Regulations on the temporary seizure of vehicles, documents related to operators and violating vehicles in Vietnam according to Decree 168

Regulations on the temporary seizure of vehicles, documents related to operators and violating vehicles in Vietnam according to Decree 168​ (Image from the Internet)

1. Regulations on the temporary seizure of vehicles, documents related to operators and violating vehicles in Vietnam according to Decree 168

According to Article 48 of Decree 168/2024/ND-CP on the temporary seizure of vehicles and related documents of road traffic violators:

- To immediately prevent administrative violations, authorized individuals are permitted to temporarily seize vehicles before issuing a penalty decision in accordance with point b clause 1, clause 2, clause 8 Article 125 of the Law on Handling Administrative Violations 2012 (amended in 2020) for violations specified in the following articles, clauses, and points of Decree 168/2024/ND-CP:

+ Point g clause 5; point c clause 6; point b clause 7; point a clause 9; points a, b, c, d clause 11; clause 12; clause 14 of Article 6;

+ Point a clause 6; point b clause 7; point b clause 8; points a, b, d, dd, e, g, h, i, k clause 9; clause 11 of Article 7;

+ Point c clause 6; point a clause 7; point b clause 8; points a, b, c, d clause 9 of Article 8;

+ Point p clause 1; point d clause 3; points b, c, d (in case the violator is under 16 years old and operating the vehicle) clause 4; clause 5 of Article 9;

+ Clause 10 (in case the violator is the vehicle operator); point a clause 14 (in case the violator is the vehicle operator) of Article 12;

+ Point a clause 4; points a, b clause 5; clause 6; point b clause 7; point a clause 8; clause 9 of Article 13;

+ Points a, b clause 2; point a clause 3; clause 4 of Article 14;

+ Points a, dd, clause 1; points b, c, d, dd, clause 2; clause 3 of Article 16;

+ Clause 1; point a clause 4; clause 5; clause 6; clause 7; clause 8; clause 9 of Article 18;

+ Clause 2 of Article 19;

+ Points b, dd, e, h clause 8; points b, dd, clause 9; clause 10; point a clause 11; points a, b, d clause 12; point d clause 13; point i clause 14; point c clause 16; clause 17 of Article 32;

+ Point b clause 5 of Article 34;

+ Clause 3 of Article 35;

+ Other violations specified in Decree 168/2024/ND-CP that require immediate administrative prevention, failure to which could cause severe social consequences.

- To ensure the enforcement of the administrative penalty decision or to verify details as a basis for issuing a penalty decision, the penalty officer may decide to temporarily seize vehicles and documents related to the operator and offending vehicle for any actions specified in Decree 168/2024/ND-CP following the stipulations of point a, point c clause 1; clause 2; clause 6; clause 7; clause 8 of Article 125 in the Law on Handling Administrative Violations 2012 (amended in 2020).

When documents are temporarily seized as stipulated in clause 6 Article 125 of the Law on Handling Administrative Violations 2012 (amended in 2020), if after the specified deadline to address the violation per the administrative violation notice, the violator fails to address the issue as regulated and continues to operate or use the vehicle in traffic, they will be penalized as if they have no documents.

- If, during inspection, the operator of the vehicle fails to present one, some, or all of the mandatory documents (driving license, vehicle registration certificate (or notarized copy of the vehicle registration certificate alongside the original valid receipt from the credit institution or foreign bank branch holding the original registration certificate), certificate of technical safety inspection, and environmental protection) as prescribed (physical copy or information integrated in an electronic identification account), the following procedures are applied:

+ The authorized individual will draft an administrative violation record against the vehicle operator for missing documents (corresponding to the absent documents) and concurrently draft a violation record against the vehicle owner for corresponding violations as prescribed in Article 32 of Decree 168/2024/ND-CP and temporarily seize the vehicle as stipulated;

+ Within the specified period to address the violation recorded in the administrative violation notice, if the transport business vehicle operator presents the required documents or information of the documents integrated in an electronic identification account as prescribed, the authorized individual will issue a penalty decision for not carrying documents against the vehicle operator and will not penalize the vehicle owner;

+ Within the specified period to address the violation recorded in the administrative violation notice, if the violator (except for cases specified in point b clause 3 Article 48 of Decree 168/2024/ND-CP) presents the required documents or information of the documents integrated in an electronic identification account as prescribed, the authorized individual will not issue an administrative penalty decision for the lack of documents or carrying documents and will not penalize the vehicle owner;

+ Beyond the specified period to address the violation recorded in the administrative violation notice, if the violator subsequently presents or fails to present the documents or integrated information as prescribed, they must comply with the administrative penalty decision for the violations recorded in the administrative violation notice.

- When a vehicle is temporarily seized as per clause 1, clause 2, clause 3 Article 48 of Decree 168/2024/ND-CP, the vehicle owner bears all costs (if any) for using alternative transport methods for moving people and goods transported on the seized vehicle.

In the case of temporary seizure of an administrative violation vehicle, but the operator, owner is not present at the violation site or present but does not comply with the seizure order by an authorized officer or does not meet the requirements, conditions to operate the vehicle, or the vehicle does not meet the technical safety and environmental protection standards as prescribed, the authorized officer conducting the seizure will organize the transport of the violation vehicle to the storage area as prescribed; if the conditions to carry this out are not met, the authorized officer conducting the seizure can hire an organization or individual to carry out the transport of that vehicle. The vehicle operator or vehicle owner violating must pay the transport costs of that vehicle to the storage area.

2. Licenses, professional pcertificates temporarily revoked as per Decree 168 in Vietnam

According to clause 1 Article 5 of Decree 168/2024/ND-CP, licenses and professional certificates subject to temporary revocation in Decree 168/2024/ND-CP include:

- Marks accredited for vehicles participating in transport business;

- Certification, inspection stamps for technical safety and environmental protection;

- License to train drivers;

- Testing license;

- Certificate of conditions for vehicle inspection activities;

- Certificate for inspectors;

- National driving licenses; international driving licenses issued by countries participating in the 1968 United Nations Convention on Road Traffic (except for international driving licenses issued by Vietnam); international driving licenses that Vietnam has signed international agreements with for mutual recognition.

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