Series of luxury Bentley and BMW cars with taxi signs: Is it illegal?

Recently, on some streets in the center of Thu Dau Mot city ( Binh Duong province), luxury cars such as Lexus, Bentley, BMW... with taxi signs have appeared.

The cars gathered in front of the coffee shop, then moved in groups on the inner-city roads. Some drivers filmed the procession and posted it on social media.

In the case that the luxury cars above are not registered for taxi business but still have taxi signs, is it a violation of the law?

According to lawyer Ha Thi Khuyen, Head of Nhan Chinh Law Office, the above incident shows signs of violating the law.

Ms. Khuyen said that the law only allows cars registered for passenger transport by taxi to have a taxi badge or crest. In addition, the taxi badge must also be approved and issued by the competent authority.

Luxury car with taxi sign (Photo: Vietnamnet).

The lawyer cited Article 6 of Decree 10/2020/ND-CP stating that taxi drivers have the right to choose to attach a light box with the word "TAXI" fixed on the roof of the vehicle if they are in the business of transporting passengers by taxi.

Arbitrarily attaching a taxi sign without permission from a competent authority is an act of disguised advertising, which violates the provisions of Clause 2, Article 20 of the 2012 Law on Advertising, due to the lack of documents proving conformity and compliance with regulations.

Ms. Khuyen said that Article 36 of Decree 38/2021/ND-CP, which stipulates the level of administrative fines for violations in the fields of culture and advertising, is 10 - 15 million VND.

In addition, according to the lawyer, the act of arbitrarily attaching a crest can also be considered "using a badge not issued by a competent authority" and will be punished under Article 23 of Decree 100/2019/ND-CP, with a fine of 5 - 7 million VND for individuals and 10 - 14 million VND for organizations.

In the above case, the lawyer stated that the authorities will verify and clarify the motives and purposes of the taxi drivers for attaching the taxi sign, from which there will be a basis for handling.

In addition, Ms. Khuyen said that the owners of the supercars also showed signs of disturbing public order. If the "parade" of the car owners caused traffic jams, chaos on the streets, and disturbed public order and safety, they could be considered for punishment for the above offense.

Source: https://dantri.com.vn/phap-luat/loat-xe-sang-bentley-bmw-gan-mao-taxi-co-vi-pham-phap-luat-20230327135914997.htm