Proposal to add license plates to the list of auctioned assets

On the afternoon of May 21, the National Assembly discussed in the hall a number of controversial contents of the draft revised Law on Property Auction.

According to Clause 1, Article 4 of the draft law, auctioned assets include assets that the law requires to be auctioned and assets owned by individuals and organizations that voluntarily choose to auction. The assets listed in the draft law do not include vehicle license plates.

Delegate Do Ngoc Thinh, Chairman of the Vietnam Bar Federation, said that according to Resolution 73 of the National Assembly on piloting the auction of car license plates, license plates are "assets that must be sold through auction". After three years of piloting, this resolution will expire, and the auction of license plates must also be auctioned according to regulations.

"It is necessary to immediately include vehicle license plates in the list of auctioned assets in this revised law to ensure consistency and synchronization of the law," said Mr. Thinh.

In the report on acceptance and explanation, the National Assembly Standing Committee said that some delegates proposed to study and supplement the regulation on auctioning vehicle license plates as assets that must be auctioned. The right to use vehicle license plates shall comply with the provisions of the law on traffic. Some delegates also requested the Government to clarify its viewpoint on "whether to legalize regulations on auctioning automobile license plates" because the draft Law on Road Traffic Order and Safety and the draft revised Law on Auction have not agreed on this content.

The National Assembly Standing Committee believes that the pilot auction of car license plates has been going on for nearly a year and needs more time to evaluate and summarize before considering putting it into law.

In the draft Law on Road Traffic Order and Safety, the Ministry of Public Security proposed expanding the auction to include motorbike and scooter license plates instead of just auctioning car license plates as it is now. The starting price for car license plates is 40 million VND, and for motorbike license plates is 5 million VND. The price step is 10% of the starting price instead of the current 5 million VND. The deposit must not be lower than the starting price.

In the Law on Management and Use of Public Assets, license plates are defined as assets and a tool for state management. If license plates are considered public assets, the "sale" at auction will follow the procedures of the Auction Law. The current Road Traffic Law also prohibits the buying and selling of license plates in any form.

The car license plate auction was held from August 2023. To date, more than 15,100 plates have been finalized, of which more than 14,000 plates have been paid by the winners, totaling 1,400 billion VND.

The draft Law on Road Traffic Order and Safety was first discussed by the National Assembly at its 6th session at the end of 2023 and is expected to be considered and approved at its mid-year session.