LAW

ON ROAD

Pursuant to Constitution of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam;

The National Assembly promulgates the Law on Road.

Chapter I

GENERAL PROVISIONS

Article 1. Scope

This Law prescribes road operations and state management of road operations.

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In this Law, the terms below are construed as follows:

1. Road operation consists of: operations relating to planning, investment, construction, management, use, operation, utilization, maintenance, and protection of road infrastructures; road transportation.

2. Road includes: road, road bridges, road drains, tunnels, ferry stations, pontoon bridges, runaway truck ramps, and auxiliary structures attached to road.

3. Road structures include: road; structures for road management, operation, utilization; structures affiliated to smart traffic management system; road administration buildings; storage units of backup equipment and instruments for road; vehicle load control facilities; tollbooths and other structures of road.

4. Road infrastructure includes: road structures; transport stations; parking lots; rest areas; stopping, parking spaces; land of road; road margin, and auxiliary structures for road operations.

5. Road margin means two strips of land on both sides of the road stretching from the outer edges of plots for road protection and maintenance towards the sides for the purpose of road traffic safety, driving sight distance and with minimum impact on surrounding environment.

6. Road authority means an authority affiliated to the Ministry of Transport whose task is to assist the Minister of Transport in performing state management functions regarding road operations; authority affiliated to People’s Committees of provinces (hereinafter referred to as “provincial People’s Committees”); authority affiliated to People’s Committees of districts; People’s Committees of communes.

7. Management and use personnel of road are owners who directly manage, use, operate, utilize road structures or organizations and individuals assigned to manage, use, operate, utilize road structures.

Article 3. Road operation principles

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2. Develop road as per planning; effectively utilize resources; connect road transportation mode with other transportation modes; increase application of advanced science and technology in a civilized, modern, and synchronous manner.

3. Carry out uniform implementation on the basis of assignment of specific responsibilities and powers; conduct close cooperation between ministries, central departments, and local governments.

4. All violations of the law pertaining to road operations must be promptly detected, deterred, and strictly dealt with.

Article 4. Development policies for road operations

1. Development policies for road infrastructures include:

a) Focus resources in developing modern road infrastructures, adapting to climate change and environmental friendliness; connect roads, connect other transportation modes with road transportation.

b) Develop regulations on promoting mobilization of societal resources, diversify forms and methods of investment, development, management, operation, utilization, and maintenance of road infrastructures;

c) Prioritize developing important expressways, structures, road projects connecting national and international regions, areas, major cities, centers; road infrastructures in ethnic minority areas, mountainous regions, islands, border areas; accessible and safe road infrastructures for vulnerable entities; road infrastructures in urban areas for reducing traffic congestion; border and coastal patrol routes for implementation of combined socio-economic development and national defense and security.

2. Reasonably develop transportation service models; create healthy competition between transportation service models utilizing motor vehicles; develop smart traffic; prioritize public passenger transportation utilizing buses and other means of transportation.

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Article 5. Road network planning, road infrastructure planning

1. Regulations on road network planning:

a) Road network planning is national sector planning, identifies development directions, and organizes national highway spaces to act as the basis for producing road infrastructure planning and developing road network;

b) Development, appraisal, approval, and revision of road network planning must conform to regulations of the law on planning and connect road transportation to other modes of transportation;

c) The Ministry of Transport shall develop and submit road network planning to the Prime Minister for approval.

2. Regulations on road infrastructure planning:

a) Road infrastructure planning is a technical and field-specific planning, sets out road network planning, and identifies development solutions for road structures and other road infrastructures for each road;

b) Road infrastructure planning consists of the following basic details: basic lines and direction, main constraints, length, scale of road in each area and region; evaluation of scale of bridges, tunnels, ferry stations on road; main intersections; solutions for connecting roads to other transportation modes, to cities, economic zones, industrial parks; land use demand, investment demand, roadmap for planning implementation; solutions for planning implementation;

c) The Ministry of Transport shall develop and submit road infrastructure planning to Prime Minister for approval.

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Road infrastructure planning is reviewed on a 5-yearly basis for adjustment appropriate to socio-economic development situations from time to time and is publicly posted.

4. Provincial People’s Committees shall include road development details in traffic network development solutions in the planning in accordance with regulations of the law on planning and other relevant law provisions.

Details pertaining to urban road development are determined under planning in accordance with regulations of the law on planning and other relevant law provisions.

5. Planning under this Article must meet the following regulations:

a) Connect road transportation between cities, areas, regions, transport stations;

b) Effectively connect modes of transportation, identify roads connecting international border checkpoints, primary border checkpoints, airports, ports, inland ports, inland waterway ports.

6. The Government shall elaborate details, procedures for developing, appraising, approving, and amending road infrastructure planning.

Article 6. Road database

1. Road database is designed, developed, and operated in accordance with the Overall architecture framework for digital nation, including:

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b) Database on investment and construction of road infrastructure;

c) Database on active road infrastructures;

d) Database on electronic payment for road traffic;

dd) Database on motor vehicle transportation, except for database on journey of road vehicles, driver images, and database on driving time of drivers as per the law.

2. Road database is connected and with database on road traffic order and safety and other relevant databases.

3. The Government shall elaborate Clause 1 and Clause 2 of this Article; regulate collection, management, and use of information on database on road.

Article 7. Prohibited actions

1. Destroying road infrastructures; utilizing, using road infrastructures in a manner contradicting the law.

2. Illegally connecting to major arterial roads, minor arterial roads; illegally removing, relocating, or otherwise altering road structures.

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4. Installing, removing, relocating, adjusting, obstructing road signals in a manner contradicting the law; attaching, hanging objects that are not related to the interpretation or purpose of road signals to road signals or otherwise altering road signals.

5. Providing transport services utilizing motor vehicles or four-wheeled motorized vehicles without possessing or adhering to transport service license.

6. Establishing passenger pick-up, drop-off points or goods loading, unloading points in a manner contradicting the law.

Chapter II

ROAD INFRASTRUCTURES

Section 1. ROAD CLASSIFICATION, NAMING, AND NUMBERING

Article 8. Road classification by decentralization

1. Decentralized roads include: national highways, provincial roads, district roads, commune roads, hamlet roads, city roads, specialized roads and are determined as follows:

a) National highways are roads connecting Hanoi with administrative centers of provinces; roads connecting administrative centers of provinces; roads that are vital to socio-economic development and national defense security of regions and areas;

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c) District roads are roads connecting administrative centers of districts to administrative centers of communes or administrative centers of adjacent districts; roads that are vital to socio-economic development of districts;

d) Commune roads are roads connecting administrative centers of communes to hamlets, villages, village equivalent (hereinafter referred to as “hamlets”) and rural residential areas or roads connecting to adjacent communes; roads that are vital to socio-economic development of communes;

dd) Hamlet roads are roads in hamlets, main roads connecting hamlets to agriculture, forestry areas and other manufacturing, business facilities in hamlets;

e) City roads are roads in cities and urban areas, including: city expressways, streets, alleys;

g) Specialized roads are roads for used by specific agencies, organizations, individuals and internal roads.

2. Local roads include: provincial roads, city roads, district roads, commune roads, hamlet roads.

3. The Ministry of Transport is responsible for managing national highways other than those under Point a Clause 4 of this Article and collector roads, frontage roads under Point c Clause 4 of this Article.

4. Provincial People’s Committees are responsible for managing:

a) Provincial roads, national highways crossing special cities; national highways where authorization is given; national highway segments whose detour has been built appropriate to road network planning; national highway segments that are no longer included in road network planning, except for national highways with special requirements regarding national defense and security; national highway segments assigned by the Prime Minister at request of provincial People's Committees to meet socio-economic development demands, satisfy national interest, national defense and security, and resource capacity of provinces; national highway segments that have been reassigned to provincial People’s Committees for management in accordance with public property management and use laws;

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c) Collector roads and frontage roads separated from national highways.

5. Managing and use personnel of specialized roads are responsible for managing specialized roads in accordance with this Law and relevant law provisions.

6. The Government shall elaborate this Article.

Article 9. Road classification by function

1. Major arterial roads are roads for primary traffic in the area and connecting traffic from other areas and regions.

2. Minor arterial roads are roads connected to major arterial roads, facilitating traffic on both sides of major arterial roads; connecting traffic from collector road to major arterial roads via intersections.

3. Collector roads are roads that collect roads of cities, industrial parks, economic zones, residential areas, commercial - service sectors and other roads into major arterial roads or minor arterial roads before connecting to major arterial roads. Collector roads can be frontage roads in accordance with Clause 4 of this Article.

4. Frontage roads are roads parallel to major arterial roads to separate traffic on both sides of arterial roads from the major arterial roads. Frontage roads are isolated from major arterial roads or physically separated from major arterial roads by barriers or walls.

5. Public roads are roads for use by the general public and road vehicles in accordance with this Law and other relevant law provisions.

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7. Roads dedicated for pedestrians, cyclists, and other roads.

Article 10. Technical grade of road

1. Technical grade of roads must be determined in road construction and investment projects. Design, construction of roads must conform to regulations on technical grade of roads under approved road construction and investment projects, comply with technical regulations and standards on technical grade of roads.

2. Technical grade of roads are specified under design regulations and standards of roads, including:

a) Expressway;

b) Class I, II, III, IV, V, VI roads;

c) City roads;

d) Grade A, B, C, D roads and other roads.

3. Technical grade of roads under Points a, b, and d Clause 2 of this Article conforms to national technical regulations of Minister of Transport and technical standards promulgated by competent authority.

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Article 11. Road naming, re-naming, and numbering

1. The naming and numbering of roads are regulated as follows:

a) Roads are named after historical figures, individuals with meritorious services to the country; historical, cultural heritages and events; geographical locations or customs. Roads are numbered after natural number or natural number accompanied by a letter where necessary. Where city roads overlap other roads, use both name of the city roads and name, number of the other roads;

b) Name and number of roads within international road network conform to international treaties between the Socialist Republic of Vietnam and relevant countries, international organizations. Where roads connected to international road network, both domestic and international name, number of these roads will be used.

2. Where road segments overlap, name and number of roads affiliated to higher management level will be used except for cases under Point a Clause 1 of this Article.

3. Commune roads, hamlet roads, internal roads, and specialized roads are not required to be named or numbered; are not required to be renamed or renumbered in case such roads travel across areas subject to division, acquisition, merging, adjustment of administrative divisions.

4. The Government shall elaborate this Article.

Section 2. LAND FOR ROAD INFRASTRUCTURES, PROTECTING ROAD INFRASTRUCTURES

Article 12. Land fund for road infrastructures

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2. Land fund for road infrastructures in cities is a factor of land for transportation and land for city construction.

3. Ratio of land for transportation to land for city construction ranges from 11% to 26%, conforms to development level of inner city infrastructures and scenery of each city type in accordance with urban planning laws and other relevant law provisions.

4. Where cities contain specific elements according to regulations of the Standing Committee of the National Assembly, ratio of land for transportation to land for city construction must at least equal 50% of the ratio under Clause 3 of this Article.

Article 13. Land for road infrastructures

1. Land for road infrastructures includes:

a) Land for road consists of land for construction of road structures and land for road protection, maintenance;

b) Land for construction of transport stations; parking lots; stopping, parking spaces; rest areas; auxiliary structures for road operations;

c) Road margin.

2. Management and use of land for road infrastructures must conform to land laws, planning laws, urban planning laws, construction laws, this Law, and other relevant law provisions.

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Management and use personnel of road must minimize damage done to owner(s) of the real estate(s) in the process of building and installing drainage system and must compensate for any damage done as per the law.

Article 14. Land for road protection and maintenance

1. Width of land for road protection and maintenance depends on technical grade of the roads and is determined in accordance with the following principles:

a) In respect of embankment road base, land for road protection and maintenance is determined from the bottom of the embankment to the sides;

b) In respect of cutting road base, land for road protection and maintenance is determined from the outermost point of berm gutters to the sides or from the top of cut to the sides where berm gutters are not built;

c) In respect of bridges, sewer drains, collector drains, and road structures, land for road protection and maintenance is determined from the outermost point of exterior elements of the structures to the sides; in respect of road bridges and overpasses, land for road protection and maintenance is determined from the outermost point of foundation of abutments, piers, bridge structures;

d) In respect of cases other than Points a, b, and c of this Clause, land for road protection and maintenance must be located outside of the shoulder and at least 1 m away from the shoulder for the purpose of building drain gutters.

