The recent pandemic has prompted consumers all over the world, and particularly in Vietnam, to adopt a new shopping habit: online shopping, particularly after a period of social isolation.
According to the Vietnam E-Commerce Book of 2022, the number of Vietnamese consumers shopping online for the first time will likely reach 60 million. With 75% of the populatio using the Internet, Vietnam has 74.8% of Internet users shopping online. Especially, 97% of consumers shared that they would keep doing so. Anticipating this trend, businesses have been actively updating and implementing new technologies in order to improve customer experience, attract and retain customers. And one of the most popular methods is creating a sale e-commerce website.
So, how does current Vietnamese law govern the conditions and procedures for establishing a sales e-commerce website? To clarify the aforementioned issues, the following article will discuss relevant regulations.
What is a sales e-commerce website?
Pursuant to Article 25.1 of Decree 52/2013/ND-CP (which is amended and supplemented by Article 1.7 of Decree 85/2021/ND-CP), sales e-commerce websites are e-commerce websites that are established by traders, organizations or individuals to serve their trade promotion, sale of goods or provision of services. Decree 52/2013/ND-CP also stipulates: “E-commerce website (below referred to as website) is an electronic information page set up to serve part or the whole of the process of buying and selling goods or providing services, from displaying and introducing goods or services to concluding contracts, providing services, making payment and providing after-sales services”. Hence, a sales e-commerce website is an electronic information page set up by traders, organizations or individuals to serve their trade promotion activity, sale of goods or provision of services.
Most businesses now have their own sales e-commerce website to serve their customers’ online shopping needs. Until early April of 2023, the number of sales e-commerce websites on the E-Commerce Management Portal of the Ministry of Industry and Trade had reached up to 43.000 websites. FPTshop, thegioididong, CellphoneS, etc. are popular sales e-commerce websites that fall into this category.
How do Vietnam laws govern the conditions and procedures for setting up a sales e-commerce website?
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Conditions for setting up sales e-commerce websites
According to Article 52 Decree 52/2013/ND-CP (which is amended and supplemented by Article 10.1 and 11 Decree 08/2018/ND-CP), traders, organizations or individuals may set up sales e-commerce websites if satisfying the following 02 conditions:
- being traders, organizations or individuals have been granted personal tax identification numbers;
- having notified the Ministry of Industry and Trade of the set-up of sales e-commerce websites.
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Procedures for notification of set-up of sales e-commerce websites
Article 53.1 of Decree 52/2013/ND-CP (which is amended and supplemented by Article 1.18 of Decree 85/2021/ND-CP) stipulates that traders, organizations or individuals who set up sales e-commerce websites shall notify such to the Ministry of Industry and Trade through online notification tools on the E-Commerce Management Portal.
The notification process will follow Article 9 of Circular 47/2014/TT-BCT or according to instructions on the E-Commerce Management Portal of the Ministry of Industry and Trade. Then, notifications of sales e-commerce websites shall be received and processed online by the Ministry of Industry and Trade on the e-commerce management portal at www.online.gov.vn. Every trader, organization or individual setting up sales e-commerce website shall access to the E-commerce Management Portal and execute the following steps:
Step 1: Traders, organizations or individuals shall register for access account to the system by providing the following information:
– Name of the trader, organization or individual;
– Business registration numbers of traders or establishment decision numbers of organizations, or personnel tax codes of individuals;
– Business/Operation sector;
– Head office address of traders and organizations or permanent residential address of individuals;
– Contact information.
Step 2: Within 03 working days, traders, organizations or individuals shall receive results from the Ministry of Industry and Trade via registered emails regarding one of the following subject matters:
– If registration information for an account is adequate, traders, organizations or individuals shall be granted an account and proceed Step 3;
– If registration is rejected or additional information is required, traders, organizations or individuals should carry out the registration again or provide additional information as requested.
Step 3: After being granted an account for access to the system, traders, organizations and individuals shall log in, select Notification of e-commerce websites and declare information as instructed.
Step 4: Within a period of 03 working days, traders, organizations or individuals shall receive responses from the Ministry of Industry and Trade via registered emails regarding one of the following subject matters:
– Confirmation that the declared information is adequate and eligible;
– Notification that the declared information is inadequate or invalid. In this case, traders, organizations or individuals should return to Step 3 for declaration again or provide additional information as requested.
Please note that traders, organizations or individuals shall be responsible for following up the handling progress of the documents via emails or granted system account to carry out updating and revising the information as requested. Within a period of 10 working days since receipt of request for additional information in Step 4 as prescribed in Clause 2 of this Article, if traders, organizations and individuals receive no responses, the notification application shall be terminated and must return to Step 3 for re-declaration.
After executing 4 steps above, the Ministry of Industry and Trade will confirm the notifications within 03 working days since receipt of adequate and valid notification dossiers sent by traders, organizations or individuals. Upon confirmation of notification, the Ministry of Industry and Trade shall send to traders, organizations, or individuals via the registered email a code segment for insertion into the sale e-commerce website and displaying as a “Notified” sign. Upon clicking into this sign, users shall be led to respective notification information about traders, organizations, or individuals on the E-commerce Management Portal (pursuant to Article 10 of Circular 47/2014/TT-BCT).
“Notified” sign by the Ministry of Industry and Trade
On the other hand, e-commerce websites that have both sales and e-commerce service functions shall not carry out notification procedures but must register with the Ministry of Industry and Trade according to regulations instead.
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Adjustment and termination of notified information
In case there is a change to the information, or the notified website is suspended, the traders, organizations or individuals shall send a written notice to the Ministry of Industry and Trade within 07 working days since such adjustment or termination of the website takes place (pursuant to Article 11.1 of Circular 47/2014/TT-BCT). The adjustment or termination of the notified information shall be done online via the system access account registered on the E-commerce Management Portal. Within 03 working days from the date of receipt of a complete and accurate notification, the Ministry of Industry and Trade will confirm the adjustment or termination of the notified information.
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Regular updating of notification
Pursuant to Article 12 of Circular 47/2014/TT-BCT, traders, organizations and individuals are responsible for updating notification by accessing the E-commerce Management Portal and filling in the forms as instructed once a year since the receipt of confirmation of notification.
Within 10 days since the obligations to update information are performed, if traders, organizations or individuals fail to do the updating, the Ministry of Industry and Trade shall issue a written warning via the account registered by traders, organizations and individuals on the E-commerce Management Portal. Within 15 days since dispatch of the written warning, if such trader, organization or individual fails to respond, the Ministry of Industry and Trade shall revoke the notified information on the E-commerce Management Portal.