Public outcry over Việt Nam’s mandatory E10 biofuel rollout has reached the highest levels of government, clashing with official claims of widespread public approval.
The Latest: On the morning of June 10, during a May public petition report before the National Assembly Standing Committee, Lê Thị Nga, chairwoman of the Committee for Petitions and Oversight, stated that many voters have expressed “concerns” about the use of E10 biofuel gasoline.
The National Assembly’s petition body has formally spoken out, following repeated claims by the Ministry of Industry and Trade that it has not received any negative responses regarding the fuel.
The Details: The committee proposed that the government strengthen quality inspections of E10 gasoline and conduct public communication campaigns to build “consensus” around the nationwide use of the fuel.
Following the committee’s report, National Assembly Chairman Trần Thanh Mẫn directed that public petition work in the coming period must go deeper.
- He stated that the process must not stop at receiving citizens, processing petitions, or forwarding recommendations, emphasizing that public petition work “must not lag behind the people’s frustrations.”
The Background: The Committee for Petitions and Oversight is an agency under the National Assembly Standing Committee that assists the National Assembly in exercising its oversight powers; it is responsible for citizen reception, handling complaints and denunciations, and compiling voters’ recommendations.
Since June 1, the government has required all gas stations nationwide to distribute only E10 biofuel gasoline.
Since the fuel was initially rolled out on May 15, state media have widely reported that the public has shown “consensus” and has “positively received” the fuel.
Why It Matters: Many concerns have surfaced on social media regarding the compatibility and safety of E10 gasoline for current vehicles and machinery.
On the evening of May 27, the news outlet VnExpress hid the results of a survey that had attracted nearly 50,000 responses, in which more than 93% of participants indicated they would rather not switch to E10 gasoline.
Also on May 27, a man was “invited to discuss” with Hưng Yên provincial police after sharing a video claiming that E10 gasoline “can easily cause wear and damage to vehicle engines.”
Meanwhile, a representative of the Ministry of Industry and Trade maintained that the ministry had not recorded any negative feedback from users.
Huỳnh Lam wrote this article in Vietnamese and published it in Luật Khoa Magazine on June 10, 2026. The Vietnamese Magazine has the copyrights to the English translation.