2. Land for city road protection and maintenance is determined in accordance with the following principles:

a) Where city roads have had pavement, a part the pavement will be used for the purpose of road protection and maintenance;

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c) In respect of cases other than those under Point a and Point b of this Clause, such cases will be determined in the same manner as roads outside of cities;

d) Land for protection and maintenance of bridges, drain sewers, collector drains, and work items of city roads is determined in accordance with Point c Clause 1 of this Article. Where bridges, drain sewers, collector drains, and work items of city roads are adjacent to other structures, land for protection and maintenance will be boundary of these structures.

3. Where roads overlap or intersect, land for road protection and maintenance will be determined by roads with higher technical grade; where roads are adjacent to one another, land for road protection and maintenance will be determined from the boundary of the outermost road to the sides.

4. Where land for road protection and maintenance overlaps land for railway transport, usage of the land for road protection and maintenance must not interfere with railway traffic and structural safety.

5. Where land for road protection and maintenance overlaps with safety perimeter of embankments, usage of the land for road protection and maintenance must not interfere with embankment structure operation and safety. Where land for road protection and maintenance overlaps separation distance of irrigation structures, usage of the land for road protection and maintenance must not interfere with irrigation structure operation and safety; where irrigation structure operation or safety is affected, management and use personnel of roads, owners, or managers of irrigation structures must adopt rectifying measures to maintain safety to road structures, irrigation structures and traffic safety.

6. Land for protection and maintenance of tunnels, ferry stations, pontoon bridges, embankment and wall structures is determined as follows:

a) Land for protection and maintenance of tunnels depends on grade of the tunnels and is determined from the entrance of main tunnels, auxiliary tunnels, ventilation tunnels, and other work items to the sides;

b) Land for protection and maintenance of ferry stations depends on grade of ferry structures and is determined from the outermost point of entrance to the stations, station structures; land for protection and maintenance of pontoon bridges is determined from the outer edges of approaches to pontoon bridges, and pontoon bridge abutment, piers;

c) Where land for protection and maintenance of roads overlaps inland waterway structures, boundary of the land for protection and maintenance of roads will be foundation of the roads and work items affiliated to road structures;

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7. The Government shall elaborate this Article.

Article 15. Road margin

1. Width of road margin is determined as follows:

a) In respect of roads outside of cities, road margin is determined from the outer edge of land for road protection and maintenance depending on scale and technical grade of roads; where technical grade of existing roads cannot be identified, rely on roadway width and design standards to determine corresponding technical grade which serves as the basis for determining road margin width;

b) In respect of city roads, road margin is determined from the outer edge of land for protection and maintenance of roads to the property line and is not greater than road margin width of roads of the same grade outside of cities;

c) In respect of bridges, ferry stations, and pontoon bridges, road margin is determined by width and length of the structures and dependent on river grade, structure scales; in respect of road bridges and overpasses, road margin is determined from the outer edges of land for protection and maintenance of bridges;

d) In respect of tunnels, road margin is determined from the outer edges of land for structure protection to the sides;

dd) In respect of roads with protective embankments and walls within land for road infrastructures, road margin is determined from the outer edges of embankments and walls to the sides and is not greater than road margin width determined under Points a, b, c, and d of this Clause;

e) In respect of hamlet roads, alleys in cities, and other roads that do not accommodate motor vehicles, road margin is not required.

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a) Where road margin overlaps railway safety perimeter, the boundary will be determined in a manner that prioritizes railway safety perimeter. Management and use of railway safety perimeter must not affect quality of road structures and traffic safety;

b) Where road margin overlaps safety perimeter of inland waterway, management and use of inland waterway safety perimeter must not affect quality of traffic structures and safety;

c) Where roads overlap embankments or road margin overlaps safety perimeter of embankments, the boundary will be determined in a manner that prioritizes embankment safety perimeter; where road margin is greater than embankment safety perimeter, road margin will prevail;

d) Where roads overlap or intersect, road margin is determined for roads with higher technical grade; where multiple roads are parallel, road margin of the outermost roads will prevail.

3. Determination and management of road margin markers:

a) Road margin markers are determined in accordance with scale, technical grade, route, range of road structures;

b) Developers of road structures are responsible for installing road margin markers within the scope of road structure construction projects and transferring to road authority, management and use personnel of roads;

c) Road authority and management and use personnel of roads are responsible for publicizing road margin markers, adjusting, adding more road margin markers during periods in which they manage, operate, utilize, and maintain road structures;

d) Road authority, management and use personnel of roads, People’s Committees of all levels are responsible for managing road margin markers in accordance with this Law, land laws, and other relevant law provisions.

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Article 16. Management and use of land for road margin

1. Land for road margin expropriated by the Government must be managed and used in accordance with this Law, land laws, public property management and use laws, and other relevant law provisions.

2. The use of land for road margin must:

a) maintain safety for road structures and other structures within road margin;

b) not obscure road signals, not affect sight distance, and ensure road traffic order and safety;

c) protect scenery and environment as per the law.

3. Where land for road margin has not been expropriated by the Government, land users thereof may continue in accordance with Land Law and in a manner that satisfies Clause 2 of this Article.

4. Planting, care, and utilization of trees within road margin must satisfy Clause 2 of this Article and:

a) adopt necessary measures to prevent trees from falling, endangering road users and vehicles, damaging road structures and adjacent structures;

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c) not affect road quality and road maintenance.

5. The use of land for road margin that overlaps safety perimeter of embankments, vicinity of irrigation structures, safety perimeter of irrigation structures, or safety perimeter of railway must conform to the Law on Dykes, Law on Irrigation, Law on Railway, Land Law, this Law, and other relevant law provisions.

6. Collector roads must be located outside of road margin unless collector roads also act as frontage roads. Where collector roads cannot be located outside of road margin, collector roads can be located in road margin as long as such arrangement satisfies the following conditions:

a) Remaining width of road margin is sufficient for road expansion as per planning;

b) Safety to road structures is guaranteed;

c) Road traffic safety and sight distance are guaranteed.

Article 17. Vertical clearance of roads

1. Vertical clearance of road must not be lower than clear height of the roads. Where height of road segments is reserved for road surface fortification, depression, and other cases where height of road surface must be elevated, this height must be added to clear height of roads.

2. Vertical clearance of road bridges:

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b) Where road bridges are built above railway or other roads, vertical clearance of the railway and other roads below must be satisfied;

c) Where road bridges are built in areas where inland water way traffic activities or maritime traffic activities are conducted, vertical clearance for safety vessel operation is required in accordance with inland waterway and maritime laws.

3. Clearance of tunnels is determined from structures of tunnels and is sufficient to maintain safety for structures, equipment attached to the structures, safety in operation, utilization, use, and service life according to design; external clearance of tunnels must be sufficient to maintain safety in operation, utilization, and use of tunnels and equipment thereof.

4. Minimum clearance from the lowest point of communication and telecommunication lines above roads to the highest point of roads is 5,5 meters. Where communication and telecommunication lines travel above road bridges, both the requirements under this Clause and Point a Clause 2 of this Article must be met.

5. Vertical clearance of power lines above roads:

a) Where power lines travel above roads, vertical clearance from the lower point of power lines to the highest point of roads must not be lower than the sum of clear height of roads and electrical safe distance in accordance with electrical laws;

b) Where power lines travel above bridges, vertical clearance must meet requirements under Point a Clause 2 of this Article plus electrical safe distance in accordance with electrical laws and must not be lower than value determined under Point a of this Clause;

c) Where power lines travel above street lamp posts, vertical clearance from the highest point of the lamp posts to the lowest point of power lines must not be lower than 2 meters plus electrical safe distance in accordance with electrical laws.

6. Where communication, telecommunication, and power lines travel above suspension bridges, safety for suspension system and piers of the bridges must be guaranteed in addition to meeting requirements under Clauses 2, 4, and 5 of this Article.

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8. Construction, utilization, and maintenance of subway structures below road structures must conform to technical regulations and standards and ensure safety for adjacent structures and road structures.

9. The Government shall elaborate Clause 5 of this Article.

Article 18. Construction, placement of advertising panels, political propaganda posters within safety perimeter of road infrastructures

1. Advertising panels include advertising posts, banners, signs, signboards, screens in accordance with advertising laws. Advertising panels can be built and erected:

a) Within road margin, except for road margin of expressways and intersections;

b) On the plot in the middle of intersections whose diameter is 2 times greater than road margin as long as distance from the advertising panels to the edge of roadway in all direction is not lower than the road margin.

2. Construction and placement of advertising panels must meet requirements below:

a) Such construction and placement activities must not obscure road signals or affect visibility of vehicle operators;

b) Such placement and placement activities must not affect the management, utilization, use, and maintenance of road or affect infrastructure safety within safety perimeter of road infrastructures and traffic safety;

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3. Construction and placement of advertising panels under Clause 1 of this Article must receive written approval from road authority for locations, scale, dimensions of advertising panels, construction solutions for maintaining traffic safety and safety for road structures and other adjacent structures.

4. Organizations and individuals building, placing advertising panels have the responsibility to:

a) build and erect advertising panels in a manner that satisfies Clauses 1, 2, and 3 of this Article;

b) disassemble advertising panels or parts thereof in a manner that does not affect road infrastructures and without receiving compensation at request of road authority or management and use personnel of roads;

c) comply with other regulations of this Law, construction and advertising laws;

5. Construction and placement of political propaganda posters must meet requirements under Clause 2, Clause 3, Point b and Point c Clause 4 of this Article.

6. The Government shall elaborate Clause 3 of this Article.

Article 19. Construction and placement of infrastructures within safety perimeter of road infrastructures

1. Within safety perimeter of road infrastructures, construction of other structures is prohibited except for:

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b) Communication, telecommunication structures, power lines, telecommunication posts, base transceiver stations, utility posts;

c) Power supply, water supply, water drainage structures, excluding water plants and power generating facilities;

d) Irrigation, embankment, natural disaster preparedness and remediation, hydroelectricity structures;

dd) Conveyors serving production purposes, city technical infrastructures, and other special structures;

e) Other roads intersecting or parallel to existing roads.

2. Structures under Clause 1 of this Article, upon being built and placed in safety perimeter of road infrastructures, must meet technical regulations, standards, safety requirements in construction, road traffic safety, regulations of the law on environment protection and must not affect utilization and use of the road infrastructures.

3. Construction and placement of structures under Clause 1 of this Article within safety perimeter of road infrastructures must be approved in writing by competent authority except for embankment structures and cases under Clause 4 of this Article.

4. Construction and placement of power lines, communication and telecommunication lines above roads within safety perimeter of road infrastructures do not require written approval of competent road authority if the following requirements are met:

a) Pillars of infrastructures are located outside of road margin;

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c) The lines do not affect safety in operation and utilization of road structures.

5. Infrastructures built and placed in road margin of specialized roads require consent of management and use personnel of specialized roads.

6. Owners or management and use personnel of structures under Clause 1 of this Article, other than embankment and national defense and security structures, must return affected road structures, allocate expenditure and organize relocation efforts:

a) Where competent road authority and management and use personnel of roads request relocation of the structures for investment, re-construction, upgrade, expansion, renovation, repair, and maintenance;

b) Where structures affect road traffic safety or road structure safety without rectifying measures;

c) Where structures are built illegally.

7. The Government shall elaborate this Article.

Article 20. Construction, management, operation, utilization, and maintenance of technical structures used with roads

1. Technical structures used with roads are structures built to accommodate communication, telecommunication, power lines, public lighting, water supply and drainage pipes, energy supply.

