In September 2011, the Prime Minister released Decision 49, setting up a roadmap for applying emission standards for vehicles, under which newly manufactured, assembled and imported cars must apply Euro 4 emission standards from January 1, 2017 and Euro 5 from January 1, 2022. 

In November 2016, many new decisions were released after the meeting presided by Deputy Prime Minister Trinh Dinh Dung. 

Petrol-engine cars will apply emission standards as stipulated in Decree 49, while passenger cars and buses with diesel engine will apply Euro 4 standards from January 1, 2018 and trucks with diesel engine will apply Euro standards from 2022.

On January 5, 2017, the Ministry of Transport released a document consulting with ministries about the amendment of Decision 49, proposing to delay the application of Euro 4 for some vehicle models using diesel.

Vietnam has six years to implement the plan to apply Euro 4 emission standards for vehicles, but the plan is encountering problems

On December 23, 2016, VAMA also asked the Prime Minister to delay the application of the emission standards for some diesels for fear that the available fuel did not meet standards.

On March 28, 2017, the Prime Minister released a document requesting enterprises to complete their plans of manufacturing and importing diesel, ensure the fulfillment of customs and registration procedures and launch in the market before December 31, 2017. 

If they cannot fulfill the work, they will have to re-export the vehicles after that day.

Some businesses are still allowed to import Euro 2 vehicles. This was attributed to VAMA’s proposal to delay the emission standard application. 

The businesses believed that VAMA’s proposal would be approved, so they still accepted products with low emission standards.

The representative of an automobile enterprise said that it takes years to fulfill the procedures to import cars. 

The imports have received temporary customs clearance after fulfilling procedures with customs and registration agencies and brought to the company’s storehouse to help it save money for storage fees at ports.

An analyst said that the fuel availability will be a big barrier for the implementation of the Euro 4 plan. 

The fuel is supplied either by the Dung Quat Oil Refinery or by imports. A PetroVietnam report showed that Dung Quat every year can churn out 2.48 million tons of petrol and 2.33 million tons of diesel (30 percent of the market share). 

But the products cannot meet the Vietnamese standards QCVN4:2015/BKHCN, which are the same as Euro 4.

RELATED NEWS

Euro 4 emission standard must be enforced to avoid trade fraud

Emission standard deadline in doubt

Mai Thanh