Under a new decree, the owner of a vehicle who has failed to carry out procedures for an ownership change will be fined, but some lawyers propose that such a fine be abolished as it is groundless.

According a regulation in Decree 71 that took effect on November 10, police will penalize those who possess a vehicle that could have been sold, transferred or presented to him while procedures for change of ownership have yet to be completed.

The fine is VND2-4 million (US$96-192) for owners of motorbikes and VND6-10 million for cars' owners. However, in an interview with Tuoi Tre, lawyer Tran Thi Mien said this rule has been strongly opposed by many people who argued that police has no right to apply such a penalty because there is no laws that require the owner of a vehicle to make ownership transfer. The lawyer said that such a penalty is groundless since it is not based on any laws, including the Road Traffic Law. "Article 58 of the Law regulates conditions for drivers of vehicles to join in traffic, but these conditions do not include vehicle ownership transfer." Under this article, when operating a vehicle, the driver is only required to carry the following papers: vehicle registration paper; driver license, for motor vehicle operators; technical safety and environmental protection inspection certificate, for motor vehicles prescribed in Article 55 of this Law; and motor vehicle owner civil liability insurance certificate, Mien said. Lawyer Vo Xuan Trung, from the Ho Chi Minh Bar Association, also said that if a driver of a vehicle can show the vehicle registration certificate to traffic police, then that driver cannot be fined, even though the name shown on the certificate and the name of the driver can be different. Lawyer Nguyen Thi Minh Huyen, from the same association, also told Tuoi Tre that neither the Traffic Law or Civil Code has an article that requires the owner of a vehicle to go through an ownership change when that owner sells or presents the vehicle to another person. The ownership of property is a legal right of citizens, and people are not required to go through a change in property ownership when that property is sold, bought, transferred or presented as a gift, Huyen said. “Carrying out procedures for an ownership change is not an obligation but a right of the owner of a property.”