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a) conform to planning, scale of projects and technical grade of roads;

b) conform to technical regulations and standards in construction; adhere to regulations of the law on fire prevention and firefighting and rescue; maintain structure safety, scenery, and environment;

c) comply with this Law, regulations of the law on construction, and other relevant law provisions.

3. Construction of technical structures used with roads is implemented where:

a) investment and construction of city roads must incorporate arrangement, construction of the technical structures in order to maintain consistency, land resource efficiency, investment and construction efficiency, preserve the scenery and environment, increase usage effectiveness of structures, and assure road traffic order and safety in operation, utilization, and use of city roads;

b) investment and construction of road bridges must design and provide for installation of communication, telecommunication lines, power supply pipes, and power lines, other than high-voltage power lines and uninsulated power lines;

c) investment and construction of tunnels require design and installation of cable ducts, trenches, or technical tunnels in order to accommodate fire prevention and firefighting systems, water supply and drainage pipes, and structures under Point b of this Clause;

d) other necessary cases occur.

4. The management, operation, utilization, and maintenance of technical structures used with roads must:

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b) satisfy Point b and Point c Clause 2 of this Article;

c) relocate or disassemble technical structures used with roads and structures built therein at request of management and use personnel of road structures for the purpose of investing, constructing, upgrading, expanding, and maintaining road structures; adopting solutions for maintaining safety of road structures and fire safety; organizing traffic and in other necessary cases;

d) be responsibilities of management and use personnel of technical structures used with roads, management and use personnel of roads for the purpose of assuring safety in utilization and use of the structures, quality, service life of the structures as per the law;

dd) be funded via contributions of organizations and individuals under Point d of this Clause except where the operation, utilization, and maintenance of technical structures used with roads serve national defense and security.

5. The Government shall elaborate this Article.

Article 21. Protecting road infrastructures

1. Protecting road infrastructure includes:

a) Activities assuring safety of road infrastructures;

b) Solutions for preventing, dealing with destruction, encroachment, appropriation, illegitimate use of road infrastructures, illegitimate connection to roads, and other violations of the law within safety perimeter of road infrastructures.

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3. Responsibilities for protecting road infrastructures:

a) Ministry of Transport shall organize protection of road infrastructures under their management, except for cases under Point b of this Clause;

b) People’s Committees of all levels shall implement protection of road infrastructures under their management; cooperate with management and use personnel of roads in communicating, publicizing the law regarding protection of road infrastructures; publicize land use markers in road margin; promptly deal with encroachment, appropriation, illegitimate use of road margin, land for road;

c) Management and use personnel of roads are responsible for protecting road infrastructures under their management; promptly take actions and repair, remediate where structures are damaged and potentially causing accidents or loss of traffic safety; publicize road margin markers in accordance with Point c Clause 3 Article 15 hereof, report and request People’s Committees of communes where road margin is encroached, appropriated, or illegitimately used to take actions; carry out other tasks pertaining to management and protection of road margin in accordance with this Law, Land Law, and other relevant law provisions.

4. Organizations and individuals discovering damaged or violated road structures or encroached road margin must promptly notify People’s Committees of communes, road authority or the nearest police authority and warn other road users where necessary. Upon receiving notice, agencies in charge must adopt rectifying measures in a timely manner to maintain coherent and safe traffic.

5. The Government shall elaborate this Article.

Section 3. AUXILIARY STRUCTURES ATTACHED TO ROADS; INSTRUMENTS AND EQUIPMENT FOR MANAGEMENT, OPERATION, AND UTILIZATION OF ROADS AND TRAFFIC ARRANGEMENT

Article 22. Auxiliary structures attached to roads; instruments and equipment for management, operation, and utilization of roads

1. Auxiliary structures attached to roads include:

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b) Road traffic safety structures;

c) Road drainage system;

d) Protective barriers and walls of roads;

dd) Markers of site preparation;

e) Structures, structure parts, equipment outfitted to structures within smart traffic management system; system for collecting, processing, and storing road infrastructure data; system for monitoring technical conditions and surveying roads, road bridges, and other auxiliary structures.

2. Instruments and equipment for management, operation, and utilization of road structures include:

a) Equipment outfitted to structures and structure parts under Point e Clause 1 of this Article;

b) Instruments and equipment for preparedness, remediation of natural disasters and search and rescue; instruments and equipment for road rescue;

c) Ferries and other instruments, equipment for management, operation, and utilization of ferry stations;

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3. Existing roads must have their auxiliary structures, instruments, and equipment under Clause 1 and Clause 2 of this Article revised and added for management, operation, utilization, and use of road structures in order to maintain traffic safety and structure safety.

Article 23. Road signal installation

1. Installed road signals include:

a) Traffic lights;

b) Road signs include: prohibitory signs, danger signs, regulatory signs, guidance signs, auxiliary signs;

c) Road markings and other signs on road surface (hereinafter referred to as “road markings”);

d) Traffic cones, reflective studs, Kilometer posts, H post, road margin markers;

dd) Protective walls and barriers;

e) Audible warning devices for road traffic.

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a) Traffic lights must face the oncoming traffic and be located where road users can observe with ease;

b) Where traffic lights are arranged in vertical lines: the red light is on top, the yellow light is in the middle, and the green light is at the bottom;

c) Where traffic lights are arranged in horizontal lines: the red light is on the left, the yellow light is in the middle, and the green light is on the right in the direction of travel;

d) After installation, traffic lights must undergo test operation set up by project developers and road authority before undergoing commissioning and entering into operation.

3. Installation principles of road signs:

a) Road signs must face oncoming traffic;

b) Road signs are installed to the right or above of roadway. In specific circumstances, it is permissible to install additional signs to the left of the direction of travel;

c) Road signs must be placed where road users can observe with ease and comply;

d) Auxiliary signs are used in combination to provide explanation for prohibitory signs, warning signs, regulatory signs, and direction signs.

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a) Road markings serve as means of warning and are painted on road surface and road structures;

b) Road markings can be installed on their own or in combination with other road signs and traffic lights.

5. Installation principles of traffic cones, protective walls, reflective studs, reflective posts, Kilometer posts, H posts, barriers, and road margin markers:

a) Traffic cones are installed in dangerous road segments and where necessary to inform road users about safe roadway and direction of travel;

b) Reflective studs are installed on road surface in a vertical or horizontal arrangement for the purpose of providing directions or separating lanes;

c) Reflective posts are installed on road segments where confusion regarding direction of travel may occur to provide driving aid at night or during fog or during limited visibility;

d) Kilometer posts are installed 1.000 meters away from the next Kilometer posts; in special cases, the distance between two adjacent posts can be greater or lower than 1.000 meters. Kilometer posts are used in management, operation, utilization, construction, renovation, and maintenance of roads, identification of location of structural incidents, traffic congestion, traffic accidents, and identification of distance between road segments by road users;

dd) H posts are installed in-between Kilometer posts in a manner than each H post is 100 m away from one another;

e) Road margin markers are markers are installed on both sides of the boundary of road margin;

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6. Installation of audible warning devices for road traffic shall conform to manufacturer’s instructions.

7. Installation, adjustment, addition, and replacement of road signals shall conform to principles under Clauses 2, 3, 4, and 5 of this Article and adhere to technical regulations and relevant law provisions.

8. Responsibility for installing, revising, adjusting , replacing road signals:

a) Developers of road structure investment projects are responsible of designing and installing road signals on roads within the investment projects and where roads that they have built intersect other roads;

b) Management and use personnel of road structures are responsible for managing, using road signals; reviewing, adjusting, replacing road signals in accordance with this Law, regulations of the law on road traffic order and safety, and national technical regulations on road signals.

Article 24. Road traffic safety structures

Road traffic safety structures are built, installed, and arranged in a manner that ensures safety for road users and vehicles, including:

1. Runaway truck ramps are built on slopes to allow out of control vehicles going downhill to enter and decelerate o a halt;

2. Evacuation tunnels are attached to tunnels for evacuation and rescue where primary tunnels deal with emergencies or undergo maintenance. Evacuation tunnels must not accommodate travel needs of vehicles;

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Where traffic cones are not also installed, protective walls and crash barriers must be outfitted with reflective posts or reflective coat of paint to inform road users about dangerous positions and guide road users to adhere to roadway;

4. Anti-glare structures are installed on median strips to minimize the effect of headlamps of oncoming vehicles on vehicle operators;

5. Convex mirrors are installed at the apex of curved road segments with small radius, intersections with limited or obstructed visions to allow vehicle operators to observe oncoming vehicles from afar and adjust speed accordingly;

6. Lighting systems are built to illuminate and ensure safety for road users and vehicles; illumination duration in tunnels conforms to operating procedures of the tunnels;

7. Median strips are installed to separate roadways by direction of travel or to separate road sections reserved for motorized vehicles and non-motorized vehicles or different vehicle types on the same direction of travel;

8. Noise barriers are built where necessary to reduce noise emitted by road vehicles;

9. Speed bumps and speed humps are installed where vehicle operators must be warned for forced to decelerate to ensure traffic safety;

10. Other structures serve road traffic.

Article 25. Traffic arrangement

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2. Details of traffic arrangement in design, construction, management, operation, utilization, use, and maintenance stage of road structures include:

a) Number of lanes, road segments for motor vehicles and other vehicles, road segments for pedestrians; direction of travel and speed of motorized vehicles in road traffic;

b) Distribution of lane and travel direction on routes under construction and connected routes;

c) Traffic regulations at intersections, junction with other roads; regulations on yielding, overtaking, allowable spots for stopping and parking, passenger pick-up and drop-off locations;

d) Regulations on dimensional limits and load limits of road vehicles;

dd) Regulations on traffic hours; duration of each traffic light signal;

e) Working hours of road lighting system;

g) Regulations on temporary suspension of roads in part or in whole;

h) Utilization of smart traffic management system, expressway management and coordination centers, and other technology system for providing information, guidance for road users;

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k) Approved traffic arrangement solutions for expressways.

3. Developers of road structure construction projects, management and use personnel of roads, and relevant organizations and individuals are responsible for installing, amending, and adding road signals, road traffic safety structures for projects and routes under their management; implementing approved expressway traffic arrangement.

4. Monitoring and evaluation of traffic situations, adjustment to traffic arrangement to rectify traffic congestion, maintain road traffic order and safety are implemented throughout road operation, utilization, use, and maintenance.

5. The Ministry of Transport and People’s Committees of all levels are responsible for organizing traffic on roads under their management.

6. Management and use personnel of specialized roads are responsible for organizing traffic on specialized roads; where public transport is implemented on specialized roads, traffic arrangement shall conform to this Article.

7. The Government shall elaborate this Article.

Article 26. Design speed, allowable speed, and distance between vehicles

1. Design speed of roads is a value used for calculating technical parameters of roads. Design speed of road is determined during road construction, upgrade, and renovation of roads to ensure safe vehicle operation.

2. Allowable speed on road:

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b) Allowable speed of roads is determined on the basis of design speed, conditions of roads, traffic hours, weather conditions, climate conditions, flow rate, composition of road vehicles;

c) In respect of dual carriageways, speed limits of each direction of travel may vary;

d) Speed limits of lanes travelling in the same direction may vary. Lanes must satisfy use purposes and have sufficient width for coherent and safe operation.

3. Distance between vehicles on roads means the minimum distance between vehicles on the same lane, road segment and ensures safety of vehicles.

Distance between vehicles varies depending on allowable speed of the routes, weather conditions, density of vehicles, and other practical traffic conditions.

4. Expressways must be adequately outfitted with systems for signaling speed limits and distance between vehicles before entering into operation; in respect of other roads, depending on current conditions of road structures and practical traffic situations, road authority shall decide on road signaling system to maintain functionality and road traffic safety.

5. The Minister of Transport shall elaborate this Article.

Article 27. Dimensional limits and load limit of road

1. Load limit of roads refers to road’s ability to withstand load while maintaining safe operation and service life of roads.

