Head of Government Office: 'Losing your driver's license and having to retake the test is very funny'

On the morning of March 14, the Prime Minister's Working Group worked with ministries and branches to review the implementation of the resolution on socio-economic development and improving the business environment set out at the beginning of the year.

Regarding the capacity to draft documents, Mr. Mai Tien Dung - Minister, Head of the Government Office, reiterated the recent statement by the leader of the transport sector that "anyone who loses their driver's license must retake the test".

"The country needs to be managed, but ministries and sectors should not make ridiculous proposals because it is difficult to carry out their tasks, causing unnecessary public uproar," Mr. Dung commented.

Explaining this, Deputy Minister of Transport Nguyen Ngoc Dong said that the Ministry has clearly defined the procedures for changing a driver's license when it is lost. The Ministry of Transport and the Public Security have issued a circular on the joint management of driver's licenses since 2012, but some data has not been shared by the police force.

"The circular stipulates that if a driver violates traffic laws and is administratively fined, the police will send a ticket to provide a code to the network. Just use that code to check anyone's driver's license to know the fine, whether it will be for two months or several months... However, this has not been implemented despite our great efforts," said Mr. Dong.

To solve the above problem, Mr. Mai Tien Dung said that at the end of this year, the Government will launch the National Public Service Portal integrating all citizen management data. Citizen data will be connected and made public.

"For example, if I violate the law and the police keep my driver's license, if I declare to the traffic department that I lost my license, the fraud will be revealed immediately. The authorities only need to access the data to know the status of the citizen's documents," said Mr. Dung.

The proposal that "people who lose their driver's license must retake the test" was raised by Minister of Transport Nguyen Van The on March 6, at the explanation session of the Judiciary Committee, with the reason "to avoid the situation where people who violate the law take advantage of the situation to apply for a second or third license".

This proposal caused public reaction because it went against the development trend, "pushing the difficulty onto the people". Afterwards, the Minister of Transport asked the General Department of Roads to propose solutions to prevent abuse of the driver's license reissuance policy. One of the solutions is to conduct a test before reissuing the license.

"Individuals who re-apply for a driver's license multiple times will be inspected and, if they violate the law, will be punished," the Minister's document stated.