E-commerce developments in Vietnam

Under a new decree, the Vietnam Government bans four kinds of e-commerce activities, to prevent fraud.  Decree 52/2013/ND-CP issued on May 16, applies to traders and organisations and individuals engaged in e-commerce activities in Vietnamese territory.

The 4 banned e-commerce activities include -
A. Operating a network for marketing e-commerce services in which each member must make an initial deposit for buying a service and receive a commission, prize or an economic benefit from recruiting a new member; taking advantage of e-commerce for trading in counterfeit goods or goods and services infringing upon intellectual property rights; and trading in goods or providing banned services.
B.  Violations of regulations on information in e-commerce websites such as using false registration information or failing to comply with regulations on forms and modes of posting registration information on e-commerce websites, etc.
C.  Violations of regulations on transactions on e-commerce websites, including deceiving customers on these websites and faking information about other traders, organisations and individuals to join e-commerce activities.
D.  Stealing, using, disclosing, transferring or selling business intelligence on other traders, organisations and individuals and individual consumer information which are provided through e-commerce activities without their consents, unless otherwise provided by law.

The Decree also separates services into e-commerce websites dealing direct with customers, and  e-commerce services to create an environments for others such as  e-commerce trading platforms.

Helping carefully define illegal activities will bring clarity to this area, as well as creating a new tool for IP holders to use against websites focused on dealing in counterfeit and pirated goods.