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Motorbike registration
Decree71/CP sets out fines of VND800,000-1.2 million (US$38-57) for those who possess motorbikes for which they failed to complete change of ownership procedures. These are eight times higher than the previous fines of VND100,000-200,000 ($4.7-9.2).
Automobile owners who make the same mistake will be fined between VND6-10 million ($285-476). Formerly they only had to pay between VND1-2 million ($47-95).
This provision makes hundreds of thousands of people anxious because they are using vehicles in the names of others and in many cases, they cannot find the owner because some vehicles are passed around to so many people.
More than 40 per cent of vehicles currently on the road lack proper transfer of ownership documents, according to the Ministry of Public Security.
Many expressed concern that the new regulations are irrational.
Ms. Le Thi Nga, Deputy Director of the Justice Committee of the National Assembly affirmed that the Decree is "wrong and unfeasible," adding that the too high fines make people have extreme reaction against the state policy.
Director of the Legislative Studies Institute, Mr. Dinh Xuan Thao, said the decree should be suspended for 6 months or 1 year and the fees for changing the ownership should be slashed.
Before the reaction of the public opinion, the government asked the Ministry of Public Security to soon prepare a guiding circular and while waiting for the circular, the police are not allow to fine vehicles of this type. The relevant agencies are also working to reduce the fees for ownership change to 1 percent.
Dogs and cats must be registered, too
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The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) approved a plan to control and eliminate rabies. Accordingly, those who raise dogs and cats will have to register with commune and ward-level authorities to get a pet code. The local veterinary agencies will have to monitor the number of dogs and cats in their districts and provinces. Commune-level veterinary stations will have to make statistics on the number of dogs, cats and the owners of dogs and cats in their communes.
The People's Committees at all levels will establish specialized teams to capture wandering dogs and cats in urban areas, populated areas or dogs and cats that are suspected of being rabid. Veterinary stations will take care of captured dogs and cats. After three days, if no one comes to take the pets, they will be killed.
The plan also specifies the target as 80 percent of the dogs are under management and get vaccinations; deaths due to rabies down by 30 percent from 2011, etc. Most of the contents in this plan were mentioned in a document issued by the MARD in 2009.
However, as well as three years ago, the above provisions received mixed reactions from people. Some people agreed with the new regulations, reasoning that dogs and cats should also have "identity cards."
Meanwhile, many others proved embarrassing and that the new regulations are annoying and impractical. For example, a family raises two dogs and seven cats (just born), they must take all the dogs and cats to the local people’s committee for registration?
According to a veterinarian, the new decision of the MARD is to continue the implementation of the objectives of raising awareness of the people and the quality of the supervisory veterinary authorities at all levels of rabies, not a legal document. The decision, thus, also does not prescribe sanctions, such as a fine on the pet owners who are in the absence of registration.
ID cards with parent names
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Circular 27/2012 of the Ministry of Public Security on ID cards took effect on July 1, 2012. Accordingly, the new ID card is a plastic card. The front side has the basic information of the citizen such as name, date of birth, gender, ethnicity and native place of residence. The back side has two-dimensional barcode, fingerprints of the left and right index fingers, identity, and the parents’ names.
When the circular was implemented, it caused a lot of controversy, even the opposition from the legal authorities.
The Ministry of Justice has finalized a report to the Prime Minister on the issuance of controversial new ID cards.
According to the Ministry of Public Security, from now until the end of 2013, the ministry will continue to issue new IDs cards with the full name of the card bearer’s parents in Hanoi and some Northern provinces. However, the Ministry of Justice will ask the Prime Minister to reconsider this provision.
An official of the Ministry of Justice said the ministry’s leaders had assigned relevant departments to make study on the legality and rationality of Decree 170/2007/ND-CP on ID cards. If the Ministry is found to make mistakes in the evaluation of the decree, which results in omitting the provision on noting the ID bearer’s parent names, the Ministry will not deny its responsibility.
"However, this provision was issued more than ten years ago so it is necessary to have a thorough review. The viewpoint of the Ministry of Justice is to ask the Prime Ministers to reconsider a provision that causes the reaction from the public as well as from the law-makers," the official said.
According to Dr. Le Hong Son, Director of the By-law Inspection Department, the department has found out that the above provision is contrary to the Civil Code and the International Convention on the Rights of Children to which Vietnam was a signatory since 1989.