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3. Responsibility to declare dimensional limits and load limits of roads:

a) The Ministry of Transport shall declare dimensional limits and load limits of roads under their management;

b) Provincial People’s Committees shall declare dimensional limits and weight limits of roads under their management and specialized roads under Point c of this Clause in their provinces;

c) Management and use personnel of specialized roads on which public transportation is implemented are responsible for providing information relating to dimensional limits and load limits of specialized roads to provincial People’s Committees;

d) Developers of road structure constructions are responsible for providing information relating to dimensional limits and load limits to agencies under Points a, b, and c of this Clause.

4. Where roads are built on embankments, permissible load of the roads must not exceed permissible load of road vehicles allowed to move on top of the embankments.

Section 4. INVESTMENT, CONSTRUCTION, MANAGEMENT, OPERATION, UTILIZATION, AND MAINTENANCE OF ROAD INFRASTRUCTURES

Article 28. Investment and construction of structures affiliated to road infrastructures

1. Investment and construction of structures affiliated to road infrastructures refer to investment, construction, upgrade, expansion, renovation of road structures and other structures affiliated to road infrastructures.

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3. The Ministry of Transport shall invest in national highways and structures affiliated to road infrastructures under their management in accordance with the Law on Public Investment, the Law on Public-Private Partnerships Investment, and other relevant regulations of the law.

4. People’s Committees of all levels shall investment in roads and structures affiliated to road infrastructures under their management in accordance with the Law on Public Investment, the Law on Public-Private Partnerships Investment, and other relevant regulations of the law.

5. Investment and construction of structures affiliated to road infrastructures must:

a) conform to planning;

b) conform to technical regulations and standards, technical grade of roads, protect scenery and environment, develop solutions for adapting to climate change; develop design and construction solutions to serve people with disabilities, the elderly, and other entities;

c) be divided into stages depending on transport demand and ability to mobilize resources to maintain investment effectiveness;

d) conform to regulations of the law pertaining to dyke and dyke safety, prevent erosion and failure river bed, banks, shoals, not obstruct flow, minimize or otherwise not increase the risk of natural disasters, and maintain stability of structure in case of natural disasters and climate change where structures affiliated road infrastructures to be invested and built are related to dykes, water source protection corridor, river bed and shoals.

6. Frontage roads are built where expressways, class I and class II roads travel across urban areas, dense residential areas, and in order necessary cases.

7. Where passenger transport services utilizing motor vehicles are provided on road segments other than expressways, stopping areas for passenger pick-up and drop-off are required.

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9. Upgrade, expansion, and renovation of existing road structures, other structures affiliated to road infrastructures in public-private partnerships model shall conform to regulations of the law on public-private partnerships investment and Article 48 hereof.

10. Existing road structures that do not meet technical grade, exceed service life, or do not satisfy transport load must be gradually invested, built, upgraded, and renovated to meet technical requirements as per road standards.

Article 29. Appraisal and evaluation of road traffic safety

1. Roads must be appraised and evaluated for traffic safety in preparation phase of investment projects; design following fundamental design; before and during use of road structures.

During preparation of investment projects and design following fundamental design, appraisal and evaluation of traffic safety are implemented together with appraisal and evaluation of feasibility study and construction design.

2. Evaluation of road traffic safety means when traffic safety evaluation service providers study and analyze fundamental design, design following fundamental design, construction technical - economic report, construction completion dossiers, road management dossiers, causes of traffic accidents and conduct accident scene investigation to determine potential accidents or evaluate causes of traffic accidents and propose solutions.

3. Appraisal of road traffic safety is conducted by competent authority on the basis of report on road traffic safety evaluation produced by traffic safety evaluation service providers in order to:

a) approve projects;

b) approve construction design implemented after fundamental design;

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d) organize implementation of solutions for improving coherent and safe traffic conditions in respect of existing structures.

4. Traffic safety evaluation service providers that conduct traffic safety evaluation must meet requirements pertaining to lines of business, be distinct from construction entities and design counseling organizations that produce project dossiers and design in case of built, upgraded, renovated road structures or management and maintenance organizations in case of existing road structures.

5. Road traffic safety evaluation and appraisal costs are included in total investment and estimates on construction in respect of built, upgraded, renovated road structures; sourced from funding sources for road management and maintenance in respect of existing road structures.

6. Evaluation personnel conducting traffic safety evaluation must undergo training. Training for traffic safety evaluation personnel is provided by competent and eligible traffic safety evaluation personnel training facilities.

7. The Government shall elaborate this Article.

Article 30. Road traffic connectivity

1. Road traffic connectivity serves socio-economic development, national defense and security and ensure coherent and safe transportation.

2. Road traffic connectivity includes:

a) Connecting roads;

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c) Connecting road traffic to other modes of transportation.

3. Connection of minor arterial roads to major arterial roads and between roads is implemented at connection locations and must satisfy requirements below:

a) Connection locations are designed and built to technical regulations and standards; appropriate to technical grade and capable of ensuring traffic safety and travel capacity;

b) Where other roads are connected to expressways, in addition to requirements under Point a and Point c of this Clause, spacing between connection locations must conform to technical regulations and standards on expressway design;

c) Road traffic connectivity conforms to regulations of the Government.

4. Responsibilities for building minor arterial roads, collector roads, and frontage roads connected to major arterial roads in each area:

a) Developers of residential areas, residential communities, commercial and service sectors, administrative areas, workplaces of agencies, organizations, economic zones, industrial parks, manufacturing and business facilities, airports, transport stations, railway stations, inland waterway stations, inland waterway ports, sea ports, inland ports, and other transportation hubs are responsible for building roads to connect these areas and facilities to roads leading to and fro the areas and facilities;

b) Ministry of Transport and People’s Committees of all levels shall invest, build, upgrade, expand, and renovate roads under their management to provide convenient connectivity to airports, sea ports, inland waterway ports, inland waterway stations, railway stations.

5. The Minister of Transport shall prescribe procedures for approving design and permitting construction of intersections consisting of existing national highways; provincial People’s Committees shall prescribe procedures for approving design and permitting construction of constructions of intersections consisting of existing local roads.

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1. Completed road structures will be handed over and brought into operation in accordance with this Law, construction laws, and other relevant law provisions.

2. Depending on specific conditions, road structures, structure parts, and work items that have been completed and commissioned as per the law will be handed over and brought into operation and use as per request of project developers or management and use personnel of roads.

Article 32. Construction on existing roads

1. Construction on existing roads includes: construction, upgrade, expansion, renovation, and repair of existing roads; construction of infrastructures on land for roads; construction of common technical infrastructures on land for roads; construction and installation of political propaganda posters.

2. Organizations and individuals may only commence construction on existing roads after obtaining permit for construction on existing roads from competent authority except for cases detailed under Clause 3 of this Article.

3. Cases where construction on existing roads does not require construction permit:

a) Construction of state secret structures;

b) Construction on land for road infrastructures in respect of investment projects for construction, upgrade, renovation of road structures decided by Prime Minister; projects for construction, upgrade, renovation of road structures decided by Minister of Transport, Chairpersons of provincial People’s Committees on roads under their management;

c) Construction on specialized roads;

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dd) Maintenance of road structures; emergency road repair for remediation of natural disasters, storms, flood; traffic rescue, and other emergencies;

e) Repair and replacement of parts, work items, and equipment when all the following conditions are met: road structures are not dug, drilled, or cut open; quality, dimensional limits, load limits of roads are not affected; traffic congestion does not occur; roadway area for traffic is not lessened; traffic is not adjusted, re-arranged;

g) Construction on existing roads that is conducted by permitting authority or project developers of the roads on which the construction takes place; construction on existing roads where permitting authority is affiliated to project developers;

h) Construction at level crossing between road and railway or construction on road-rail bridges permitted by competent authority in accordance with railway laws;

i) Construction in road margin that meets all the following conditions: sighting distance and traffic safety are not affected; land for roads and road structures is not used as construction premise; approval for construction has been granted in accordance with Clause 3 Article 19 hereof;

k) Urgent actions ensure safety for embankments and natural disaster preparedness structures;

l) Where construction permit has been granted and traffic solutions for existing roads have been developed and approved by road authority.

4. In respect of Clause 2 of this Article, organizations and individuals performing construction on roads must adequately comply with construction permit; assign personnel to provide warnings, instructions, install temporary signs and barriers at construction sites and adopt traffic solutions, environmental protection measures, and other details; personnel participating in road construction and maintenance works must wear PPE outfitted with safety warnings; construction machinery must be outfitted with warning devices.

5. In respect of Clause 3 of this Article, organizations and individuals performing construction on existing roads are responsible for ensuring traffic safety, road structure safety and submitting road traffic and road structure safety solutions to road authority before commencing construction activities on existing roads for examination and supervision. Road authority are responsible for taking actions or requesting actions within their powers if construction activities cause loss of traffic safety and/or structure safety.

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7. The Minister of Transport shall prescribe powers, procedures for issuing permit for construction on existing roads; responsibilities for providing information, principles for cooperating between relevant agencies, organizations, and individuals in maintaining traffic order and safety and construction safety.

Article 31. Construction and repair of road at level railway crossing; repair of road-rail bridges and railway crossing

1. Construction and repair of road at level railway crossing and repair of road-rail bridges must be permitted in accordance with railway laws; repair activities on existing roads must also conform to Article 32 hereof.

2. Repair of road-rail bridges and repair of level railway crossing must conform to Clause 1 of this Article and:

a) Developers of road repair projects shall negotiate with railway authority about construction period and solutions and traffic arrangement solutions, except for cases where emergency remediation efforts are implemented to prevent traffic accidents or risk of collapse;

b) Implement other regulations pertaining to railway traffic safety assurance as per railway laws;

c) Competent authority shall issue construction permit in accordance with regulations of the law on railway, guide and inspect construction activities and traffic safety, railway and road structure safety assurance.

Article 34. Construction of irrigation, hydroelectricity structures in safety perimeter of existing road structures

1. Construction of irrigation, hydroelectricity structures in safety perimeter of existing road structures must conform to Article 19 and Article 32 hereof.

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a) Construction locations do not affect operation, utilization, and normal function of existing road structures, except for cases under Point d of this Clause;

b) Safety measures are adopted for existing road structures, adjacent structures, coherent and safe traffic assurance and environmental protection measures are adopted; fulfill regulations on vertical clearance of roads, clear height of road structures;

c) Bridge abutment, piers, road structure walls must not be eroded when dredging and commencing construction activities on rivers, canals, channels in safety perimeter of road infrastructures;

d) Prior to construction of irrigation, hydroelectricity structures that intersect, overlap, or otherwise affect existing road structures, developers of the construction projects must compensate by building road structures to supplement or replace the affected road structure sections or by incurring expenditure on building replacement road segments. Supplemented road structures must have technical grade and scale equal to or higher than those of affected road structures;

dd) Following construction of supplementing or replacement road structures, developers of irrigation and hydroelectricity structure construction projects are responsible for handing over supplementing road structures, construction dossiers, and maintenance procedures to road authority or management and use personnel of roads.

3. Developers and contractors of irrigation, hydroelectricity structures are responsible for maintenance of supplementing road structures in accordance with construction laws.

4. Developers, owners, or managers of irrigation, hydroelectricity structures are responsible for maintenance, operation, utilization of irrigation, hydroelectricity structures in accordance with this Law, construction laws, and other relevant law provisions and satisfy traffic safety and road structure safety requirements.

5. Responsibility for maintenance, operation, and utilization of general parts, work items serving road traffic and irrigation, hydroelectricity structures conforms to Clause 7 Article 37 hereof.

6. In respect of construction of irrigation, hydroelectricity structures that affect specialized roads, the parties shall negotiate or provide compensation as per the law.

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1. Road infrastructure maintenance means a combination of tasks for guaranteeing and maintaining normal, safe operation of road infrastructures in accordance with design regulations during operation, utilization, and use, including:

a) Maintaining road infrastructures;

b) Repairing road infrastructures;

c) Inspecting, surveying, performing quality control, and evaluating safety of road infrastructures.

