Cars queuing outside an inspection center in Thai Binh province__Photo: The Duyet/VNA

It has never been so difficult and time-consuming to get cars inspected as it is today. Over the past few months, many transport and travel businesses as well as private car owners have been struggling to have their vehicles inspected despite having queued up for weeks. 

The car inspection crisis began in the southern delta province of Dong Thap in last October when the police caught four staff members of a vehicle inspection center red-handed taking bribes from vehicle owners to ignore their cars’ defects. The event was the starting point of a series of raids and arrests at car inspection centers all over the country. By March 28, a total of 506 persons, including the incumbent and former directors of the Vietnam Register, had been investigated and prosecuted under criminal cases related to corruption in the car inspection system. By March 6, 61 out of 281 car inspection centers nationwide had suspended operation, including nine centers with 17 inspection lines in Ho Chi Minh City and 22 centers with 41 inspection lines in the capital city of Hanoi, causing congestion at the remaining centers and the situation got worsen. According to statistics from the Vietnam Register, more than 350,000 vehicles with expired certificates of roadworthiness were unable to be inspected in March and April.

Yen Bai Waterway Transport Joint-Stock Company was one of the vehicle owners who were on pins and needles waiting their turn at vehicle inspection centers in March. A representative from the company, which has a fleet of more than one hundred 45-seater buses running from Hanoi to Yen Bai and other northern provinces, told the Giao duc & Thoi dai (Education & Times): “We have waited for weeks and it is still not our turn.” 

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The situation was not only time-consuming but also caused great financial damage to the company. For each day a vehicle is unable to operate and consequently generates zero revenue, the company still has to pay approximately VND 2.5 million (USD 106) for the driver’s salary and parking fees, on top of the bank interest. “If this situation continues, transport businesses are sure to run at a loss this year,” the representative added.

Do Van Bang, director of Minh Thanh Phat Co. Ltd., greatly sympathized with Yen Bai Waterway Transport JSC. “In the past, it only took two hours for a car to go through a roadworthiness test but today, a vehicle might have to queue for up to 12 days without knowing when it’s its turn. The distance is long, while expenses for fuel, employees and waiting time are high. At this time, the more vehicles a business has, the more miserable it is,” Bang was quoted by the Việt Nam News.

Pham Duy Nghia, Vietfoot Travel director, said difficulties in vehicle inspection affected not only transport companies but also tourism agents. “We have just received a group of foreign tourists for a three-day tour, and have to pay an additional VND 20 million (USD 850) for car rental while our vehicles have been unable to be inspected and remain in the parking lot,” the businessman revealed.

Reforming the car inspection system

On June 2, the Ministry of Transport issued Circular 08 revising some provisions of Circular 16 of 2021 on vehicle safety inspection and environmental protection.

The new circular, which took effect on June 3, states that non-commercial vehicles of up to nine seats whose certificates of technical inspection were issued before March 22, 2023, and expire before July 1, 2024, will be considered roadworthy for six more months since their certificates expire. 

The extension would, according to the Vietnam Register, help reduce the recent huge backlogs of cars at vehicle inspection centers nationwide. However, as the automatic extension applies only to private-use cars, it therefore is unhelpful for transport businesses in particular and the business cycle in general.

In another move, the Government on June 8 issued Decree 30/2023/ND-CP amending and supplementing a number of articles of Decree 139 of 2018 on provision of vehicle inspection services (Decree 30). As evaluated by the Vietnam Register, the move is considered one of the solutions to reform the operation of the car inspection system toward tightening and raising the effect of state management, improving the quality of vehicle inspection activities, and optimizing resources to develop vehicle inspection services to meet the demand of people and businesses.

Under the new decree, the licensing of vehicle inspection service establishments will be more stringent. Specifically, the construction of vehicle inspection facilities must conform to local master plans and vehicle quantity and density, ensure convenience for vehicle owners and not obstruct or cause traffic jams, especially in big cities.

Decree 30 also clearly and transparently decentralizes state management responsibilities for licensing and managing vehicle inspection centers and inspectors. Accordingly, provincial-level Transport Departments will be competent to grant certificates of eligibility for provision of vehicle inspection services to car inspection establishments in their localities. Meanwhile, the Vietnam Register will perform specialized management and grant certificates to inspectors nationwide.

Similarly, regular inspection and examination of vehicle inspection centers will be carried out by provincial-level Transport Departments while specialized inspection will fall within the competence of the Vietnam Register.

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As analyzed by the Vietnam Register, the Decree contains strict and clear regulations on the organizational structure and personnel of vehicle inspection establishments; clearly defines responsibilities of leaders of inspection divisions and inspectors; and increases sanctions to handle violations committed by inspection establishments and inspectors.

In parallel with tightening state management, the Decree revises a number of regulations in order to tap to the utmost social resources and facilitate the application of scientific advances to vehicle roadworthiness inspection.

Under current regulations, vehicle inspection service providers must be legally and financially independent from automobile transport service providers and car maintenance and repair service providers. At the same time, organizations and individuals engaged in automobile transport business or car maintenance and repair business must not hold more than 10 percent of shares or capital contributions at vehicle inspection establishments. Decree 30 now abolishes these provisions, allowing automobile maintenance and repair establishments to provide vehicle inspection services as long as they meet the law-specified conditions on physical foundations, organizational structure and personnel.

At the same time, the Decree opens the possibility of mobilizing pubic security and military forces to support the vehicle inspection system in emergency circumstances.

Along with that, Decree 30 adjusts the required minimum number of personnel in each vehicle inspection line (from three to two) to reduce the pressure of the current shortage of inspectors and at the same time encourage inspection establishments to improve the quality of their human resources and promote the application of scientific and technical advances in inspection work.

It also removes the provision restricting the maximum number of cars a vehicle inspection unit may test per day with a view to encouraging car inspection centers to bring into play their proactivity, flexibility and creativity for raising productivity.