The Ministry of Transport plans to label energy certificates for new motorcycles which are manufactured, assembled and imported to Viet Nam.

This is a key content of a draft circular on energy labelling for motorcycles by the ministry’s Vietnam Register. The labelling is compulsory.

The producers must inform accurately about the vehicle’s fuel consumption according to an agreed measuring method. The volume of fuel consumption will be stated on the energy label on the vehicle to provide customers with this information when they purchase the vehicle. The volume will be registered and announced by the manufacturer, which will be under the inspection and certification of the management agency.

According to statistics, the total number of vehicles registered in police stations as of March 15, 2018 was 3.76 million cars and more than 55.1 million motorcycles nationwide. Motorcycles are the main means of transport in the country, and the annual growth rate is expected to increase by 10 per cent in the coming years.

Energy labelling programme has been implemented in many countries of the world, such as the European Union, the United States, Australia, Japan, South Korea, China and India. In Southeast Asia, Singapore and Thailand are also implementing energy labelling.

In a draft project on motorcycle emissions control, the Ministry of Transport has proposed a roadmap for 2018-20 to complete legal documents and submit to the Government a draft decree on conditions for services of inspection of motorcycle emissions, which will add to the existing decree on administrative sanctions against violations of motorcycle emissions.

According to Prime Minister’s Decision No 04/2017/QD-TTg dated March 9, 2017, which stipulates the list of vehicles and equipment that must be labelled with energy and minimum energy efficiency as well as have a roadmap for energy labelling.

The roadmap for energy labelling for motorcycles is voluntary until December 31, 2019, and compulsory from January 1, 2020.

Bui Danh Lien, former chairman of the Transportation Association of Ha Noi, said that for new vehicles, manufacturers had announced the specifications of the car, including fuel consumption in the relevant technical documents, and they were responsible before the law for these parameters.

Sticking the energy label on fuel consumption is repetitive, unnecessary and wasteful, Lien told nguoilaodong.com.vn.

Nguyen Nam Hung, a resident of HCM City, who owns a seven-seat car and motorcycle, said the amount manufacturers or importers pay for the energy label would be added to the vehicle’s selling price, and as a result, customers would have to pay more for the vehicle.

Meanwhile, former director of the ministry’s transport department Than Van Thanh said energy labelling was the trend. The management body should apply it to locally-assembled vehicles first, and then draw from experience before applying the same rule to imported vehicles.

"This is needed to calculate the time to apply the labelling of energy. It must be in accordance with the economic conditions and the technical management level of our country to make it feasible," said Thanh. — VNS