VietNamNet Bridge - By mid-2018, Vietnam had more than 184,120 vehicles over 20 years old, of which 2,613 passenger vehicles with over nine seats had expired. 

Vietnam sets stricter emission standards

The Vietnam Register (VR) has submitted to the Ministry of Transport (MOT) the second draft of the PM Decision on the plan to heighten emission standards.

It is expected that the decision would cover two subjects – used import vehicles and vehicles in circulation. The regulation will not be applied to vehicles under the control of the police and army that serve the national defence and security tasks.

The agency has proposed lowering the CO (carbon monoxide) emissions for vehicles using gasoline from 4.5 (level 1) to 3.5 (level 2); lower the HC (hydrocarbon concentration) from 1,200 ppm to 800 ppm. 

Meanwhile, diesel-fueled vehicles will have the emission concentration of 72 percent HSU instead of 60 percent.

According to VR’s deputy head Nguyen Huu Tri, the currently applied emission standards have remain unchanged for 10 years. 

The number of vehicles across the country has exceeded 3 million, which means that the volume of gas discharged to the environment has increased by 2.5 times.

Some research works have also found that the pollutants in vehicles’ emissions such as CO and NOx (Nitrogen Oxide) in some large cities such as Hanoi and HCMC have exceeded the permitted level by 1.2-1.5 times.

The new standards would be implemented under a plan as follows. The vehicles manufactured prior to 1999 would continue applying Level 1. The vehicles manufactured in 1999-2008 would apply Level 2 from January 1, 2021. As for the vehicles made after 2008, Level 2 would be applied from January 1, 2020.

Regarding the emission standards for used imports, the vehicles with spark-ignition engines (engine using petrol, LPG, CNG and similar types) will have to satisfy Level 4 from January 1, 2020, while the vehicles with compression ignition engines (the engine using diesel and similar fuel) will have to apply Level 3 from January 1, 2020.

According to MOT, passenger vehicles with over 9 seats manufactured prior to 1999 will expire at the end of 2019. All the passenger vehicles with over 9 seats to be in circulation from 2020 will be equipped with technologies that meet Level 2 of the emission standards.

By mid-2018, the total number of vehicles registered at the police included 3.76 million cars of different kinds and more than 55.1 million motorbikes.

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