Mr. Tran Son, from Hung Yen, asked: "I live and work in Ho Chi Minh City. Last Tet holiday, I went back to my hometown to celebrate Tet and borrowed my uncle's car to visit Tet. I was inspected and fined and my motorbike was temporarily seized for alcohol concentration violations. I would like to ask, in my case, can I ask someone to pick up the temporarily seized motorbike for me?".
Answering this question, lawyer Nguyen Thu Trang, Deputy Director of Heva Law Company Limited, said that the current regulations on returning violating vehicles are regulated by Decree 138/2021/ND-CP, adjusted and supplemented in Decree 47/2026/ND-CP.
Article 16 of this Decree stipulates the return of exhibits, vehicles, licenses, practicing certificates that have been temporarily seized or the transfer of exhibits, vehicles that have been temporarily seized or confiscated; warehousing costs, wharf and yard costs, and preservation costs of exhibits and vehicles that have been temporarily seized as follows:
The return of exhibits, vehicles, licenses, practicing certificates that have been temporarily seized or the transfer of exhibits and vehicles that have been temporarily seized or confiscated must have a written decision from the competent person issuing the decision to temporarily seize them.
The person managing and preserving exhibits, vehicles, licenses, and professional certificates that are temporarily seized or confiscated shall return or transfer exhibits and vehicles when there is a decision to return exhibits, vehicles, licenses, professional certificates or a decision to transfer exhibits and vehicles in the following order:
Check the decision to return exhibits, vehicles, licenses, practicing certificates that have been temporarily seized or the decision to transfer exhibits and vehicles; check the Citizen Identity Card or Identity Card of the recipient.
The person who comes to receive back the exhibits, vehicles, licenses, practicing certificates that are temporarily seized must be the violator or the owner of the exhibits, vehicles, licenses, practicing certificates that are temporarily seized or the representative of the administrative violating organization that has been recorded in the decision to temporarily seize exhibits, vehicles, licenses, practicing certificates. If the owner, organization, or individual who violates authorizes another person to come to receive back the exhibits, vehicles, licenses, practicing certificates that are temporarily seized, a written authorization must be made in accordance with the law.
Request people who come to receive exhibits, vehicles, licenses, practicing certificates that are temporarily seized to compare with the temporary seizure record to check the type, quantity, volume, quality, characteristics, current status of exhibits, vehicles, licenses, practicing certificates that are temporarily seized under the witness of the manager. The handover and receipt of exhibits and vehicles that are temporarily seized must be made into a record.
In case of transferring exhibits and vehicles to investigating agencies, specialized state management agencies or appraisal agencies, the person managing and preserving exhibits and vehicles that are temporarily seized or confiscated must make a record of the quantity, volume, weight, characteristics, type, brand, origin, condition of exhibits and vehicles. The record is made in 02 copies, signed by the handing over and receiving parties, each holding 01 copy.
For confiscated exhibits and vehicles that have been established as all-people ownership or have been approved by agencies and competent persons for property handling plans, the agency of the person who issued the previous confiscation decision shall coordinate with the agency assigned to preside over the property handling to organize the transfer of property and related documents to the receiving agency or organization.
The person managing and preserving exhibits, vehicles, licenses, and professional certificates after returning exhibits and vehicles that have been temporarily seized or after transferring exhibits, vehicles, licenses, and professional certificates that have been temporarily seized and confiscated is responsible for reporting to the competent authority that issued the previous decision on temporary seizure and confiscation on the results achieved.
Warehousing costs, wharf and yard costs, preservation costs of exhibits, and temporarily seized vehicles
Organizations and individuals who violate when receiving exhibits and vehicles temporarily seized are not subject to confiscation and do not have to pay warehousing costs, wharf and yard costs, and costs for preserving exhibits and vehicles during the time of temporary seizure.
Organizations and individuals who violate are not required to pay warehousing costs, wharf and yard costs, and costs for preserving exhibits and vehicles during the time the exhibits and vehicles violating administrative regulations are temporarily seized if the owner of the exhibits and vehicles is not at fault in the administrative violation or is subject to confiscation measures for exhibits and vehicles or the violating organization or individual is assigned to keep and preserve the vehicles according to the provisions of Articles 14 and 15 of this Decree.
The agency of the person issuing the decision to temporarily seize exhibits and vehicles in cases of self-organizing the storage and preservation of exhibits and vehicles being temporarily seized or organized by the agency of the person issuing the decision to temporarily seize exhibits and vehicles leased to store and preserve exhibits and vehicles is paid warehousing costs, wharf and yard costs, and storage costs of exhibits and vehicles during the time of temporary seizure.
The level of warehousing costs, wharf and yard costs, and costs for preserving exhibits and temporarily seized vehicles are implemented according to the provisions of law on prices.
Thus, according to current regulations, if the violator cannot directly come to complete the procedures to get the motorbike back, you can ask the motorbike owner to come and get it. If you ask someone else, the violator must make a power of attorney to receive the motorbike that was temporarily seized when violating traffic laws.
