Blocking the "virtual badge" loophole in transportation activities

According to statistics from the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Construction, the city is currently managing 7,181 licensed transport business units, with 256,072 vehicles granted transport business badges. Of which, cooperatives account for 602 units, managing up to 186,066 vehicles, equivalent to 73% of the total number of vehicles in operation. Notably, most of these have license plates from other provinces and cities, showing signs of irregularities in the vehicle registration and management structure.

Through monitoring, the Department of Construction discovered that a number of cooperatives have taken advantage of the policy of administrative procedure reform, especially the registration of operations through online public services, to recruit a series of vehicles from other provinces into their units to prepare documents to apply for badges. In reality, many cooperatives do not directly manage vehicles, do not inspect drivers, do not maintain business conditions according to Decree 158/2024/ND-CP of the Government , and do not even operate at the registered business address.

Vehicles on Hanoi Highway (Ho Chi Minh City).

From April to September 2025, the Department of Construction coordinated with the Department of Finance, the Tax Department and local authorities to verify hundreds of cases. The results showed that many units were no longer operating at the registered address, and some businesses had even temporarily suspended operations or had their tax codes revoked but still submitted applications for badges, or signed "illegal" contracts with cooperatives to continue transport operations.

Thong Nhat Transport Cooperative, which was granted badges for 3,668 vehicles, and Bach Gia Transport Cooperative with 374 vehicles, returned their licenses to stop operations, but in reality, the vehicles are still operating and have not returned their badges as required.

Not stopping there, there is also a phenomenon of businesses temporarily suspending operations but still signing transport service contracts with cooperatives, or passenger cars (yellow license plates) after returning the badge and changing to white license plates still continue to carry passengers and transport goods as service vehicles. These actions make inspection and supervision difficult, cause tax losses and pose potential risks to traffic safety.

The Ho Chi Minh City Department of Construction has resolutely handled and revoked the transport business licenses and badges of thousands of violating vehicles. Specifically, 8,962 vehicle badges belonging to violating cooperatives have been revoked, including: Hai Duong Transport Service Cooperative: 1,990 vehicles, Loc Phat Transport Service Cooperative: 266 vehicles, Binh Minh GPS Transport Cooperative: 638 vehicles, Thien Phuong Transport Service Cooperative: 3,125 vehicles and Road Transport Service Trading Cooperative: 2,943 vehicles. In addition, the Department is continuing to inspect two large units, Sao Vang General Service Cooperative (2,296 valid vehicles) and Van Lang Trading Cooperative (1,918 valid vehicles), due to suspicion that they are no longer operating at the registered address.

However, the work of retrieving badges in practice still faces difficulties. Some cooperatives have reported losing their badges, or losing control of their vehicles because they have been “transferred” to other units. The definitive handling of these cases requires coordinated efforts between departments, branches and local authorities.

In order to enhance management efficiency, the Department of Construction has proposed that the Ho Chi Minh City Tax Department coordinate to provide information on cases where transport businesses or cooperative members do not register or declare taxes, so that the Department of Construction has a basis to revoke business licenses and badges according to Articles 22 and 23 of Decree 158/2024/ND-CP. It is recommended that the City Police be asked to strengthen inspection and handling of vehicles using expired or revoked badges, especially through scanning the QR Code on vehicle badges. This method helps to quickly detect vehicles operating "illegally", contributing to maintaining urban traffic order and safety. At the same time, it is recommended that the People's Committees of wards, communes and Con Dao special zone proactively provide information when detecting cooperatives ceasing operations, changing addresses, or showing signs of "license leasing" so that the Department of Construction can promptly handle it.

Source: https://cand.com.vn/Giao-thong/chan-ke-ho-phu-hieu-ao-trong-hoat-dong-van-tai-i787135/