Any person, including a foreigner, who drives a vehicle they do not own will be not fined under a new decree if they can prove they have rented or borrowed such vehicles, the Ministry of Public Security has confirmed.

>> No penalty for drivers of vehicles they do not own The confirmation was made at yesterday’ press conference held by the ministry to give instructions on the implementation of governmental Decree 71, which stipulates penalties for those who possess a vehicle that could have been sold, transferred or presented to them while procedures for change of ownership have yet to be completed. According to the Decree, which took effect on November 10, the fine is VND2-4 million (US$96-192) for owners of motorbikes and VND6-10 million for cars' owners. In talking with the media at the press conference, Major General Do Dinh Nghi, deputy head of the Police General Department for Management of Social Order and Safety, said, “In case a traffic police officer finds that the name of the driver of a vehicle is different from the name in the vehicle registration certificate, the officer will not give a fine to the driver if they can prove that he or she has hired or borrowed the vehicle.” Major General Nguyen Van Tuyen, head of the Road and Railway Traffic Department, also said people should not be excessively worried about this penalty, since traffic police will only consider applying it after they stop drivers who have violated traffic rules for examination. “Usually, police will consider such a penalty only in specific cases, such as those that involve traffic accidents or criminal cases,” Tuyen said. Such confirmation from the ministry means that no one, including foreigners, will be fined when they drive a vehicle that they have rented or borrowed if they can prove that they have done so. As affirmed by the ministry, a fine will be issued in case police can prove that a vehicle’s ownership has been changed for more than 30 days, but the procedures for this transfer have not been carried out. In a complex case, police can ask the previous owner of the vehicle for clarification. It is the responsibility of those who buy a vehicle to contact the original owner of the vehicle to go through a transfer of ownership, Tuyen said.

Meanwhile, Major General Nghi pointed out that people in general do not want to carry out procedures for ownership transfer after they sell or buy vehicles due to the high fees involved. Therefore, the ministry has proposed that the Government reduce the fee to encourage people to implement such ownership transfers, Nghi said.