2. Road infrastructure maintenance is prescribed as follows:

a) Road infrastructure maintenance includes regular maintenance, periodic maintenance and conforms to this Law, construction laws, public property management and use laws, technical regulations and standards, and procedures for road infrastructure maintenance;

b) Road infrastructure maintenance must be recorded and kept in written form; management and use personnel of roads are responsible for verifying completion of maintenance and management activities under road structure maintenance dossiers;

c) Form of maintenance of road infrastructures is chosen in accordance with construction laws, public property management and use laws, and bidding laws.

3. Road infrastructure repair includes periodic repair and irregular repair in case of damage, degradation that occurs during operation, utilization, and use to maintain structure safety, road traffic safety and minimize degradation of road infrastructures.

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a) Repairing defects, damage of structures, work items, equipment, replacing damaged structures parts and equipment on a periodic basis depending on use frequency or service life in accordance with technical regulations and standards and procedures for road infrastructure maintenance;

b) Installing additional road signs, road traffic safety structures, and other work items, equipment to ensure safe, coherent traffic and improve technical conditions of existing structures;

c) Repairing, upgrading storage units of backup equipment, and materials used in road sector; procuring additional backup materials for remediation of natural disasters and rescue efforts;

d) Repairing and upgrading smart traffic management system; traffic management and coordination centers for expressways; equipment, instrument, and systems for management, operation, utilization, and maintenance of road structures; road traffic management and operation system; tolling system; vehicle load control facilities.

5. Irregular repair includes:

a) Repairing and rectifying areas prone to traffic accidents, areas at risk of traffic accidents;

b) Repairing and remediating traffic accidents;

c) Repairing when structure parts are damaged during operation and use and in other necessary cases to maintain structure safety and traffic safety during operation and use.

6. Road infrastructure repair must conform to technical regulations and standards, satisfy traffic flow and load, and comply with construction laws, natural disaster preparedness and remediation laws, and this Law.

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a) Quality inspection of road infrastructures includes physical examination, inspection and other inspection tasks according to construction laws;

b) Monitoring, quality control of road infrastructures, and safety evaluation conform to construction laws.

8. The Minister of Transport shall elaborate this Article.

Article 36. Management, operation, and utilization of road infrastructures

1. Management, operation, and utilization of road infrastructures must be effective, ensure coherent and safe traffic, and comply with regulations of the law.

2. Management, operation, and utilization of road infrastructures include:

a) Receiving and installing structures, equipment to structures, structure completion dossiers following completion of investment and construction activities; producing and preserving road infrastructure management dossiers;

b) Organizing traffic in accordance with Clause 2 and Clause 3 Article 25 hereof;

c) Protecting road infrastructures; managing and using land for roads and road margin;

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dd) Collecting, managing, using, operating, utilizing, and updating road database system;

e) Implementing natural disaster preparedness and remediation in road sector in accordance with natural disaster preparedness and remediation laws and this Law;

g) Adopting other tasks in accordance with this Law, public property management and use laws, and other relevant law provisions.

3. The Minister of Transport shall elaborate this Article.

Article 37. Responsibility for management, operation, utilization, and maintenance of road infrastructures

1. The Ministry of Transport is responsible for organizing management, operation, utilization, and maintenance of national highways under Clause 3 Article 8 hereof and road infrastructures under their management.

2. People’s Committees of all levels are responsible for organizing management, operation, utilization, and maintenance of road types under Clause 4 Article 8 hereof and road infrastructures under their management.

3. Enterprises assigned by the Government to invest, build, manage, operate, and utilize road infrastructures must perform management, operation, utilization, and maintenance in accordance with this Law and other relevant law provisions.

4. Management, operation, utilization, and maintenance of road infrastructures in public-private partnership model shall conform to regulations of the law on public-private partnership, construction laws, this Law, and other relevant law provisions.

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5. In respect of road infrastructures during period of lease of use right or temporary transfer of use right or other transfer of use right, management, operation, utilization, maintenance of the road infrastructures shall conform to this Law, public property management and use laws, other relevant law provisions, and relevant contracts.

6. Management and use personnel of specialized roads, owners, or managers of transport stations, parking lots, rest areas, and other road infrastructures are responsible for managing, operating, utilizing, and maintaining structures in a manner compliant with this Law and other relevant law provisions.

7. In respect of structures with multiple owners or shared managing, operating, utilizing organizations and individuals, the owners and shared managing, operating, utilizing organizations and individuals are also responsible for managing, operating, utilizing, and maintaining sections under general ownership and use in addition to sections under their ownership and use.

8. Where several road segments and work items under road construction investment projects have been brought into temporary operation and use and have not been handed over by project developers to management and use personnel of roads, the project developers are responsible for temporarily managing, operating, utilizing, and maintaining in accordance with this Law, construction laws, and other relevant law provisions.

9. The Government shall elaborate this Article.

Article 38. Natural disaster preparedness and remediation in road sector

1. Road construction projects must be designed, built with sustainability and adaptation to climate change in mind, in a manner that meets technical regulations and standards, is capable of draining flood, and fulfills natural disaster preparedness and remediation.

2. Implementation of natural disaster preparedness and remediation, search and rescue on existing roads conforms to regulations of the law on natural disaster preparedness and remediation, other relevant law provisions, and the following regulations:

a) The Ministry of Transport and People’s Committees of all levels shall organize implementation of natural disaster preparedness and remediation, search and rescue efforts for roads under their management;

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c) Agencies, organizations, and relevant individuals shall participate in natural disaster preparedness and remediation and rescue.

3. The Minister of Transport shall elaborate this Article.

Article 39. Transport stations, parking lots, rest areas, stopping areas, tollbooths, vehicle load control facilities

1. Transport stations, parking lots, and rest areas are regulated as follows:

a) Transport stations must be built in cities acting as district-level administrative centers or higher and other necessary areas to accommodate public transportation;

b) Parking lots must be built to meet parking demands in areas in cities, outside of cities, communes, high traffic volume roads, and in other areas when necessary to accommodate parking. Parking lots include: truck parking lots; passenger vehicle and car parking lots; mixed-use parking lots;

c) Transport stations are invested and built to national technical regulations promulgated by the Minister of Transport. City parking lots shall conform to national technical regulations promulgated by the Minister of Construction;

d) Rest areas must be built outside of road margin and compliant with national technical regulations promulgated by the Minister of Transport;

dd) Rest areas and transport stations must be outfitted with charging stations for electric-powered motorized vehicles in accordance with regulations of the law pertaining to technical regulations and standards. Prioritize charging stations for electric-powered motorized vehicles at parking lots. Transport stations, parking lots, and rest areas are invested and built to accommodate commercial services and activities.

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a) Stopping areas in cities, residential areas, agencies, and organizations serve parking and stopping needs in city traffic and these locations;

b) Stopping areas in vicinity of roads are established at specific locations to allow motor vehicles to pick up and drop off passengers;

c) Stopping areas must be established outside of city roads that have been invested, built or upgraded, expanded, renovated.

3. Tollbooths are where road vehicles are charged for road use charges.

4. Vehicle load control facilities are regulated as follows:

a) Vehicle load control facilities allow determination of axle load, gross mass of vehicles participating in road traffic and are compliant with national technical regulations promulgated by the Minister of Transport;

b) The Ministry of Transport and provincial People’s Committees shall decide on location for construction and installation of vehicle load control facilities on roads under their management;

c) Road authority, competent authority, and organizations assigned to manage, operate, utilize, maintain road structures shall rely on vehicle load control facilities to collect, analyze, and evaluate impact of axle load, gross weight to structure safety and traffic safety; detect violations and take actions as per the law;

d) Data from vehicle load control facilities must be connected and promptly shared with traffic police forces for actions against violations of the law.

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Article 40. Smart traffic

1. Smart traffic refers to the application of electronic, communication, telecommunication technologies, new and modern management sciences to optimize road structure management and utilization efficiency; ensure coherent, safe, effective, prompt, and environmentally friendly traffic.

2. Smart traffic management system is established to integrate, store, and analyze data for management, operation, utilization, and maintenance of road infrastructures; support transportation, electronic traffic payment; provide smart traffic services and are connected, shared with traffic command centers and relevant agencies, organizations.

3. The Government shall elaborate Clause 2 of this Article.

Article 41. Expenditure on management, operation, utilization, maintenance, and protection of road infrastructures

1. Expenditure on management, operation, utilization, maintenance, and protection of road infrastructures consists of expenditure on activities under Articles 21, 35, 36, and 38 hereof.

2. In respect of PPP investment projects, expenditure under Clause 1 of this Article conforms to regulations of the law on PPP investment.

3. In respect of road infrastructures that are public property during lease period of use right, transfer of right to charging for property use, temporary transfer of property use right, or other transfer of use right, expenditure under Clause 1 of this Article conforms to signed contracts and relevant law provisions.

4. In respect of cases under Clause 8 Article 37 hereof, expenditure under Clause 1 of this Article is included in total investment of the projects to be implemented by project developers.

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6. Management and use personnel of specialized roads must incur expenditure on management, operation, utilization, maintenance, and protection of specialized roads.

Article 42. Funding sources for investment, construction, management, operation, utilization, and maintenance of road infrastructures and revenues generated by road infrastructures

1 . Funding sources for investment, construction, management, operation, utilization, and maintenance of road infrastructures conform to regulations of the law on state budget, investment laws, public investment laws, PPP investment laws, public property management and use laws, and other relevant law provisions.

2. Revenues generated from road infrastructures to be submitted to state budget include:

a) Road use charges collected per motor vehicle;

b) Expressway use fees collected from vehicles operating on expressways invested, owned, managed, and utilized by the Government;

c) Revenues of the Government relating to utilization and use of road traffic infrastructures, revenues generated by utilization and use of technical infrastructures used with roads, and other legitimate revenues as per the law.

3. Revenues generated from services that use roads of road investment, construction projects for business purposes; contract for transfer of right to business - management, utilization of expressways that are public property shall conform to price laws and other relevant law provisions.

Article 43. Electronic payment for road traffic

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2. Traffic account means account opened by vehicle operators and connected to legitimate payment methods to conduct cashless payment in accordance with banking laws.

3. Payment for road use charges on expressways must utilize stop-less electronic tolling method.

4. The Government shall elaborate this Article.

Chapter III

EXPRESSWAY

Article 44. General provisions regarding expressway

1. Expressway is a technical grade of road, reserved for specific types of motorized vehicles and heavy-duty vehicles as per the law, outfitted with median strip separating two directions of travel, does not meet other roads at at-grade intersection, only allows entry and exit at specific locations, is outfitted with protective barriers, equipment for continuous, safe traffic, and shortens travel time.

2. Expressways within national highway, provincial road, city road system are defined under road network planning, road infrastructure planning, regional planning, provincial planning, city planning, or planning for special administrative - economic divisions.

3. Land for construction of expressway infrastructure includes:

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b) Land for construction of traffic management and command centers for expressways.

Article 45. Technical regulations and standards, science and technology application in expressway

1. Expressways are designed in accordance with technical regulations and standards on expressways and other relevant technical regulations and standards.

2. Technical regulations and standards applied to surveying, design, construction, management, utilization, and maintenance of expressways must guarantee modern engineering science, digital transformation, sustainable development, green traffic.

3. Study, apply science, develop new technologies, new materials, apply automation and artificial intelligence in surveying, designing, building, managing, operating, utilizing, and maintaining expressways appropriate to specific conditions of each region and administrative division.

Article 46. Expressway development policies

Expressway development policies conform to Article 4 hereof and the following regulations:

1. The Government encourages organizations and individuals to utilize resources and participate in investment, construction, operation, utilization, and maintenance of expressways in PPP model and other models as per the law;

2. Prioritize state budget allocation for investment, construction of projects with national defense and security requirements; projects that travel through areas with disadvantaged socio-economic conditions, particularly disadvantaged socio-economic conditions; connectivity projects for socio-economic development drive and other projects that do not attract non-budget funding sources;

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a) to perform obligations of the Government in accordance with regulations of the law and contracts for PPP projects;

b) to expand, upgrade invested or existing expressways in stages.

