Hanoi (VNS/VNA) - The Ministry of Transport (MoT) plans to tightencontrol of emissions of vehicles in circulation as well as used vehiclesimported to curb air pollution.

Under a draft decision on new emission standards which is open to the public tocollect opinions, vehicles manufactured prior to 1999 will continue to faceemissions standards at Level 1. Level 2 will be applied for vehiclesmanufactured between 1999 and 2008 from January 1, 2021 and vehicles made after2008 from January 1, 2020.

Regarding used imported vehicles, those with spark-ignition engines which usepetrol, liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), compressed natural gas (CNG) and similartypes will have to meet Level 4 standards from January 1, 2020, while vehicleswith compression ignition engines which use diesel and similar fuel will haveto apply Level 3 standards from January 1, 2020.

Level 1, 2, 3 and 4 are the maximum permitted emissions limits for automobilesin Vietnam. Under current standards, petroleum engine automobiles meet Level 1if they have carbon monoxide emissions (CO) of less than 4.5 per cent and thehydrocarbon concentration (HC) of less at 1,200 part per million (ppm).

Level 1 represents the lowest standards, as to meet Level 2 and 3, vehiclesmust have CO of less than 3.5 and 3.0 per cent and HC of less than 800 and 600ppm, respectively.

The new regulation will not be applied to vehicles used for national defenceand security tasks by the police or army.

In 2011, the Government issued a resolution stipulating all types of new carsused in Vietnam must meet Euro 4 exhaust emission standards from January 1,2017 and Euro 5 from January 1, 2022.

However, emissions standards for vehicles in operation and used import oneshave remain unchanged for 10 years.

By May this year, the number of cars in the country exceeded three million, up3.2 times compared with 2008, meaning the volume of gas discharged into theenvironment has hiked substantially.

According to the ministry, the new regulation won’t have a big impact onsociety because passenger vehicles with more than nine seats manufactured priorto 1999 will have their registration expire by the end of 2019, so they shouldexit circulation. All passenger vehicles with more than nine seats to be inoperation from 2020 will have to satisfy Level 2 of emission standards, itsaid.

Nguyen Van Thanh, President of the Vietnam Automobile TransportationAssociation, said it was necessary to tighten vehicle emission control.

“The regulation should have been applied a long time ago because environmentpollution has been serious in cities, particularly Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City,”he was quoted by Nguoi Lao Dong (The Labourer) as saying.

While many countries have applied Euro 5 standards, Vietnam has just requiredimported cars to meet Euro 4, Thanh said.

Data from the World Health Organisation (WHO) found that more than 60,000deaths from heart disease, stroke, lung cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonarydisease and pneumonia in Vietnam in 2016 were linked to air pollution.

Studies by environment experts have found that emissions from vehiclesincluding CO2 (carbon monoxide) and NOx (Nitrogen Oxide) have surpassedpermitted levels by 1.2-1.5 times in Hanoi and HCM City.

The amount of CO2 emissions in HCM City is estimated to be 38.5 million tonnesper year, about 16 percent of the country’s total.

Of the amount, CO2 emissions from automotive exhaust account for 45 percent. —VNS/VNA