Vietnam Traffic Penalties Under Decree 238/2026/ND-CP: What Is Confirmed

What is confirmed and what is not

Short answer: the effective date, the amendment scope, the child-seat warning and the paid-ride fine are all confirmed by the text of the decree. Decree 238/2026/ND-CP, issued by the Government on 26 June 2026, took effect on 15 August 2026 (Article 20), as recorded by chinhphu.vn and thuvienphapluat.vn. That date is not in dispute. The decree amends selected provisions of Decree 168/2024/ND-CP rather than replacing the entire document, so both texts remain relevant. The amendment scope covers traffic-violation penalties, driver-license point deductions, commercial transport vehicles, enforcement authority and vehicle-monitoring or safety equipment. Those are the confirmed headlines. The later sections on the child-seat rule and the fine for paid rides cite the decree provisions that contain them (Articles 2 and 7 of Decree 238).

Decree 238 amends Decree 168, it does not replace it

Short answer: Decree 238/2026/ND-CP amends selected provisions of Decree 168/2024/ND-CP; it does not void the earlier decree. Anyone checking a traffic penalty must look at both documents, because the 2026 text changes only parts of the 2024 framework. Decree 168/2024/ND-CP still sets the general administrative penalty rules for road-traffic order and safety, including the driver-license point system. The 2026 amendments adjust specific clauses, such as those on commercial transport vehicles and enforcement authority, but leave the rest of Decree 168 intact. This means an old penalty that was not amended by Decree 238 remains enforceable under Decree 168. For day-to-day transport choices in Vietnam, see Getting Around Vietnam as an Expat. When a traffic officer cites a violation, ask which decree and which article, because both may apply.

License points have existed since 1 January 2025

Short answer: the driver-license point deduction and restoration system has existed since 1 January 2025 under Decree 168/2024/ND-CP. The 2026 amendments build on that system; they do not create it. Decree 168/2024/ND-CP established rules covering driver-license point deductions and restoration, effective from 1 January 2025. That means drivers in Vietnam had already been subject to point deductions for over eighteen months when Decree 238/2026/ND-CP took effect on 15 August 2026. The 2026 text adds point deductions for certain offences (for example six points for paid rides in a private car) and tweaks some details of Article 50, but it leaves the 12-point system and the restoration rules of Decree 168 in place. When checking a penalty, first confirm whether the point deduction comes from Decree 168 itself or from an amendment in Decree 238. For transport planning in Vietnam, see Getting Around Vietnam as an Expat. Nothing in the reviewed material records a suspension of the point system between January 2025 and August 2026.

Child safety seats: warning replaces the fine

Short answer: from 15 August 2026, a driver carrying a child under 10 years old and shorter than 1.35 metres without an appropriate child-safety device is penalised with a warning instead of the earlier fine (Article 6(1a) of Decree 168, added by Article 2 of Decree 238). The change applies to cars other than passenger-transport business vehicles. The earlier rule imposed a fine of VND 800,000 to 1,000,000 for the same situation (Article 6(3)(m) of Decree 168), and that fine still applies if such a child sits in the same row as the driver, except in a car with only one row of seats. The shift to a warning is one of the softer changes in Decree 238/2026/ND-CP. Passenger-transport business vehicles, such as taxis or ride-hailing cars under a transport contract, remain outside this warning rule. If you drive with children in Vietnam, check the current text of Decree 168 and Decree 238 before relying on this change. For broader driving guidance, see Getting Around Vietnam as an Expat.

White-plate cars doing paid rides face new fines

Short answer: from 15 August 2026, the driver of a car that is not used for passenger-transport business (a private car, normally white-plated) who carries people for payment, or signs a contract or accepts a booking to carry people, faces a fine of 12,000,000 to 14,000,000 Vietnamese dong and a six-point driver-license deduction. This is set by Article 20(8a) and (10)(c) of Decree 168/2024/ND-CP, as added and amended by Article 7 of Decree 238/2026/ND-CP.

The rule targets cars that are not used for passenger-transport business but carry people for money. The decree text does not limit it to any channel: carrying people for payment, signing a transport contract or accepting a booking is enough.

What to do if this applies to you: confirm the car's registration plate color and business-license status before using it for paid passenger work. If you drive your own car and occasionally give people rides for money, this is precisely the situation the amendment addresses. A six-point deduction is material under the point system that Decree 168/2024/ND-CP established from 1 January 2025.

Foreigners face the same penalty rules

Short answer: Decree 168/2024/ND-CP applies administrative traffic penalties to foreign individuals and organizations involved in covered road-traffic violations in Vietnam, on the same basis described for Vietnamese participants. This follows from Article 2(1) of Decree 168/2024/ND-CP, which Decree 238/2026/ND-CP does not amend.

Practically, this means an expat who commits a traffic violation covered by the decree should expect to be dealt with under the same rules as a Vietnamese driver: the fines and point deductions in the decree are set per violation, not by nationality. Decree 168 does refer to foreign elements in a few places, such as Article 37 on foreign-plated vehicles and Article 18 on international driving permits, but nothing in it provides a separate or reduced penalty track for foreigners.

If you are stopped or fined, ask for the specific legal basis in writing and keep the receipt; do not assume the officer's verbal explanation reflects the full rule.

Enforcement authority shifts among police forces

Short answer: yes, Decree 238/2026/ND-CP changes the distribution of road-traffic penalty authority among public-security forces from 15 August 2026. The new allocation is set out in Articles 12 to 16 of the decree, which amend Articles 41 to 44 and 46 of Decree 168; this guide does not reproduce it.

The key point: the amendment redistributes authority and fine limits by rank and position, which affects who can legally issue a fine and up to what amount.

What this means practically: since 15 August 2026, the officer or unit that stops you may or may not hold the authority to impose a given penalty under the amended rules. If you are fined, check that the issuing authority is named in the decision and matches the amended allocation in Articles 41 to 44 of Decree 168. This guide does not list which unit can do what, so treat any summary of it as unverified until you compare it with the decree text.

What this guide does not cover

Several things an expat would want are not covered in this guide. Nothing here is an attempt to hide a fact; it is a list of honest gaps.

There is no full fine table here. The guide gives exact amounts only for paid rides in a private car and for the earlier child-seat fine; read every other amount in the decree texts.

The list of every amended provision is not reproduced here. It is in Articles 1 to 19 of Decree 238 itself, which amend selected provisions of Decree 168/2024/ND-CP.

The allocation of penalty authority is not summarised here either; it is in Articles 12 to 16 of Decree 238.

Be careful with published tables of new fines. Decree 238 does not amend the speeding, phone-use or alcohol provisions of Decree 168, so a table that presents new amounts for them as coming from Decree 238 is wrong; check every other figure against the decree texts.

What to do: find the violation in Decree 168 and check whether Decree 238 amended it; check the date, because under Article 21 of Decree 238 a violation that happened and ended before 15 August 2026 is judged under Decree 168 as it stood; check that the fine decision cites the right article, clause and authority; and for a live dispute or an exact legal assessment, ask a qualified lawyer.