Article 47. Expressway inspection, construction, and development

1. Investment and construction of expressways shall conform to Article 28 hereof.

2. Invested and built expressways must conform to planning under Clause 2 Article 44 hereof and be accompanied by investment and construction of the following structures:

a) Collector roads or frontage roads;

b) Traffic management and command centers for expressway;

c) Rest areas, parking and stopping locations;

d) Stop-less electronic tolling system where road use charges are collected;

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3. Depending on transportation demand, investment resources and planning, authority that decides on investment guidelines shall also decide on investment stages, determine compensation, assistance, and relocation depending on lane planning or project schedule under investment guideline decision.

4. Investment in expressways that cross cities must conform to city planning and relevant law provisions; be subject to appropriate solutions for space development and traffic connection for areas on both sides of the expressways and environmental hygiene.

5. Authority that makes investment decision may approve or approve revision to sub-projects, component projects in case expenditure thereof changes relative to total approved investment of the sub-projects and components projects without exceeding total investment evaluation of the entire projects with decided investment guidelines.

Where a project is separated into multiple sub-projects and component projects, authority that makes investment guideline decision shall assign a presiding agency to be responsible for executing the project in a manner that guarantees integrity and consistency of the project; be responsible for reviewing, regulating, balancing, and adjusting total investment among sub-projects and component projects and preventing total expenditure from exceeding total investment evaluation of the entire projects with decided investment guidelines.

Article 48. Expansion and upgrade of expressways or existing roads into expressways

1. Expansion and upgrade of expressways or existing roads into expressways are implemented to satisfy transportation demand, serve socio-economic development, national interest, maintain national defense and security, and conform to planning approved by competent authority.

2. In respect of PPP investment projects during contract execution stage, agencies that sign the contracts shall negotiate with investors about expansion and upgrade of expressways or existing roads into expressways in any of the following manners:

a) Investors propose revision to investment projects for expansion and upgrade;

b) The Government develops PPP or public investment projects for expansion and upgrade unless such projects overlap with PPP investment projects with investment guideline decisions or project decisions, or overlap with public investment projects with investment guideline decisions or with investment decision in accordance with PPP investment laws, and public investment laws.

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4. Where an agreement with investors is not reached in accordance with Clause 2 or Clause 3 of this Article, competent authority shall terminate the contracts in accordance with the Law on Public Private Partnerships Investment in case such termination serves national interest, national defense and security.

5. The Government shall elaborate Clauses 2, 3, and 4 of this Article.

Article 49. Management, operation, utilization, maintenance, and protection of expressway infrastructures

The Ministry of Transport, provincial People’s Committees, and other organizations shall manage, operate, utilize, maintain, and protect expressway infrastructures in accordance with Chapter II hereof and the following regulations:

1. Apply smart traffic system in managing, operating, utilizing, and maintaining expressway infrastructures in order to inform road users about necessary information; detect, issue warning, and deal with incidents on expressways; monitor vehicles, collect, manage, and utilize traffic data;

2. Inspection and protection of expressway infrastructure are conducted on a regular basis; accidents on expressways are promptly dealt with;

3. Work items relating to traffic safety, bridges, tunnels, and structures and equipment related to safety in operation must evaluated on a regular, periodic basis and promptly repaired, rectified;

4. Utilization of expressway infrastructures shall conforms to regulations of the law on management and use of public property, PPP investment laws, and other relevant law provisions;

5. The Government shall elaborate this Article.

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1. The Government shall collect expressway use fees for vehicles operating on expressways under public ownership where the Government acts as ownership representatives and directly manages, operates, including:

a) Expressways invested by the Government under public investment model;

b) Expressways invested under other models upon termination of contracts and handed over to the Government.

2. Management and use of revenues generated by expressway use fees:

c) Road authority utilizing the property shall submit collected fees to state budget in accordance with fee and charge laws;

b) Organizations acquiring franchise for fee collection and business - management operation shall submit franchise fee to the state budget. Expressway use fee collected during contract term is not required to be submitted to the state budget except for revenue portion that must be submitted to the Government as per the law.

3. The Government shall regulate eligibility and period of expressway use fee collection; expressway use fee collection in respect of expressways under Clause 1 of this Article where Clause 1 Article 45 and Clause 2 Article 47 hereof have not been met.

Article 51. Temporary suspension of expressway

1. Temporary suspension of expressway means to temporarily prohibit vehicles from operating on either or both directions of travel, a segment or segments or the entirety of expressways other than vehicles in the performance of duty of People’s Army, people’s public security or in the performance of firefighting and fire prevention, rescue, medical aid, embankment support, emergency remediation, traffic safety assurance duty.

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a) Structures are damaged as a result of structural failure, natural disasters and thereby incapable of being use, utilized in a safe manner;

b) Fire or traffic accidents of particular severity occur and require temporary suspension for rescue and traffic safety assurance;

c) The suspension serves national defense and security purposes or other special cases at request of competent authority.

3. Where risks to structural safety or risks of failure of expressway structures that potentially affect safety of road users, vehicles and other property are present, management and use personnel of expressways have the responsibility to:

a) promptly suspend expressways and, within 60 minutes after suspending the expressways, inform competent individuals about the causes and be responsible for their decisions;

b) take actions to maintain safety for other road users, vehicles, and property; prevent and minimize potential danger to structures;

c) protect the scene; participate in rescue and settle traffic congestion;

d) inform traffic police in charge of traffic order and safety assurance, road authority, traffic management and command centers for expressways, and local government.

4. Where expressways are temporarily suspended:

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b) Traffic police shall control and command traffic;

c) Local government shall cooperate in maintaining traffic in order to redirect vehicles from expressways to roads under local government management;

d) Rescue efforts must be implemented in accordance with this Law, traffic order and safety laws, and other relevant law provisions.

Article 52. Rest areas, parking and stopping locations

1. Rest areas are built in accordance with national technical regulations promulgated by Minister of Transport and technical regulations published by competent authority in order to be utilized in combination with expressway structures, provide services to road users, assist in traffic rescue, repair, refuel, and power supply for road vehicles.

2. Investment in rest areas is implemented as follows:

a) Where expressway projects are invested in form of public investment, rest areas will also be invested in form of public investment or by selecting investors in accordance with bidding laws;

b) Where expressway projects are invested in PPP model, rest areas will be built together with the projects in PPP model;

c) In respect of existing rest areas that are public property, the Government shall choose investors for operation, utilization or upgrade, expansion, renovation, modernization, operation, and utilization in accordance with bidding laws or public property management and use laws or integrate with expressway investment projects in PPP model.

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4. Location and scale of rest areas, stopping, parking locations will be determined in project development and construction design.

5. The Government shall elaborate Clause 2 of this Article. The Minister of Transport shall elaborate Clause 3 and Clause 4 of this Article.

Article 53. Traffic management and command centers for expressways

1. Traffic management and command centers for expressways are components of smart traffic management system, invested simultaneously as construction of expressways for management, operation, and maintenance of expressway and connected expressways; support for road users.

2. Traffic management and command centers for expressway include:

a) Working buildings of individuals managing, operating expressways; infrastructures, civil structures for management, operation, and installation of technology equipment; other necessary technical infrastructures; technology equipment system for storage, analysis, processing of data, display of traffic conditions on expressway or connected expressways;

b) Working infrastructures of traffic police in the performance of traffic order and safety assurance on expressways;

c) Equipment installed along expressways includes technology equipment system for collecting information, management, operation, utilization, maintenance, and protection of road infrastructures, providing information for road users and smart vehicles.

3. Management, operation, and maintenance costs for traffic management and command centers for expressways are included in management, operation, utilization, maintenance, and protection costs for expressway structures.

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1. Information for management, use, operation, utilization of expressways include fixed information and variable information connected to traffic management and command centers for expressways for traffic coordination purposes.

2. Fixed information on expressways includes information on road signaling structures and does not include information under Point d Clause 3 of this Article.

3. Variable information includes:

a) Information on temporary traffic arrangement adjustment for repair and maintenance; traffic order and safety assurance;

b) Information on traffic situations on expressways; information on location and time of traffic accidents, traffic congestion, structural failure, fire, locations of repair and maintenance;

c) Information on weather and natural disaster affecting traffic;

d) Command of traffic control and command personnel, signals on traffic light, electronic signs, and other information.

4. Methods of displaying variable information are regulated as follows:

a) Information under Clause 3 of this Article can be uploaded on radio, online newspapers, and other allowed media;

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c) Information under Clause 3 of this Article can be displayed on electronic signs installed along specific routes;

d) Information provided by management and use personnel of expressways either directly, via phone, email, other information technology platforms to road users and relevant recipients.

5. Provision, receipt, utilization, and use of information are regulated as follows:

a) Management and use personnel of expressways are responsible for providing information under Clause2, Points a, b, and c Clause 3 of this Article for traffic management and command centers of expressways, traffic police, and medial under Point a Clause 4 of this Article;

b) Traffic police shall provide information on traffic accidents and traffic command to traffic management and command centers of expressways, management and use personnel of expressways, and media under Point a Clause 4 of this Article;

c) Organizations assigned with expressway maintenance shall provide information on traffic situations, traffic accidents, structural damage or failure, locations of maintenance and other necessary information for traffic management and command centers for expressways, traffic police, management and use personnel of expressways;

d) Information under Points a, b, and c of this Clause must be provided on an accurate, timely basis, stored and preserved at traffic management and command centers of expressway.

Article 55. Management, operation, utilization, maintenance, and protection costs of expressways

Management, operation, utilization, maintenance, and protection costs of expressways shall conform to Article 41 hereof and the following regulations:

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2. In respect of expressways invested in PPP model, management, operation, utilization, maintenance, and protection costs shall conform to PPP investment laws.

Chapter IV

ROAD TRANSPORT

Article 56. Road transport operations

1. Road transport operations mean operations in which organizations and individuals transport goods, passengers using non-motorized vehicles and motorized vehicles on domestic and international roads. Road transport operations include transport services and internal transport operations.

2. Domestic road transport operations mean operations in which organizations and individuals transport passengers, goods using non-motorized vehicles and motorized vehicles in Vietnamese territory.

3. International road transport operations mean operations in which organizations and individuals transport passengers, goods using motorized vehicles between Vietnam and other countries. International road transport operations must conform to this Law, road traffic order and safety laws, and international treaties to which the Socialist Republic of Vietnam is a signatory. Motorized vehicles engaging in road transport services of other countries must not engage in passenger, goods transport services whose starting and ending points are in Vietnamese territory.

4. Road transport services mean passenger, goods transport operations provided by organizations and individuals (hereinafter referred to as “transport service providers”) using motorized vehicles, non-motorized vehicles on road for profit.

5. Transport services provided using motor vehicles, four-wheeled motorized vehicles include passenger transport services and goods transport services. Providing transport services using motor vehicles and four-wheeled motorized vehicles means when organizations, individuals: coordinate vehicles and drivers or decide passenger, goods transport service fees for profit, other than internal transport operations under Clause 12 of this Article.

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7. Fixed-route passenger transport services mean passenger transport services in which passenger motor vehicles of at least 8 seats (not including the driver’s seat) are used for passenger transport with defined stations of departure, stations of arrival and defined schedule, itinerary.

8. Public bus passenger transport services mean passenger transport services in which passenger motor vehicles of at least 8 seats (not including the driver’s seat) are used for passenger transport with defined points of departure, points of arrival, passenger pick-up and drop-off locations and defined schedule, itinerary; including provincial bus routes, inter-provincial bus routes, to be specific:

a) Provincial bus routes mean bus routes operating in a province or central-affiliated city;

b) Inter-provincial bus routes mean bus routes operating within at least 2 provinces and central-affiliated cities.

9. Passenger taxi services mean passenger transport services in which passenger motor vehicles under 8 seats (not including the driver’s seat) are used for transport at request of customers; fare is selected among the following options by passengers:

a) Fare calculated by meter;

b) Fare calculated via calculation software directly connected to the passengers via electronic means;

c) Fare agreed with transport service providers.

10. Passenger transport services under contracts mean passenger transport services in which passenger motor vehicles are used for passenger transport under written transport contracts between passenger transport service providers and service buyers and include hiring of drivers.

