On the morning of December 10, Vietnam’s National Assembly passed a law amending and supplementing provisions of ten different laws related to national security and public order. The new law will take effect starting July 1, 2026.

Among the revised laws are changes to the Law on Road Traffic Order and Safety. The amendments add a prohibition on “disrupting or falsifying data from journey monitoring devices, driver image recording devices, or passenger compartment surveillance systems.”

Another newly banned act involves “using data collected from driver or passenger compartment cameras to violate personal dignity, honor, private life, personal secrets, and other lawful rights and interests of individuals and organizations.”

The current law includes a general rule: “When transporting children under 10 years old and shorter than 1.35 meters in a car, the driver must not allow them to sit in the same row as the driver - unless the car has only one row of seats. The driver must use or instruct the use of appropriate child safety devices.”

The revised law modifies this to: “When transporting children under 10 years old and shorter than 1.35 meters in a car, the driver must not allow them to sit in the same row as the driver, except in vehicles with only one row of seats. The driver must use or instruct the use of appropriate child safety devices - excluding commercial passenger transport vehicles.”

Regarding vehicle requirements for road use, the new law stipulates that commercial freight vehicles, passenger transport cars with fewer than 8 seats (excluding the driver's), tractor trucks, ambulances, and internal transport vehicles must be equipped with journey monitoring devices and driver image recording systems.

Commercial passenger vehicles with 8 seats or more (excluding the driver's seat) must also install a system to record images of the passenger compartment.

According to the law, data management systems for journey monitoring, driver image recording, and passenger compartment surveillance must store, transmit, and share information regarding vehicle movements and visuals to assist with ensuring public order, traffic safety, and law enforcement.

These data are to be managed, operated, and used by traffic police and shared with relevant road management and government agencies.

Driving time capped at four consecutive hours

During discussions, some lawmakers requested clarification on the reasoning behind the four-hour limit for continuous driving. Several delegates proposed that the law should specify limits on daily, weekly, and monthly driving hours, including regulations for overtime, and consider exceptions such as traffic jams or the absence of rest stops.

Responding to these concerns, the Government maintained the provision limiting continuous driving to four hours, stating that it aligns with international standards. The aim is to ensure drivers can rest adequately, remain alert, and drive safely.

The revised law clarifies that the four-hour cap on continuous driving applies except in cases of force majeure or objective obstacles.

Daily and weekly working hours for drivers must comply with Vietnam’s Labor Code. The Government will also explore subordinate regulations to exclude exceptional circumstances like traffic congestion from the four-hour driving limit to better reflect real-world conditions.

Tran Thuong