In what cases will traffic police check the owner's vehicle?

Major General Nguyen Huu Danh, Deputy Director of the Traffic Police Department (Ministry of Public Security) answers all questions3 weeks before the regulation on fines for unregistered vehicles takes effect.

The regulation on fining unregistered vehicles takes effect from January 1, 2017. So how should people understand this regulation, sir?

- The Road Traffic Law stipulates that vehicles must be registered. Furthermore, the person who pays to buy or is gifted a vehicle must be the owner of that vehicle.

For the person selling the vehicle to another person, after 30 days, he/she must notify the vehicle registration authority to carry out the procedures for transferring ownership and changing vehicle registration for the buyer.

If the transfer procedure is not carried out, when incidents related to the vehicle occur, the seller must take responsibility, because legally the seller is still the owner of the vehicle.

In terms of benefits, both buyers and sellers are at a disadvantage if an incident or legal violation occurs.

Major General Nguyen Huu Danh.

There was a traffic jam when the car reached its 16th owner.

If vehicles are bought, sold, or given away without transfer of ownership, how difficult will it be for management?

- Many traffic accidents occur, when the police investigate, finding the vehicle owner is very complicated.

There are many cases where people have sold the car to 17-18 owners but by the time they get to the 16-17th owner, they can't find it anymore.

The failure to find the vehicle owner has caused a deadlock in the investigation.

If the perpetrator of the crime or traffic accident cannot be found, the legal responsibility of the perpetrator/accident cannot be determined.

In case the vehicle has been bought and sold through many owners and the first owner cannot be identified to complete the name change procedure, how should this be resolved?

- The Ministry of Public Security has issued Circular No. 12 effective from 2013, which stipulates that all vehicles that have been bought and sold but have not yet been transferred (even though through many people) can go through the transfer procedure, as long as the final buyer is legally responsible for his/her vehicle, the procedure can be carried out normally.

We also advised the Ministry of Public Security to propose to the Government a roadmap for implementation with cars from April 15, 2013, effective until the end of 2014, so cars must comply very strictly.

As for motorcycles, due to the large number, the Ministry of Public Security extended the period until December 31, 2016.

People are concerned that when they borrow a car, the traffic police might check whether the vehicle is registered or not. Could you clarify the responsibility of the enforcement force in checking and penalizing unregistered vehicles?

- Traffic police must comply with the law. Article 30 of Decree 46 stipulates that those who do not transfer ownership when buying, selling, or giving away will be subject to administrative penalties according to the law.

If the wife rides her husband's car, the child rides his father's car, etc., there is no legal issue, so no one will fine the person borrowing the car.

In what cases does traffic police check the owner's vehicle?

How do traffic police determine whether the driver borrowed the vehicle or if the ownership has not been transferred?

- Traffic police on duty on the road are law enforcement officers and citizens driving vehicles must be responsible before the law for their assertions. Therefore, when a driver tells the traffic police that this is a borrowed vehicle, he must be responsible for his verification.

In case of doubt, the law stipulates that the police have the right to investigate and verify.

There may be people who take advantage of lying to deceive the police, but I think this case will not be many, because behind it there is also a monitoring system through license plates.

The violator today said it was a borrowed car, but tomorrow the monitoring system will remind him that the car violated, so he can't lie forever.

In which cases does the traffic police check if the vehicle is owned?

- The regulation only gives 2 cases, which are when a traffic accident occurs causing serious consequences and when going to register the vehicle, if the purchase and sale takes a long time without transferring ownership, there will be a penalty.

By January 1, 2017, the handling of violations under Decree 46 will take effect, and people will have had a very long time (from 2013 to the end of 2016) to complete the procedures for transferring ownership. Therefore, if by that time people do not complete the procedures, it proves that they intentionally do not comply with the provisions of the law.

At that time, the police force, through professional patrolling and controlling activities, handled violations in general, including violations that were the direct cause of traffic accidents. If they discovered cases of non-transfer of ownership, they would continue to handle them, but would not proactively stop the vehicle for inspection just to handle whether it was the right owner or not.

According to Vietnamnet