll fees from the vehicle owner’s payment account. Besides monthly, quarterly, or yearly payments for specific registered toll stations, vehicle owners must make payments as required to pass through other non-stop toll stations if they need to use them.

Regulations on road user charge payment via ETC in Vietnam from October 1, 2024

Specifically, according to Article 15 of Decree 119/2024/ND-CP, regulations on road user charge payment via ETC in Vietnam include the following contents:

- Operational forms of systems installed at electronic non-stop toll stations:

+ Single-lane with barrier: In this form, the barrier at the toll station will open for the vehicle to pass when the vehicle has a valid endpoint tag and successfully performs the road toll payment.

+ Multi-lane free flow: In this form, the toll station area will only maintain overhead gantries and toll collection devices attached to them. This form is only applied at the entry points of highways.

- Process for handling electronic non-stop road toll payment transactions:

+ When a vehicle enters the identification zone of the system installed at the toll station, the system will read the information, send transaction details to the Operation System and Data Center of the road toll payment service provider to perform the toll payment, and send back the information to the system installed at the toll station to complete the vehicle transaction through the toll station.

+ The exchange of information content and the process of handling electronic non-stop road toll payment transactions are carried out according to standards and technical regulations on toll stations and other related technical standards and regulations.

+ After the transaction is completed, the road toll payment service provider and the toll operation unit will synchronize transaction information into the Electronic Road Traffic Payment Data System.

- Methods of road toll payment:

+ Open method: In this method, the vehicle owner pays a fixed amount at the toll station regardless of the distance traveled on the toll road segment, based only on the vehicle type.

+ Closed method: In this method, the vehicle owner pays a toll fee based on the distance traveled on the toll road segment and the vehicle type.

- Highways and continuous highway segments are organized into a closed system following an electronic non-stop method.

- Toll stations not on highways must implement electronic non-stop road toll collection and maintain 01 mixed toll lane or 01 incident handling lane (a toll lane that applies both electronic non-stop and stop methods) on each traffic direction as per regulations.

- The design, investment, construction, renovation, upgrading of toll stations, operational forms of systems installed at toll stations, and methods of toll collection are decided by the competent authorities in the Feasibility Study Report of the road infrastructure investment project or in the Scheme for the exploitation of road infrastructure assets.

More details can be found in Decree 119/2024/ND-CP which comes into force in Vietnam from October 1, 2024.

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