Vehicles have been damaged after sitting unused for so long. — VNSPhoto baogiaothong.vn

HÀ NỘI — Vehicles seized for traffic violations should be auctioned if the owner failed to come forward within 30 days instead of the current one year, the Ministry of Public Security said at a meeting organised by the NA’s Legal Affairs Committee on Thursday afternoon in Hà Nội. 

The move would free up warehouse space and avoid waste, participants heard.

Deputy Minister Nguyễn Duy Ngọc said police across the country had seized nearly 137,000 unclaimed vehicles, including 722 cars, between 2013 and September 2019. 

Due to the amount of time they had been impounded, 37,000 vehicles were damaged, he said.

Ngọc said 32 localities had to hire warehouses to store vehicles because existing facilities could not meet the demand, Tiền Phong (Vanguard) online newspaper reported.

He recommended allowing the private sector to build facilities to store impounded vehicles and charge fees to reduce pressure on infrastructure investment for the State.

He also said the current legal procedures for auctioning vehicles were complicated, including verifying the owner, assessing the vehicle’s value, and ensuring the vehicle is not material evidence in a judicial proceeding, he said.

“This causes a lot of difficulties for police and takes time,” he said.

Deputy Minister of Justice Đặng Hoàng Oanh said if owners failed to reclaim their vehicles within 30 days or if police were unable to establish who the owner is, they should be auctioned.

In response to the suggestions, Hoàng Thanh Tùng, chairman of the Legal Affairs Committee, agreed that steps were needed to deal with vehicles that were losing value due to the amount of time they were impounded.

If normal regulations were followed, it would take a lot of time to deal with these vehicles and be ineffective, he added.

Bùi Trường Giang, vice chairman of the committee, said unclaimed vehicles were mainly old, degraded and without registration.

Giang said these vehicles should be handled quickly, because they were costing the Stage budget storage fees.

He agreed with the suggestion to shorten the time for auctioning vehicles as well as simplifying legal procedures for auctions.— VNS