What's special about a car with license plate 80-NG?
Many people often see cars with license plates starting with 80-NG on the road but don't understand the meaning and privileges associated with this plate.
According to Circular 58/2020/TT-BCA of the Ministry of Public Security, license plates with a white background, black numbers, and a red "NG" series code are issued to vehicles of diplomatic missions, consular offices, and foreign personnel holding diplomatic identification cards from those agencies. Specifically, the license plates of Ambassadors and Consuls General have a registration number starting with 01, with a red line superimposed horizontally across the numbers indicating nationality and registration order.
The arrangement of letters and numbers on foreign car license plates is generally regulated as follows:
The first group consists of two numbers, which are the local vehicle registration code.
The second group consists of symbols for country names and international organizations, comprising three natural numbers.
The third group is the registration series: the red "NG" symbol is for vehicles of diplomatic missions, the red "QT" symbol is for vehicles of representative offices of international organizations, the "CV" symbol is for vehicles of administrative and technical staff holding official identification cards of diplomatic missions, consular offices, and international organizations, and the "NN" symbol is for vehicles of foreign organizations, representative offices, and individuals (excluding Ambassadors and Consuls General; heads of representative offices of United Nations organizations; and administrative and technical staff holding official identification cards of diplomatic missions, consular offices, and international organizations).
The fourth group is the vehicle registration number, consisting of two natural numbers, from 01 to 99.
The local symbol, country name symbol, registration serial number, and registration order are separated by a hyphen (-).
According to regulations, license plates with the prefix 80-NG are understood to be for diplomatic vehicles registered with the Department of Road and Rail Traffic Police (code 80).
What privileges do cars with license plates starting with 80-NG have?
Cars with license plates starting with 80-NG are diplomatic vehicles, exempt from taxes and enjoying diplomatic privileges and immunities when used in Vietnam.
Regarding privileges in traffic, if the driver of a diplomatic vehicle is entitled to immunity from prosecution, then in the event of a collision, the traffic police will send the case file to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for handling through diplomatic channels. Therefore, if a vehicle with diplomatic license plates is driven by someone without a diplomatic identity card and commits a traffic violation, the driver will still be prosecuted according to the regulations of Vietnam's Road Traffic Law.
In Vietnam, many people take advantage of the fact that diplomatic vehicles are exempt from taxes and enjoy diplomatic privileges and immunities when used in Vietnam to evade taxes.
The most common method involves purchasing diplomatic car quotas for temporary import, then attaching diplomatic license plates to luxury cars to avoid significant taxes. The purchase price depends on the remaining term of service of diplomatic officials in Vietnam, ranging from tens of thousands to over 100,000 USD per quota. In this way, car owners have the opportunity to own expensive imported vehicles at only one-third to one-half the price of cars that would require full tax and fees.
To put an end to the situation where vehicles bearing "diplomatic" license plates in Vietnam, whose registration certificates and license plates have expired but have not completed the necessary procedures for transfer, re-export, or destruction, are still circulating illegally, authorities have tightened inspections and revoked expired diplomatic vehicle registration certificates and license plates.
At the same time, review the information of the person currently named on the vehicle registration certificate for vehicles that have not yet undergone the transfer procedure and notify the Ministry of Finance.
Specifically, the Ministry of Transport has been instructed by the Prime Minister to direct vehicle registration agencies to suspend vehicle registration for those vehicles bearing diplomatic license plates that have not yet completed the transfer procedures, according to the list announced by the Ministry of Finance.
