Below are major policies scheduled to take effect from October 1, 2023.

Examination, certification of imported cars’ technical safety

The Government promulgated Decree 60/2023/ND-CP (Decree 60) regulating the examination and certification of technical safety and environmental protection for automobiles and spare parts imported under some international agreements to which Viet Nam is a party.

The aforesaid agreements means the EU-Viet Nam free trade agreement (EVFTA) and UK-Viet Nam free trade agreement (UVFTA).

The Decree shall take effect for spare parts from October 1, 2023, and for automobiles from August 1, 2025.

Decree 60 is applied to the importers and agencies, organizations, and individuals related to the management, examination, and certification of technical safety and environmental protection for automobiles and parts imported under the agreements.

Within five working days from the date of receipt of the recall notice from the manufacturer or from the Inspection Body, the importer must notify in writing to the sales agent requesting them not to sell the motor vehicles that are subject to recall but have not been repaired.

Within ten working days from the date of receipt of the recall notice from the manufacturer or from the Inspection Body, the importer must send the Inspection Body a notice stating: the reasons for technical defects; remedial measures taken; number of motor vehicles to be recalled; suitable recall plan.

Credit policy for prisoners finishing imprisonment sentences

Decision 22/2023/QD-TTg on credit loans for people who have finished their imprisonment sentences shall come into effect from October 10, 2023.

Accordingly, the borrowers are those who have finished their imprisonment sentences and have been granted a certificate of prison sentence completion as regulated in the Law on Execution of Criminal Judgments and amnesty recipients who have been granted an amnesty certificate in accordance with the Law on Special Amnesty.

Additionally, small and medium-sized enterprises, cooperatives, cooperative groups, and business households employing laborers who have finished their imprisonment sentences shall also be beneficiaries of this credit policy.

A prisoner who completes his/her imprisonment sentence shall be allowed to get up to VND4 million (US$168) loan per month to cover vocational training expenses and up to VND100 million (US$4,200) to start a business.

For production facilities that create jobs for prisoners who complete their imprisonment sentences, the maximum loan shall be VND2 billion (US$84,000) a project and not exceed VND100 million (US$4,200) per employee.

Fees for registration and issuance of road vehicle license plates

Circular 60/2023/TT-BTC regulating fees for registration and issuance of license plates for road motor vehicles takes effect from October 22, 2023.

Under the circular, the following organizations and individuals shall be exempted from registration fee:

First, diplomatic representative agencies, consular agencies, and representative agencies of international organizations belonging to the United Nations system.

Second, they are diplomatic officers, consular officers, administrative and technical staff of foreign diplomatic missions and consulates, members of international organizations under the United Nations system and members of the United Nations. Their family members are not Vietnamese citizens.

Third, other foreign organizations and individuals (representative agencies of international intergovernmental organizations not belonging to the United Nations system, representative agencies of non-governmental organizations, delegations of international organizations , members of other agencies and organizations) specified in international commitments and international treaties to which Viet Nam is a signatory.

Fourth, three-wheeled motorbikes designed specifically for people with disabilities.

Disclosure of quality inspection fees of imported cars is effective from October 1, 2023

The Decision 1137 of the Ministry of Transport detailing procedures for granting certificates of technical safety quality and environmental protection for imported motor vehicles has announced the fee for implementing this procedure. Specifically, the fee for cars with 10 seats or more is VND40,000 (US$1.64) each while cars with less than 10 seats (excluding ambulances) will have the fee of VND90,000 each.

The service price for checking the quality of technical safety and environmental protection will be 0.1 percent of the import price but not less than VND300,000 a car.

The Vietnam Register will issue certificates of technical safety and environmental protection quality for imported motor vehicles within 4 days from the date of completion of the successful inspection if a car’ documents are assessed as complete and valid.

Civil servants issuing judicial record cards must change job positions every 5 years.

This policy takes effect from October 7, 2023.

Persons who have completed a prison sentence can ask for a loan of VND100 million for business

According to the Decision 22/2023 of the Prime Minister, those who have completed their prison sentence can borrow capital from the Bank for Social Policies for production, business, and job creation with the following loan levels:

These people can borrow a maximum sum of VND100 million within 120 months.

The lending interest rate is calculated according to the lending interest rate for poor households prescribed from time to time. The overdue debt interest rate is 130 percent of the loan interest rate.

Teachers in vocational schools receive salaries up to VND 14.4 million monthly

The Circular 07/2023 of the Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs regulates codes and standards for professional titles, salary ranking and promotion of professional titles for public employees in vocational education.

Increasing fees for registration and issuance of license plates for motorcycles and cars

The Circular 60|2023 of the Ministry of Finance regulates registration fees and issuance of new license plates for all types of motor vehicles in different areas.

Specifically, fees for the first issuance of a car registration certificate with a license plate will be VND500,000; VND150,000; and VND150,000 in the first, second and third areas respectively. Fees of passenger cars with 9 seats or less (including pick-up cars) will be VND20,000,000; VND1,000,000 and VND200,000 in different regions while the fees for trailers and semi-trailers registered separately are VND200,000; VND150,000; VND150,000 respectively.

Owners of a motorcycle worth up to VND15,000,000 will pay VND1,000,000; VND200,000 and VND150,000 respectively while their peers with motorcycles worth over VND15,000,000 and VND40,000,000 will spend VND2,000,000, VND400,000, VND150,000 and VND 4,000,000 VND800,000, VND400,000 respectively.