Hanoi (VNS/VNA) - Personal registration plates could soon be seen onmotorbikes and cars nationwide, as a new law is being drawn up to allow peopleto buy exclusive numbers.

Numberplates that contain “88888” or those that end either “86” or “68” areconsidered lucky and popular with drivers. Plates that end with “9” are alsoconsidered to bring good fortune.

InVietnamese, an alternative pronunciation of the number six is 'luc' whichsounds like 'loc', meaning a windfall of money while an alternative for thenumber eight is 'bat' which sounds like 'phat', meaning progress orprosperity. The number nine's alternative pronunciation is 'cuu',meaning everlasting and making it another lucky number in Vietnamesebelief.

According tothe draft law on road traffic order and safety that the Ministry of PublicSecurity and relevant agencies are compiling, vehicle licence plates will beclassified into three categories – nice numbers, optional numbers and randomnumbers.

Desirableplates will be sold off at online auctions and some may even cost more than thevehicles they are on.

Under thedraft law, the granting of number plates will be conducted through onlineauction, for sale with extra fee collection or via automatic system to getnumbers in random.

Those whowin the online auction will have rights to own the number plates, transfer theplates and will not have the plates revoked except when they violate auctionregulations, Lieutenant Colonel Pham Viet Cong, head of the division on VehicleRegistration and Examination under the Traffic Police Department of the Ministry of Public Security told Thanh Nien (Young People)newspaper.

Cong saidthat the vehicle number plates would be eligible for auction only whenthey were considered as a kind of asset.

“When peoplejoin the auctions and pay for the desired number plates, they should be givenrights to use or transfer and should not worry about the plates to be revoked,”he said, adding that without ensuring such rights for auction winners,conflicts and complaints could occur.

To avoidsuch problems, regulations on vehicle licence plates should be legalised inlaw, Cong said.

Vice Chairmanof National Assembly’s Committee for Finance and Budget Nguyen Huu Quang saidthat the law on public assets management that took effects since 2018 regulatedthat vehicle licence plates, together with phone/mobile phone numbers are publicassets.

The governmentis empowered to issue details over the use and management of the numbers.

“I agreewith vehicle licence number auction, especially ‘nice lucky’ numbers thatpeople want to own,” he said, adding that the auctions would add money to theState’s budget.

However,under the law on Road Traffic dated in 2008, vehicle licence plates are notallowed to be transferred and authorities could revoke the plates in casesvehicle owners violate regulations.

Tofacilitate the policy in vehicle licence plates, the law on Road Traffic needsto be amended.

In 2008, theNghe An Provincial People’s Committee, for the first time in Vietnam, organisedtwo auctions for vehicle licence plates and earned 4 billion VND (173,700 USD).The revenue then was spent on traffic safety activities and supporting the poorand people with disabilities.

Colonel VoTrong Hai, director of the provincial Department of Public Security, said thatthe auction was halted to wait for official legal permission.

Hai saidthat if the proposal on vehicle licence plate auctions was approved, theprovince would pioneer in resuming such auctions.

Deputy NguyenVan Canh from the central province of Binh Dinh said at a National Assemblymeeting in 2018 that more than 12 percent of total vehicle licence plates in Vietnamcould be considered "nice" enough for auctions.

"If theauctions can be carried out, more than 12 trillion VND (521 million USD) wouldbe added to State's budget yearly," he told ThanhNien newspaper./.