From 2015, cars that do not change ownership will be fined.

Traffic police will fine organizations up to 4 million VND and individuals up to 2 million VND for buying and selling cars without transferring ownership.

According to Decree 171/2013, replacing Decree 71 on administrative penalties for violations in the field of road traffic, by January 1, 2015, car owners of all types who buy, receive gifts, inherit... but do not change the ownership will be fined from 1-2 million VND for individuals, 2-4 million VND for organizations. This fine has been changed to be lower than the previous Decree 71 by more than half.

By early 2015, individual car owners who have not yet transferred ownership will be fined 2 million VND and 4 million VND for cars owned by agencies and organizations. Illustrative photo. Ba Do

The penalty for this behavior with motorbikes will be postponed until 2017 and the fine will be 100,000 - 200,000 VND for individuals, and 200,000 - 400,000 VND for agencies and organizations.

Speaking to VnExpress, Major Pham Quang Huy, head of the Department of Propaganda and Law Guidance, Department of Road and Railway Traffic Police (Ministry of Public Security) said that in early 2015, traffic police forces nationwide will impose penalties on owners of all types of cars who do not transfer ownership when buying, selling, giving away, etc. The penalties will be implemented through three forms: vehicle registration, investigation and handling of accidents, and investigation of vehicles involved in criminal cases and stolen vehicles.

Will people who violate traffic laws be punished for not transferring ownership? Major Huy said that they will follow the law, however, the traffic police will publicize the process, route, and give reminders before imposing penalties on mass media and the website of the Traffic Police Department (www.csgt.vn).

Previously, at the end of 2012, Decree 71 imposed a fine of 6-10 million VND for cars and 1 million VND for motorbikes that had not been transferred to another owner. This regulation caused much controversy and made hundreds of thousands of people worried because they were using vehicles that were not registered to them, in many cases the previous owner could not be found.

In response to public opinion, at the end of August 2013, Deputy Prime Minister Hoang Trung Hai directed the Ministry of Transport, the Ministry of Public Security and the Ministry of Justice to meet to reach a consensus on the punishment for not transferring vehicle ownership according to regulations.

Representatives of the ministries agreed to propose adding to the draft regulations on penalties for not transferring vehicle ownership to ensure effective state management and the legal rights and obligations of vehicle owners. From there, the ministries agreed to postpone the penalty period for cars until 2015 and for motorbikes until 2017.

Previously, Circular 11 of the Ministry of Public Security had expired, guiding: handling of vehicles without ownership transfer only through registration, license plate issuance, investigation and settlement of traffic accidents; through professional technical means, cases of vehicle detention according to regulations.

Through investigation of criminal cases, if it is discovered that the buyer or seller has not completed the name change procedures, the police must verify the violation and issue a decision to impose a fine if it has been more than 30 days since the vehicle purchase and sale documents were completed but the name change has not been made.

In addition, traffic police are not allowed to stop vehicles on the road when there are no signs of violations to ask and handle the error of unregistered vehicles. When penalizing traffic violators, the police will not ask or investigate whether the vehicle is registered or not, nor will they combine the error of "unregistered vehicles" with other errors.

According to Vnexpress