Registration and compliance with requirements in Vietnam are essential to ensure a fair, transparent and responsible e-commerce environment.
Reporter: Sir, could you please share a few things about the management of e-commerce platforms as well as cross-border e-commerce platforms today?
According to regulations, cross-border online retail platforms with Vietnamese domain names, Vietnamese display language, or more than 100,000 transactions per year from Vietnam must register their operations with the Ministry of Industry and Trade. Temu, Shein, 1688… have not registered to operate in Vietnam, but still allow users to download applications, make purchases and pay on this platform with the Vietnamese version.
However, it is worrying that some e-commerce platforms have not registered their operations with the Ministry of Industry and Trade. For example, Temu, although not registered for business in Vietnam, has actually been implementing massive promotional programs for nearly two weeks now. Temu also calls on celebrities and influencers to participate in the affiliate marketing program, with discounts of up to 30%. In addition, this platform also gives up to 1.5 million VND to new users of the Temu App, even up to 90% off with free shipping.
Faced with this situation, in order to tighten state management in the field of cross-border e-commerce in general, recently, the Ministry of Industry and Trade has drastically implemented a series of measures. The Ministry has issued a document reporting to the Prime Minister on the issuance of a telegram on continuing to promote state management of e-commerce. This includes the content of researching and proposing the issuance of a specialized Law on e-commerce, amending Decision No. 78/2010/QD-TTg dated November 30, 2020 of the Prime Minister on the value of imported goods sent via express delivery services that are exempt from tax.
At the same time, the Ministry of Industry and Trade also directed its functional units to strengthen supervision and control of goods and products from cross-border platforms; Directed the National Competition Commission to strengthen the protection of consumer rights in cyberspace. Focused on timely dissemination to consumers, raising awareness of the risks when purchasing on cross-border e-commerce platforms.
At the same time, the entire industry and trade sector has carried out many propaganda activities, warning consumers to be careful when trading goods on cross-border e-commerce platforms that are not registered and not managed by state agencies to avoid risks, including the risk of personal information data leakage.
Reporter: Up to this point, why hasn’t the Ministry of Industry and Trade immediately banned cross-border e-commerce platforms from operating “illegally”, sir?
The ban on unregistered cross-border e-commerce platforms needs to be considered comprehensively and carefully. First, it is necessary to assess the overall impact and coordinate with other authorities such as the police, tax, customs, etc. to clearly understand the transaction situation and the level of violations as well as compliance with the law of e-commerce platforms.
Recently, the General Department of Market Management has issued an urgent dispatch to localities, requesting to strengthen inspection and strictly handle violations on e-commerce platforms. In particular, localities are required to urgently inspect and strictly handle websites with signs of violations in the provided list. At the same time, the market management force will strengthen supervision and coordinate with relevant units to track down and handle violations of the law.
In particular, the Ministry of Industry and Trade has proposed that the Prime Minister direct solutions to monitor and manage imported goods through platforms that do not comply with the law. If violations continue despite warnings, strict management measures such as blocking access from Vietnam to these platforms may be applied.
Reporter: Could you please share more specifically about the solutions to “build fences” with goods from unregistered cross-border e-commerce platforms?
First of all, it must be affirmed that not all cross-border e-commerce platforms are subject to e-commerce regulations. Platforms subject to Vietnamese law must register before operating. Platforms must have public and transparent operating regulations, regulations on protecting consumer rights and handling violations. Platforms must coordinate with state agencies to prevent illegal transactions.
Registration and compliance with requirements in Vietnam are essential to ensure a fair, transparent and responsible e-commerce environment. For unregistered cross-border e-commerce platforms, the Ministry of Industry and Trade works directly with the legal teams of cross-border platforms subject to Vietnamese law. From there, these platforms are required to take formal registration steps and comply with standards on consumer protection, information transparency and data security. The General Department of Customs has just issued an official dispatch requesting local customs not to clear customs declarations of goods transport that do not declare information about websites providing e-commerce services, applications providing e-commerce services, names of e-commerce websites selling goods, sales applications. In addition, customs will not clear customs declarations that declare information about websites providing e-commerce services, applications providing e-commerce services… but have not registered to operate in Vietnam or have not been notified on the e-commerce management system at the Ministry of Industry and Trade’s online.gov.vn website.
If the deadline has passed and the platforms have not completed their documents, the Ministry of Industry and Trade can apply strict management measures by coordinating with the Ministry of Public Security and the Ministry of Information and Communications to review and block access from Vietnam to these platforms to protect consumer rights and comply with national laws.
Reporter: Could you please tell us what are the risks from unlicensed cross-border e-commerce platforms and what recommendations has the Ministry of Industry and Trade made to consumers?
Furthermore, consumers also face a high risk of buying counterfeit goods, fake goods, goods of unknown origin, products that affect health and safety such as functional foods, cosmetics, children’s toys, electronic devices… without receiving support according to legal regulations from the authorities.
In addition, when transacting on unregistered e-commerce platforms, consumers often have to provide international payment information, such as credit cards or e-wallets, which increases the risk of personal information being illegally exploited.