The Vietnam
Register (VR) and inspectors of the Ministry of Transport have found out from
an inspection on technical safety and environment protection, that 30 percent
of cars in circulation do not meet emission standards.

On April 26
and 27, VR inspected 39 passenger cars and buses and found out technical
problems in 11 cars. Meanwhile, the agency discovered violations in
environmental protection and brake efficiency. As such, 30 percent of vehicles
cannot meet the emission standards, while 15 percent of vehicles cannot meet
the standards on brake efficiency.

Experts
believe that the vehicles have been found as having problems because the owners
of the vehicles do not follow the suggestions on regular maintenance. The
owners of the inspected vehicles said they applauded the regular inspections
with mobile testing stations, because this mode of inspection can save time for
vehicle owners and drivers, while this helps discover problems sooner, so that
they can fix problems timely.

Nguyen Huu
Tri, Head of the Motor Vehicle Inspection Department of VR, said that after the
inspections focusing on passenger carrying cars, the mobile testing method will
be used in a larger scale.

In the time
to come, VR will be given two mobile testing stations by the National Committee
on Traffic Safety, with which VR will join forces with the traffic police and
transport inspectors to examine technical and environmental protection
conditions of motor vehicles.

The two
mobile testing units are a part of the road safety project. It is expected that
VR will also join forces with relevant local forces to examine the vehicles
circulating on key routes, such as Hanoi-Vinh, HCM City-Vung Tau and HCM
City-Can Tho.

Regarding
the emission standards, Vietnam
is considering skipping the application of Euro 3 standards to apply Euro 4
from January 1, 2017.

Local
newspapers have quoted their sources as saying “that the Ministry of Transport
is going to submit to the government the plan on applying new emission
standards on automobiles and motorbikes which are made domestically or
imported.”

If the plan
is approved, all kinds of newly manufactured, assembled or imported heavy and
light vehicles will have to apply the Euro 4 emission standards as of January
1, 2017, and Euro 5 standards as of January 1, 2022. Meanwhile, newly
manufactured, assembled or imported motors will have to apply Euro 3 standards
as of January 1, 2017.

Head of VR
Trinh Ngoc Giao believes that it is a reasonable decision to skip Euro 3 to
apply Euro 4. He said that other regional countries including Malaysia, Indonesia
or the Philippines
are also preparing to apply Euro 4 from 2017.

Especially,
the member companies of the Vietnam Automobile Manufacturers Association VAMA
have proposed to apply Euro 4 right from 2015, because the engines for
assembling cars that the companies are importing now can meet Euro 3 and Euro 4
standards.

Other
automobile manufacturers have agreed that the new standards should be applied
from 2017, because they need some more time to upgrade technologies, material
facilities, equipments and the labor force.

Some months
ago, the Prime Ministers released a decision approving the plan on emission
control over motors and motorbikes in circulation in big provinces and cities,
in order to control the air pollution caused by the vehicles.

In the
immediate time, the emission control will be carried out strictly on the motors
and motorbikes in circulation in Hanoi and HCM City.
After that, the control will be expanded to first and second class cities and
then throughout the country.

Source: TBKTVN