Deadline extension proposed for vehicle quality certification

Experts, businesses and the public have proposed extending the deadlines for vehicle quality certification prior to the Lunar New Year holiday to reduce overloading and congestion at registration centers.

The proposal came after a series of centers in Hanoi, HCMC and some provinces were closed pending investigations into vehicle inspection violations.

Nguyen The Anh from Hanoi’s Ha Dong district said that on Friday morning, he went to two registration centers in Ha Dong district but both were closed.

"Later on, I went to a center in Lang Thuong ward, Dong Da district but when I got there, I saw drivers waiting in long queues, causing traffic congestion for kilometers. So I had to give up my plan even though my vehicle registration has expired. I hope the authorities will extend the quality certification deadline to after Tet to facilitate travel during the holiday," he said.

The Lunar New Year break, or Tet, will last seven days, from January 20 to January 26, 2023.

A local of neighboring Bac Ninh province also said that vehicle owners queued for kilometers to register their vehicles on the same day, causing serious traffic jams.

Khuc Huu Thanh Hai, chairman of Dat Cang Transport, Trade and Service JSC - a large passenger transport business in Hai Phong city, said his company could not register dozens of new coaches purchased in HCMC because the registration centers in the southern hub were overloaded.

"I would like state management agencies to find solutions to remove difficulties for people and businesses, especially during the Tet holiday. We've just got over Covid-19 and are now we're getting stuck in vehicle registration. Businesses face many difficulties and many are at risk of bankruptcy," Hai said.

According to engineer Le Van Tach, this is the fault of the registration units, not vehicle owners. If registration is not possible, the centers should issue appointments for people when they're overloaded. During that time, traffic police should allow the owners to drive their vehicles without any fines.

"Registration centers should extend registration deadlines based on the age of the vehicle. For example, the registration deadline should be extended by 2-3 months for vehicles that are three years old, and one month for those that are 10 years old. But this is only a temporary solution before a long-term fix can be found," Tach said.

Regarding this issue, Nguyen To An, deputy general director of the Vietnam Register, said that his agency had a plan to extend registration deadlines for all vehicles in the short term. However, to do this, it is necessary to have a basis to determine the vehicle's condition and legal provisions.

"Registration extensions can only be applied in force majeure situations such as epidemics and war, but the current situation is neither, so it is difficult to apply this solution," said An.

He also said that only some registration centers in Hanoi, HCMC and a few provinces are temporarily closed, while those in other localities are still serving vehicle owners. Therefore, a registration extension should be considered more carefully.

The Vietnam Register is trying to reopen the centers in question, he said, adding it has also sent solutions to authorities in Hanoi and HCMC facilitate the process, he added.

According to the agency, the arrests of some registrars and suspension of a large number of registration centers in a short period of time have led to a shortage of registration centers and human resources to carry out technical safety and environmental protection inspections in many localities, especially Hanoi and HCMC.

This has also resulted in serious congestion at centers, affecting the practical needs of people and businesses, as well as causing heavy damage to socio-economic activities.

To fix this problem, the Ministry of Transport and Vietnam Register have coordinated with localities to come up with solutions such as increasing opening hours from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m., working all days off, employing more inspectors, applying information technology for vehicle owners to book inspection times, and recommending they visit centers in neighboring localities.

The Vietnam Register reported that as of January 10, 11 out of 31 vehicle registration centers in Hanoi had closed pending investigations.

In HCMC, only eight of its 17 centers are open. Even with increased opening hours, they are only capable of checking 1,290 vehicles per day, meeting just over half of the actual demand.