The 2005 Law on Electronic Transactions, together with later related Laws, has created a relatively clear and transparent legal corridor for e-commerce activities.
However, in the context of deep integration as today, the development of e-commerce requires a new legal framework to ensure fair competition, contributing to the strong development of the digital economy.
Create consumer habits for people
Since 2005, development e-commerce is considered a consistent policy of the Vietnamese Government. Accordingly, the policy and legal framework for e-commerce has been formed, and many activities supporting e-commerce have also begun to flourish. In particular, the Law on Information Technology issued in 2006 together with the Law on Electronic Transactions in 2005 have become the legal framework for e-transactions in general and e-commerce in particular.
According to the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the 2005 Law on Electronic Transactions lays the basic legal foundation for electronic transactions in society by recognizing the legal value of data messages; at the same time, it provides quite detailed regulations on electronic signatures - a factor that ensures the reliability of data messages when conducting transactions.
If the Law on Electronic Transactions focuses on regulating the legal aspects of electronic transactions, the Law on Information Technology mainly regulates the application and development of information technology along with measures to ensure policies and infrastructure for these activities.
In addition to legal documents, the Government and competent authorities also issued many sub-law documents to provide specific guidance and manage transactions and activities related to e-commerce. The most important of these are Decree No. 52/2013/ND-CP on e-commerce, replacing Decree 57/2006/ND-CP of the Government and Decree 85/2021/ND-CP amending and supplementing a number of articles of Decree No. 52/2013/ND-CP.
According to the Ministry of Industry and Trade, Decree No. 52/2013/ND-CP basically plays an important role in the development of the economy in general, the consumer society and the e-commerce industry in particular during this period. This is a document that promotes the development of e-commerce, basically creating a transparent environment for the online shopping market, contributing to creating modern consumption and shopping habits of the people.
The bright spot in this period is the growth rate in the scale of the B2C e-commerce market, with online retail revenue in 2021 reaching 13.7 billion USD, an increase of nearly 7 times compared to the time before the Decree was issued (in the period 2012-2013, B2C e-commerce revenue was only approximately 2 billion USD).
Compared to the total retail sales of goods and consumer service revenue nationwide, Vietnam's B2C e-commerce revenue in 2021 accounted for about 7%. With that growth rate, during this period, Vietnam is the country with the most dynamically developing e-commerce market in the Southeast Asian region.
In addition, the legal infrastructure for e-commerce has also been improved with specific regulations to more effectively manage online activities... Thanks to that, the e-commerce market has developed more and more strongly. As a result, the scale of the Vietnamese B2C e-commerce retail market has grown rapidly from 2.97 billion USD in 2014 to more than 25 billion USD in 2024.
The e-commerce market is an attractive investment destination for many foreign investors, helping Vietnamese consumers become global consumers with access to both domestic and international products. Vietnamese small and medium enterprises have taken advantage of modern platforms to develop distribution channels for their goods and products.
In particular, from 2023 - an important milestone year with the National Assembly passing the Law on Electronic Transactions (amended) and the Law on Protection of Consumer Rights (amended). These laws for the first time provide clear regulations on specific business models in the cyberspace environment, such as digital platforms and intermediary platforms. " These regulations not only enhance transparency in management but also increase the responsibility of related parties, while strengthening the protection of consumer rights against risks in online transactions ," the Ministry of Industry and Trade said.
There are gaps
Although a clear legal corridor has been created, the rapid development of science and technology, the emergence of many new business models, diverse in terms of subjects, complex in nature and from the practice of state management in the field of e-commerce... have led to policies and regulations on e-commerce revealing limitations, especially in the management of e-commerce activities on specific models of cross-border e-commerce.
The Ministry of Industry and Trade believes that, in essence, the provisions of Decree 52/2013/ND-CP and Decree 85/2021/ND-CP have covered the regulations on e-commerce with foreign elements; however, there are no strong enough binding sanctions for cross-border platforms that do not have a presence in Vietnam; there are no regulations on coordination between relevant state management agencies such as customs, tax, and market management during the implementation process; there are no regulations on coordination in managing and supervising the quality of goods, managing digital payments, or ecosystems supporting cross-border e-commerce.
On the other hand, the mechanism of decentralization and delegation of authority in managing e-commerce between central and local agencies in carrying out licensing, registration and notification procedures in e-commerce in the decrees has no regulations.
In addition, some localities have encountered difficulties in managing and monitoring e-commerce activities in the province, leading to a lack of local participation in the development and management of e-commerce activities. Meanwhile, decentralization and delegation of power in state management is also a long-term policy and orientation of the Government in Resolution No. 04/NQ-CP on promoting decentralization and delegation of power in state management.
In addition, there are no specific regulations on the responsibilities of intermediary service providers supporting e-commerce activities. This leads to a lack of management and supervision of the intermediary model. “ Without clear regulations on the responsibilities of intermediary service providers, organizations providing infrastructure and e-commerce support services may not fully comply with regulations on security, service quality and consumer rights protection. This may lead to an unsafe trading environment, making it difficult for consumers and businesses to participate in e-commerce activities …”, the Ministry of Industry and Trade affirmed.
Regarding this issue, sharing at the conference on cross-border e-commerce development, Ms. Le Hoang Oanh - Director of the Department Department of E-commerce and Digital Economy (Ministry of Industry and Trade) also mentioned the difficulties and challenges in protecting consumer rights; protecting domestic enterprises from competition from foreign goods through e-commerce...
At the same time, it is said that in the coming time, the Ministry of Industry and Trade and the Department of E-commerce and Digital Economy will complete the legal framework for cross-border e-commerce such as developing specialized laws on e-commerce or decrees and legal documents to manage import and export activities via e-commerce...
According to Mr. Nguyen Minh Duc - Legal Department, Vietnam Federation of Commerce and Industry: In the current context, e-commerce in Vietnam has been formed and developed for quite a long time, with many problems arising, many business models and operating methods have become relatively clear. Therefore, this is a relatively suitable time to build a law with the authority of the National Assembly to manage e-commerce issues.
Once again, the Ministry of Industry and Trade said that the development of a specialized law on e-commerce is an urgent requirement. Because in the current context, it is necessary to harmonize, unify, comprehensively and stably the legal system on e-commerce; it is necessary to complete regulations on new e-commerce models that have not been separately regulated; it is necessary to strengthen management and supervision in the field of e-commerce; it is necessary to strengthen management of cross-border e-commerce activities; as well as it is necessary to promote administrative procedure reform, decentralization and delegation of power to localities in the field of e-commerce.
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