International driving licenses cannot be issued for use in 73 countries.

Mr. Vo Minh Tuan, Deputy Director of the Department of Vehicle and Driver Management (General Department of Roads) said that this unit and the Departments of Transport cannot issue international driving licenses (IDPs) to Vietnamese citizens from October 1 according to the effect of Circular 29.

Talking to reporters, Mr. Tuan said that, implementing Circular 29/2015/TT-BGTVT of the Ministry of Transport, recently, the General Department of Roads has prepared steps to organize bidding for related parts for the issuance of international driving licenses: equipment, software for managing issuance and stamps, and printing international driving licenses.

In addition, the General Department of Roads has sent a document to the Department of Transport of localities to prepare technical and human resources to organize training. However, up to this point, it is not possible to issue driving licenses from October 1 according to the effect of Circular 29.

Explaining this, the Deputy Director of the Department of Vehicle and Driver Management said that in order to issue an international driving license, the bidding, fees and charges must be completed. However, this is under the authority of the Ministry of Finance.

According to Mr. Tuan, currently, the General Department of Roads is implementing a bidding process for the driver's license blank supplier, then will come up with the implementation process. On that basis, the driver's license fee will be calculated, the price will be appraised, and then proposed to the Ministry of Finance to issue a Circular on fees and charges for issuing international driver's licenses. Only then will the implementation begin.

Sample of international driving license to be issued in Vietnam.

“In the immediate future, the technical part of the international driving license system will strive to be completed in October and we will wait for the contractor to provide equipment for training at the Departments of Transport. After that, the international driving license will be deployed first in Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City and some major cities…”, said a representative of the General Department of Roads.

Valid in 73 countries only

Regarding the process of issuing a driver's license, a representative of the General Department of Roads said that people only need to fill out an application form and bring their valid driver's license, passport, permanent resident card (for foreigners) to check and compare to the issuance and renewal points to complete the procedures and pay the fee.

After about 5 days, people will receive an international driving license with a validity of no more than 3 years and can be used in 73 countries according to the provisions of the 1968 International Convention on Road Traffic and the Convention on Road Signs and Signals (Vienna Convention).

“The United Nations announcement approving the international driving license is only used by 73/85 countries that signed the Vienna Convention. There are some other countries that joined but for some reason were not accepted later. Vietnam joined on August 20, 2014 and has been recognized,” said a representative of the General Department of Roads.

According to the General Department of Roads, the international driving license has a gray cover, the first pages contain basic information and scope of use in Vietnamese and English. The following pages contain information about the driver and vehicle classification in Russian, French, and Spanish.

The class of vehicles allowed to be driven by an international driving license corresponds to the class of vehicles on a national driving license issued by Vietnam. Persons granted an international driving license are Vietnamese people, foreigners with permanent residence cards in Vietnam, and a valid national driving license issued by Vietnam.

Cases that are not eligible for issuance include: national driving licenses issued by Vietnam that show signs of erasure, are torn, do not have all necessary elements, or have differences in identification; show signs of not being issued by a competent authority without verification...

Holders of an international driving permit must carry it with them when driving and present it together with their national driving license in the territory of the countries participating in the Vienna Convention, and must comply with the laws of the host country. An international driving permit may be revoked for a period of time in case of violation of the laws in force in the host country, but not longer than the time the driver leaves that country.

The international driving license is an A6 sized book (148 x 105cm) with a security symbol, a grey cover, and white pages inside according to the prescribed form. The international driving license number uses a natural number sequence consisting of 15 digits, the first 3 digits are the country code (084), the following 12 digits are the national driving license number.

According to Infonet