Draft revisions to Vietnam’s Law on Handling Administrative Violations propose raising maximum individual fines to 1.5 billion dong, expanding digital traffic processing via VNeTraffic, and introducing stringent enforcement tools including exit bans and utility cutoffs for non-compliance.
On September 8, 2026, the Government issued Document No. 665/TTr-CP submitting the draft Law amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Law on Handling Administrative Violations to the National Assembly. Subsequently, following input from the Standing Committee of the National Assembly, the Permanent Committee of the Law and Justice Committee, and full-time National Assembly deputies, the Government incorporated revisions and submitted Document No. 879/TTr-CP on October 10, 2026. According to the schedule for the 2nd Session of the 16th National Assembly, the legislature is set to hear the presentation, verification reports, and conduct group discussions on the draft law to review the revised draft. The Vietnamese government submitted a sweeping legislative proposal to the National Assembly, setting the stage for parliamentary deliberations.
Draft Legislation Increases Maximum Fines for Individuals and Corporations
The draft legislation increases the ceiling for individual fines from 1 billion dong to 1.5 billion dong, while corporate penalties climb from 2 billion dong to 3 billion dong according to government submissions. This represents the first comprehensive revision after more than 13 years of enforcement since the legislation was enacted in 2012 and amended seven times by other laws. To explain the adjustments, the drafting agency noted that the basic salary rose from 1,050,000 dong per month in 2012 to 2,340,000 dong per month in 2025, marking a 2.2-fold increase, while Vietnam’s per capita monthly income grew from approximately 2,000,000 dong in 2012 to roughly 7,700,000 dong by 2024, representing a 3.85-fold rise.
The statute also considers extending the statute of limitations for issuing administrative penalties from 01 to 02 years under current law to 01 to 03 years.
Processing Traffic Violations Through VNeTraffic
The Traffic Police Department has designed a digital workflow integrated into the VNeTraffic mobile application, allowing motorists to receive remote notifications, submit electronic explanations, and settle fines without visiting physical police stations as outlined in agency plans.
Driver Đào Hồng Dương from Ba Vì, Hanoi, with over two years of experience driving a Grab taxi, noted that previously drivers had to visit traffic police offices directly, and expressed hope that direct in-app fine settlement would save significant time and effort for long-distance drivers. Lê Hải Minh from Định Công ward, Hanoi, commented that provisions guaranteeing the right to submit explanations and have them reviewed by officials reflect a democratic mindset that minimizes administrative processing errors. Long-distance drivers and logistics operators have welcomed the digital workflow according to driver interviews, noting that resolving automated remote penalties—known locally as remote fines—online eliminates the need for cross-provincial travel.
Simultaneously, the draft law proposes streamlining minor infractions by permitting penalty notices without formal written minutes for offenses carrying minor fines, raising the threshold for simplified processing from 500,000 dong to 1 million dong for individuals and from 1 million dong to 2 million dong for organizations the Ministry of Public Security explained.
Enforcing Penalties With Exit Bans And Utility Cutoffs
The draft adds five new coercive measures, including temporary exit suspensions for individuals or corporate leaders who fail to settle penalties, alongside suspensions of electricity and water supplies for non-compliant business sites the government proposal specifies. Grounded in provisions such as Clause 6, Article 36 of the 2019 Law on Exit and Entry of Vietnamese Citizens (amended and supplemented in 2023), exit suspensions apply to individuals under enforcement or representatives of organizations under administrative penalty enforcement where immediate prevention of flight is deemed necessary. Additional measures include sealing premises and halting vehicle registration or driver’s license issuance.
Furthermore, authorities gain the authority to mandate interruptions of internet, telecommunications, and digital infrastructure to tackle cross-border e-commerce violations operating entirely in digital environments according to enforcement reviews.
According to the drafting committee framework via Báo Pháp Luật Việt Nam, the proposed measures are necessary to ensure strict compliance.
The Ministry of Public Security maintains that structured procedural checks remain in place to protect constitutional rights and ensure that coercive actions affect only proven wrongdoers the agency reported.