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11. Goods transport services using motor vehicles mean transport services in which cargo motor vehicles and specialized motor vehicles are used fro goods transport on roads.

12. Internal transport operations using motor vehicles, four-wheeled motorized vehicles mean transport operations that are not provided as services, not charged and whose costs are included in management, production, consumption or service costs of individuals in charge of transport operations; include internal passenger transport operations and internal goods transport operations and are regulated as follows:

a) Internal passenger transport operations using motor vehicles or four-wheeled motorized vehicles mean transport operations in which agencies and organizations use motor vehicles and four-wheeled motorized vehicles to transport their public officials, public employees, employees, preschool children, students, learners;

b) Internal goods transport operations using motor vehicles or four-wheeled motorized vehicles mean transport operations in which agencies, organizations, and individuals use cargo motor vehicles, specialized motor vehicles, and four-wheeled motorized vehicles to transport products, goods that they manufacture or equipment, instruments, materials, ingredients that serve the production, consumption of their products or services.

13. Transport service providers must be outfitted with safety departments. Transport service providers and internal transport entities must ensure traffic safety in transport operations provided via motor vehicles and four-wheeled motorized vehicles.

14. The Government shall elaborate this Article.

Article 57. Passenger transport using motor vehicles

1. Providers of passenger transport services using motor vehicles have the responsibility to:

a) coordinate vehicles and drivers or decide passenger transport service fees;

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c) declare transport service quality standards;

d) apply information technology in managing and providing transport operation data as per the law;

dd) assume responsibility or joint responsibility for damage caused by employees or representatives of passenger transport service providers as a result of failure to execute request of the passenger transport service providers in a law-compliant manner;

e) assume responsibility or joint responsibility for violations of the law committed by employees or representatives of passenger transport service providers as per the law.

2. Passenger transport operations using motor vehicles must conform to Article 56 hereof and fulfill requirements, conditions pertaining to road traffic order and safety in accordance with road traffic order and safety laws.

3. The Minister of Transport shall elaborate organization and management of passenger transport operations using motor vehicles.

4. Provincial People’s Councils shall, depending on local resources, implement loan interest subsidy at credit institutions in respect of bus investment projects, infrastructure investment and construction projects serving public passenger transport using buses; financially support public passenger transport operations using buses; support customers of public passenger transport services using buses via ticket price reduction and exemption policies.

Article 58. Rights and obligations of passenger transport service providers using motor vehicles

1. Passenger transport service providers using motor vehicles have the right to:

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b) deny transport services to passengers who cause public disorder on motor vehicles, obstruct operation of passenger transport services using motor vehicles, affect health, lives, property of other people or commit ticket fraud;

c) decide incentive policies to serve customers and expand the market.

2. Passenger transport service providers using motor vehicles have the obligation to:

a) adequately comply with and implement regulations on the business of and business conditions of transport services using motor vehicles, and make commitment pertaining to transport service quality and contracts;

b) purchase passenger insurance; insurance premiums are included in transport service ticket price, contract value;

c) publicly post service fees in accordance with price laws; provide tickets and transport service receipt;

d) compensate employees, representatives of passenger transport service providers for damage caused during transport process as per the law;

dd) implement fare reduction and exemption policies for the elderly, people with disabilities, and other policy beneficiaries as per the law;

e) prevent organizations, individuals that do not have license to provide passenger transport services using motor vehicles from coordinating or driving vehicles or deciding passenger transport service fees;

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Article 59. Rights and obligations of drivers and attendants on motor vehicles used for passenger transport services

1. Deny transport operations to passengers who:

a) cause public disorder on motor vehicles;

b) obstruct drivers and attendants in the performance of their duty on motor vehicles;

c) affect lives, health, property of other people on motor vehicles;

d) commit ticket fraud;

dd) violate Point c Clause 2 Article 60 hereof.

2. Refuse to operate vehicles that do not meet safety requirements in accordance with road traffic order and safety laws.

3. Do not deny passenger transport for reasons other than those detailed under Clause 1 of this Article; do not pester passengers who are the elderly, people with disabilities, children, pregnant women; do not transfer passengers to other vehicles without their consent except for force majeure.

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5. Behave, talk, and gesture in a civilized, polite manner; guide passengers to their appropriate seats, arrange priority seats for the elderly, people with disability, children, and pregnant women.

6. Assume responsibility in accordance with road traffic order and safety laws and other relevant law provisions.

Article 60. Rights and obligations of passengers

1. Passengers have the right to:

a) be transported in accordance with ticket, transport contracts, commitment of transport service providers regarding transport service quality;

b) receive tickets or ticket equivalents; refuse to travel before departure and receive a refund for their tickets;

c) receive fare exemption and reduction as per the law.

2. Passengers have the obligation to:

a) pay fare publicly posted or negotiated with transport service providers;

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c) not carry goods prohibited from sale, dangerous goods, wild animals; odor goods or other animals, goods that affect health of other passengers and environment;

d) present documents proving eligibility for fare exemption and reduction to transport service providers as per the law;

dd) practice disease prevention and control as per the law.

Article 61. Goods transport using motor vehicles

1. Transport documents are documents verifying that drivers have received goods with defined quantity, type, conditions to transport to destinations; act as proof of goods transport contracts.

2. Providers of transport services using motor vehicles have the responsibility to:

a) coordinate vehicles and drivers or decide goods transport service fees;

b) provide medical examination for drivers and employ drivers who meet health requirements as per the law;

c) apply information technology in managing and providing transport operation data as per the law;

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dd) assume responsibility or joint responsibility for violations of the law committed by employees or representatives of passenger transport service providers as per the law.

3. Goods transport using motor vehicles shall conform to Article 56 hereof, comply with requirements and conditions pertaining to road traffic order and safety in accordance with road traffic order and safety laws and other relevant law provisions. Transport documents are required for the purpose of transporting goods on road as per the law.

4. The Minister of Transport shall elaborate organization and management of goods transport operations using motor vehicles.

Article 62. Rights and obligations of goods transport service providers using motor vehicles

1. Providers of goods transport services using motor vehicles have the right to:

a) request transport service buyers to provide necessary information on the goods and record in transport documents; examine authenticity of information on the goods provided by transport service buyers;

b) request transport service buyers to incur service fees and additional costs; request transport service buyers to compensate for damage caused by violation of the contract;

c) refuse to provide transport services if transport service buyers fail to deliver goods as per contract agreement;

d) request goods inspection when necessary;

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2. Providers of goods transport services using motor vehicles have the obligations to:

a) prevent organizations, individuals that do not possess license to provide goods transport services using motor vehicles from coordinating vehicles, driving vehicles, or deciding goods transport service fees on their behalf;

b) prevent individuals who do not have driver license appropriate to the type of vehicles or whose driver license points have been entirely removed or whose driver license is temporarily suspended or revoked from operating passenger transport vehicles;

c) provide vehicles of the correct types, at the right time and location and deliver goods to recipients as per contract agreement; provide drivers with transport documents prior to delivery;

d) guide, examine goods loading and unloading in order to not exceed goods load permissible for traffic and dimensional, load limits of roads or permissible goods loading dimensions and comply with safe guidelines during goods transport and delivery;

dd) compensate for damage caused by employees, representatives of goods transport service providers in the process of goods transport as per the law.

Article 63. Rights and obligations of drivers in goods transport services using motor vehicles

1. Drivers in goods transport services using motor vehicles have the right to:

a) refuse to operate vehicles that do not meet safety requirements; vehicles that are not outfitted with functioning tracking devices, driver’s image capturing devices as per the law; vehicles on which loaded goods exceed permissible load for traffic, dimensional or load limits of roads or permissible loading dimensions unless operating license is available as per the law; vehicles that carry goods prohibited from sale as per the law; without transport documents;

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2. Drivers in goods transport services using motor vehicles have the obligations to comply with road traffic order and safety laws and other relevant law provisions.

Article 64. Rights and obligations of buyers in goods transport services using motor vehicles

1. Buyers in goods transport services using motor vehicles have the right to:

a) refuse to load goods onto vehicles that do not conform to agreement;

b) request providers of goods transport services using motor vehicles to deliver goods at the right time, location, and in a manner compliant with agreement;

c) request providers of goods transport services using motor vehicles to compensate as per the law.

2. Buyers of goods transport services using motor vehicles have the obligation to:

a) obtain and provide legitimate documents on goods for transport service providers before delivery; package goods in the correct manner, specify goods code, labels adequately and clearly; deliver goods to transport service providers at the right time and locations, and fulfill other details as per agreement;

b) not request goods to be loaded or load goods in a manner that exceed permissible load for traffic or exceed dimensional limits, load limits of roads or dimensional loading limits of vehicles unless operating license is available as per the law;

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d) assign personnel to escort goods during transportation in case of types of goods that require escort.

Article 65. Passenger, goods transport using non-motorized vehicles, mopeds, two-wheeled motorbikes, three-wheeled motorbikes

1. Organizations and individuals using non-motorized vehicles, mopeds, two-wheeled motorbikes, and three-wheeled motorbikes in passenger, goods transport services must comply with road traffic order and safety laws.

2. Organizations, individuals providing software services assisting connection of transport in form of non-motorized vehicles, mopeds, two-wheeled motorbikes, and three-wheeled motorbikes must comply with Article 80 hereof.

Article 66. Passenger, goods transport using four-wheeled motorized vehicles

1. Enterprises, cooperatives, and household businesses that use four-wheeled motorized vehicles for transport services must comply with this Law and road traffic order and safety laws.

2. Enterprises, cooperatives, and household businesses that are established as per the law and possess license to provide transport services are allowed to use four-wheeled motorized in their transport services.

3. Individuals are not allowed to use four-wheeled motorized vehicles for internal passenger transport except for passenger transport services. Organizations are allowed to use four-wheeled motorized vehicles for internal transport and must comply with road traffic order and safety laws.

Article 67. Multimodal transport

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2. Investment and construction of stations, parking lots, goods transportation hubs must guarantee connectivity with other modes of transport and satisfy traffic arrangement requirements.

3. Provincial People’s Committees shall prioritize land fund for construction of stations, parking lots, goods transportation hubs appropriate to road network planning.

Article 68. Checked luggage

1. Checked luggage are goods delivered on motor vehicles used for passenger transport services where the owners do not travel with the vehicles and conform to agreement between transport service providers and senders.

2. Only goods which have dimensions and weight suitable for the vehicles and are not prohibited from sale, are not dangerous goods, are not wild animals, are not odorous, are not containing animals, or are not goods that otherwise affect health of other passengers and the environment are allowed for transport.

3. Individuals sending goods must file checked luggage declaration which includes name, quantity, weight of goods; name, address, personal identification number of senders and recipients.

4. Transport service providers are responsible for inspecting checked luggage on the basis of checked luggage declaration and verify in the declaration. The declaration is made into 2 copies, each of which is held by a party.

5. Recipients of checked luggage must present personal documents upon receiving the goods.

6. Compensation for damage to checked luggage conforms civil laws and other relevant regulations of the law, except for cases under Clause 7 of this Article.

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a) in case of natural properties or existing defects of the goods or permissible depreciation;

b) in case of apprehension or suspension of checked luggage imposed by competent authority;

c) in case of other force majeure;

d) in case of faults of transport service buyers, escorts affiliated to transport service providers, or recipients.

Article 69. Patient transport operations using ambulance

1. Patient transport services mean services in which organizations and individuals use ambulances equipped with specialized medical equipment to transport patients for emergency medical aid or to transport patients in general.

2. Medical examination and treatment establishments, organizations, and individuals providing patient transport services and using ambulances for patient transport services must meet requirements pertaining to medical examination and treatment laws and other relevant law provisions.

3. Ambulances must be easily identified by the use of markers, publicly posted information, outfitted with tracking devices, driver’s image capturing devices in accordance with road traffic order and safety laws and other relevant law provisions.