Moreover, Article 38 of the Civil Code 2005 on the right to privacy, the mother has the right to keep secret about the father and if administrative procedures require parents named on the ID card, it would violate the right of privacy.
Article 16 of the International Convention on the Rights of Children says: "No child shall be subjected to arbitrary or unlawful interference in privacy, family, home or correspondence, as well as the illegal attack on their honor and reputation."
Item 2 of Article 759 of the Civil Code specifies: "In the case of international treaties which the Socialist Republic of Vietnam is a contracting party contains provisions that are different from the provisions of this law, it shall apply to the provisions of international treaties."
Lawyer Pham Quoc Anh, Chairman of the Vietnam Lawyers' Association, said the addition of parents name on the ID card is clearly unnecessary because the current information on the ID card is pretty full.
"The new ID card only needs to be printed by modern technology to enhance its security and durability," the lawyer expressed.
Dr. Nguyen Dinh Loc, former Minister of Justice, said that putting parent names on the ID card is unnecessary and must be stopped immediately.
The introduction of human origin to ID cards is very emotional and it can cause psychological effects on those whose parents died or those who do not know about their parents. Though the Ministry of Public Security said in these cases, the parent names can be ignored but these people will feel unhappy, shame when they show their ID cards for others to see.
"My point of view is that this provision must not be implemented. Now it is still in the pilot period, the Government should be able to stop it like it did to the Ministry of Public Security’s decision on imposing fine on those who use vehicles not being registered under their names," Dr. Le Hong Son said.
Restaurants only host weddings with marriage registration
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In early December, the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Ho Chi Minh City collected opinions of more than 60 restaurants that offer wedding service in the inner districts about how to implement "standards on restaurants with cultural wedding services in 2012 - 2015 ". The standards for being recognized as a restaurant with cultural wedding services consist of the contents: "restaurants only organize wedding for clients who can show the marriage certificate."
This "standard" has been criticized by a lot of people because wedding is wedding and marriage is marriage. Restaurant managers said that a restaurant is the place to hold weddings, not a state management agency to have the right to ask the customer to submit a certificate of marriage.
According to an official of the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism, the organization of a legal wedding is necessary. Many customers are willing to accept a few conditions to have their weddings held at good restaurants. However, the standard is voluntary, not mandatory.
Hanoi set restriction on the number of wedding party guests
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To realize a civilized lifestyle in organizing weddings, the Hanoi Party Committee in October issued regulations on culture in organizing wedding parties. Accordingly, the maximum number of guests that officials and Party members are allowed to invite to their or their relatives’ wedding parties is fixed at 300. If the two families hold a joint wedding party, the total number of guests must not exceed 600 people.
Also, officials and Party members are not allowed to organize weddings many times, in many days and at 5-star hotels or luxury resorts. They are encouraged to send wedding announcement cards instead of organizing wedding parties.
The Hanoi Party Committee also assigned the Inspection Commission to supervise the implementation of the instruction among officials and party members.
This provision has received mixed opinions. Some said that this provision is to practice thrift while others said that it interferes too deeply into personal lives and it is unfeasible to count the number of guests at wedding parties.
Selling meat within 8 hours after slaughter
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According to a circular of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, from September 3, raw meat preserved at room temperature is only allowed to be sold within eight hours of the time of slaughtering. In case the meat is preserved under 0 – 5 degrees Celsius, the time limit is 72 hours.
Food by-products such as pig’s tripe and stomach should be sold within 24 hours after slaughtering, and no preservative chemicals are allowed to be used on fresh meat.
In Vietnam, it is common for pig and poultry products to be sold on street stands. In some areas they are sold from early morning to late in the afternoon, with almost no adequate preservation methods used.
Immediately after the circular was issued, the public questioned about its feasibility. The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development had to cancel the circular.
"In terms of science and international standards, this provision may be appropriate, but in the actual conditions in Vietnam it is inappropriate," admitted Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Cao Duc Phat.
Mobile phone users at gas stations to be fined
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According to a new regulation that took effect on August 5, users of cell phones at petrol stations will be fined up to VND5 million (US$250,) 10 times higher than the previous provision.
Fire-fighting police will be in charge of catching "red-handed" violators and imposing the fines.
Whatever fine is necessary, the new provision is doubted about its feasibility. Shortly after the regulations took effect, Dr. Le Hong Son, Director of the By-law Document Checking Department of the Ministry of Justice proposed the Ministry of Justice to review the reasonableness and possibility of the regulations.
Compiled by Tran Cham
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