Ministry of Transport responds to inadequacies in driving license testing

Specifically, Phu Tho voters reflected that the driver training program according to the regulations of the Ministry of Transport still has many shortcomings leading to its inability to be implemented in practice, such as: Vehicle repair skills, electronic cabins... If all of these contents are fully implemented, training costs will increase while the tuition ceiling is controlled, so it is very difficult for driver training and testing centers to implement. The Ministry of Transport is requested to consider and study to find appropriate solutions.

Responding to this issue on August 21, the Ministry of Transport said that regarding the proposal that "the driver training program as prescribed by the Ministry of Transport still has many shortcomings, leading to its inability to be implemented in practice".

On March 31, 2023, the Minister of Transport issued Decision No. 388/QD-BGTVT adjusting and supplementing the program for drafting legal documents for the first 6 months of 2023 of the Ministry of Transport.

In particular, in Appendix 2 issued with Decision No. 388/QD-BGTVT, the agency under the Ministry of Transport has been assigned to draft a Circular amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Circulars related to the field of road transport, road transport support services, vehicles and drivers. The Ministry of Transport will issue it in December 2023.

Accordingly, in the draft Circular amending and supplementing Circular No. 12/2017/TTBGTVT dated April 15, 2017 of the Minister of Transport regulating training, testing, and granting of road motor vehicle driving licenses, the drafting agency has revised the driver training program. In which, it has studied and revised both the theoretical and practical driving contents.

Thus, according to the Ministry of Transport, the above recommendations of Phu Tho voters have been accepted by the Ministry of Transport and included in the draft circular and will be widely consulted, synthesizing comments to complete the draft circular before promulgation.

Regarding the voters' proposal that "training costs will increase while controlling the tuition ceiling", the Ministry of Transport said that in Clause 4, Article 2 of Joint Circular No. 72/2011/TTLT-BTC-BGTVT dated May 27, 2011, jointly issued by the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Transport, guiding the financial management mechanism for road motor vehicle driver training, it stipulates the establishment of tuition fees: "Based on the regulations on driver training facilities, training programs, professional standards of the teaching staff issued by the Ministry of Transport and fuel consumption norms issued by driver training facilities; current financial spending regime.

Road motor vehicle driver training facilities shall develop and decide on specific tuition fees for each driving license class in detail for each subject, report to the Ministry in charge or authorized agency (for driver training facilities under ministries), report to the Provincial People's Committee or authorized agency (for local driver training facilities, including non-public facilities) for monitoring.

Training institutions are responsible for deciding to issue tuition fees and managing their tuition fees. Competent state agencies are responsible for inspecting and examining according to the provisions of Clause 1, Article 7 of the Circular. In case a training institution issues tuition fees and collects tuition fees in violation of regulations, it shall be handled according to regulations.

The Ministry of Transport said that according to current regulations, road motor vehicle driver training facilities develop and decide on tuition fees; the tuition fees must be made public to learners before signing a training contract with them.