Article 70. Transport operations for preschool children and student using motor vehicles

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2. Transport operations for preschool children and student using motor vehicles are implemented by education institutions or provided by transport service providers and are regulated as follows:

a) Education institutions that implement transport operations for preschool children and students must conform to regulations on internal transport operations using motor vehicles;

b) Transport service providers that provide transport operations for preschool children using motor vehicles must conform to regulations on transport operations using motor vehicles.

3. Transport operations for preschool children and students using motor vehicles must conform to road traffic order and safety laws.

Article 71. Auxiliary road transport services

Auxiliary road transport services include: transport station services, rest area services, parking lot services, goods transport agencies, ticket agencies, goods consolidation services, transshipment services, goods storage services, goods loading and unloading services to and from vehicles, road motorized vehicle rental services, road rescue services, and software services assisting connection of transport.

Article 72. Transport station and rest area services

1. Providers of transport stations and rest area services are established in accordance with business laws and cooperative laws.

2. Operation of transport stations and rest areas must meet quality, order, safety, environmental hygiene, fire prevention and firefighting requirements and is under management of local competent authority.

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a) arrange and grant motor vehicles eligible for transport services entry to transport stations for passenger pick-up, drop-off;

b) lease ticket sale venues or sell tickets to passengers in accordance with contracts signed with transport service providers;

c) declare, publicly post, and announce service fees for vehicle entering, exiting transport stations in accordance with price laws.

4. Providers of goods transport station services have the right and obligation to:

a) arrange and grant motor vehicles entry, exit to and from stations for goods loading and unloading;

b) organize storage, checked luggage, packaging, preservation, goods loading and unloaded activities in accordance with this Law;

c) declare, publicly post, and announce service fees for vehicle entering, exiting stations in accordance with price laws.

5. Providers of rest area services have the right and obligation to:

a) organize services for road users and vehicles;

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6. Provincial People’s Committees shall rely on types of transport stations to determine service fees for vehicles entering, exiting transport stations in accordance with price laws.

7. Provincial People’s Committees shall allocate land fund for construction of passenger, goods transport stations or passenger transit locations in city centers to increase connectivity between passenger transport modes in and outside of cities. Passenger transport stations must be located at transport hubs.

Article 73. Parking lot services

1. Providers of parking lot services are established in accordance with business laws and cooperative laws.

2. Parking lot service providers are allowed to provide the following services:

a) Temporary storage of road vehicles;

b) Maintenance and repair of road vehicles;

c) Fuel and energy resupply for road vehicles;

d) Other services as per the law.

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a) maintain order, security, environmental hygiene, and fire safety at parking lots;

b) publicly post regulations and service fees at parking lots, name and phone number of competent authority;

c) compensate for any loss or damage sustained by vehicles under temporary care;

d) collect vehicle parking service fees;

dd) prevent transport service providers from using the parking lots for passenger pick-up, drop-off or goods loading, unloading, transshipment;

e) deny services to vehicle owners who do not comply with parking lot regulations;

g) stay under inspection and supervision of competent authority.

Article 74. Goods transport agency services

1. Providers of goods transport agency services are established in accordance with business laws and cooperative laws.

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3. Goods transport agency service providers are eligible for transport agency commission in accordance with agreement with transport service providers.

4. Providers of goods transport agency services must comply with this Law and other relevant law provisions for the purpose of loading, unloading goods.

Article 75. Ticket agency services

1. Providers of ticket agency services are established in accordance with business laws and cooperative laws.

2. Providers of ticket agency services must enter into ticket agency contracts with passenger bus service providers, fixed-route transport service providers.

3. Transport service providers and ticket agency service providers are not allowed to pick up, drop off passengers at location of ticket agencies unless ticket agencies are located inside coach stations.

Article 76. Goods consolidation, transshipment, storage services in road transport operations

1. Providers of goods consolidation, transshipment, and storage services are established in accordance with business laws and cooperative laws.

2. Providers of goods consolidation, transshipment, and storage services must preserve goods in accordance with rules of goods owners and must enter into contracts for goods consolidation, transshipment, or storage with the owners.

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Article 77. Vehicle loading and unloading services

1. Providers of vehicle loading and unloading services are established in accordance with enterprise laws, cooperative laws.

2. The loading of goods onto vehicles must not exceed amount of goods permissible for traffic under certificate of technical safety and environmental protection inspection of the vehicles and must comply with road traffic order and safety laws.

3. Individuals loading goods will be held accountable for violations relating to the loading of goods onto motor vehicles.

4. Individuals loading, unloading goods will be responsible for any loss or damage to the goods as per the law.

Article 78. Vehicle rental services

1. Vehicle rental services include:

a) Self-drive rental services mean services in which organizations and individuals lease passenger motor vehicles of less than 8 seats (not including the driver’s seat), mopeds, two-wheeled motorbikes, three-wheeled motorbikes to borrowers who operate the vehicles by themselves;

b) Business rental services for transport services or internal transport operations mean services in which organizations, individuals lease motor vehicles (excluding the drivers) to the borrowers who use the vehicles for transport services or internal transport operations.

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a) only lease vehicles to renters with non-zero driver license points and valid driver license appropriate to the leased vehicles;

b) not offer drivers to renters;

c) enter into self-drive rental agreements with renters which contain copies of driver license of the renters.

3. Renters of self-drive vehicles must not use the vehicles to provide passenger, goods transport for profit.

4. Providers of business rental services for transport services or internal transport operations must:

a) be established in accordance with corporate laws and cooperative laws. Foreign service providers may only provide services by establishing joint venture with Vietnamese partners were percentage of capital is compliant with international treaties to which the Socialist Republic of Vietnam is a signatory and relevant law provisions;

b) enter into rental agreements excluding drivers with the renters.

Article 79. Road traffic rescue services

1. Organizations and individuals providing road traffic rescue services must:

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b) maintain traffic safety and occupational safety during rescue;

c) not use rescue vehicles for goods transport services.

2. Providers of road traffic rescue services are responsible for complying with road traffic order and safety laws.

Article 80. Software services assisting connection of transport

1. Software services assisting connection of transport mean connection protocols between transport service providers, drivers and passengers or transport service buyers on electronic means.

2. Providers of transport services using motor vehicles that use software services assisting connection of motor vehicle transport must comply with regulations pertaining to business and business conditions for motor vehicle transport services, electronic transaction laws, and other relevant law provisions.

3. Providers of software services assisting connection of motor vehicle transport that provide services for transport service providers using motor vehicles must comply with e-commerce laws, electronic transaction laws, and other relevant law provisions.

Chapter V

STATE MANAGEMENT OF ROAD OPERATIONS

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1. Develop, promulgate, or request competent authority to promulgate and implement policies; technical regulations and standards, technical-economic norms regarding road operations.

2. Develop, promulgate, and implement planning and schemes pertaining to road operation.

3. Communicate, popularize, and educate regulations of the law on road operations.

4. Invest, construct, manage, operate, utilize, and maintain, and protect road infrastructures.

5. Manage transport operations and auxiliary services of road transport.

6. Study, apply science and technology; provide training and refresher training for human resources in road operations.

7. Inspect, examine, handle complaints and denunciation; deal with violations of the law in road operations.

8. Implement international cooperation in road operations.

Article 82. Responsibility for state management of road operations

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2. The Ministry of Transport is responsible for assisting the Government in implementing state management of road operations.

3. Ministries and ministerial agencies, within their tasks and powers, are responsible for taking charge and cooperating with Ministry of Transport in implementing state management of road operations.

4. People’s Committees of all levels, within their tasks and powers, are responsible for implementing state management of road operations.

Article 83. Road inspector

Road inspectors are tasked with:

1. Inspecting, examining, taking actions against violations of the law pertaining to road infrastructures; road transport at transport entities, transport stations, parking lots, rest areas, transport auxiliary service providers;

2. Inspecting, examining, and taking actions against violations of the law pertaining to training, examination, and issuance of driver license for motorized vehicles, technical safety and environmental protection inspection of motorized vehicles, other than training, examination, and issuance of driver license and technical safety and environmental protection inspection of vehicles of the people’s army, people’s public security in the performance of national defense and security duty in accordance with road traffic order and safety laws;

3. Carrying out other tasks in accordance with inspection laws and other relevant law provisions.

Chapter VI

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Article 84. Amendments to articles of relevant laws

1. Amend Point 1.1, add Point 1.1a after Point 1.1, sub-section 1 under Part V - Fees in transportation sector under List of fees and charges attached to the Law on Fees and Charges No. 97/2015/QH13 amended by the Law No. 09/2017/QH14, the Law No. 23/2018/QH14, the Law No. 16/2023/QH15, the Law No. 20/2023/QH15, and the Law No. 24/2023/QH15:

1.1

Road use charges collected per motor vehicle

The Government

1.1a

Expressway use fees for vehicles operating on expressways under public ownership where the Government acts as ownership representatives and directly manages, operates

The Government in case of expressways under management of Ministry of Transport; provincial People’s Councils in case of expressways under management of local government

2. Amend entry 23 under List of technical, field-specific planning under Appendix II attached to the Law on Planning No. 21/2017/QH14 amended in accordance with the Law No. 15/2023/QH15, the Law No. 16/2023/QH15, the Law No. 28/2023/QH15, and the Law No. 31/2024/QH15:

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NAME OF PLANNING

LEGISLATIVE DOCUMENT

23

Road infrastructure planning

The Law on Road No. 36/2024/QH15

3. Amend the Law on Public-Private Partnerships Investment No. 64/2020/QH14 amended by the Law No. 03/2022/QH15 and the Law No. 28/2023/QH15:

a) Amend Clause 4 Article 45:

“4. In respect of projects under Point b Clause 9 Article 3 hereof, user-pays contracts do not apply except for renovation, upgrade, expansion, modernization, operation, utilization of existing expressway structures, infrastructures or renovation, upgrade of existing roads into expressways as long as users have the right to choose.”;

b) Amend Point b Clause 4 Article 52:

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b) Amend Point b Clause 4 Article 70:

“b) Value of public property in accordance with public property management and use laws.

Value of existing road infrastructure property is not included in percentage of state capital in projects for renovation, upgrade, expansion, modernization, operation, and utilization of existing road structures and structures or renovation and upgrade of existing roads into expressways.”.

4. Amend Clause 5 and add Clause 5a after Clause 5 Article 51 of the Law on Electricity No. 28/2004/QH11 amended by the Law No. 24/2012/QH13, the Law No. 28/2018/QH14, the Law No. 03/2022/QH15, and the Law No. 16/2023/QH15:

“5. Where overhead power lines intersect with railways at a non-perpendicular angle, minimum height from the lowest point of the power lines to the highest point of the railways is 4,5 m plus electrical safety distance based on voltage.

Where the highest points on transport are more than 4,5 m in height from the ground, vehicle owners must contact entities managing high-voltage electrical grid to adopt necessary safety measures.

5a. Where overhead power lines intersect with roads at a non-perpendicular angle, minimum height from the lowest point of the power lines to the highest point of the roads equals vertical clearance of the roads plus electrical safety distance based on voltage.

Where the highest point of vehicles are a height above the distance determined in accordance with this Clause, vehicle owners must contact entities managing high-voltage electrical grid to adopt necessary safety measures.”.

Article 85. Entry into force

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2. Point a and Point b Clause 2 Article 42, Article 43, Article 50, Clause 1 Article 84 hereof comes into force from October 1 of 2024.

3. The Law on Road Traffic No. 23/2008/QH12 amended by the Law No. 35/2018/QH14 and the Law No. 44/2019/QH14 expires from the effective date hereof, except Article 86 hereof.

Article 86. Transition clauses

1. In respect of expressway projects where investment guidelines have been decided before the effective date hereof that have not met requirements under this Law, the investment process of these projects shall adhere to the investment guidelines approved by competent authority.

2. In respect of expressways that have been brought into operation before the effective date hereof and have not met Clause 1 Article 45 and Clause 2 Article 47 hereof and in respect of expressways under Clause 1 of this Article, roadmap for investment and construction compliant with this Law shall conform to regulations of the Government.

This Law is approved by the 15th National Assembly of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam in the 7th meeting on June 27 of 2024.

E-pass: 56294

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