Recently, state management activities in the field of e-commerce have been stipulated in Decree No. 52 and Decree No. 85 (Decree No. 85/2021/ND-CP of the Government on amending and supplementing a number of articles of Decree No. 52/2013/ND-CP on e-commerce).
Meanwhile, e-commerce in our country is developing very quickly, with a growth rate of 20 - 25% per year, accounting for about 10% of total retail sales of goods.
Many new business models have appeared, diverse in form and complex in nature - such as livestream sales and affiliate marketing activities, posing great challenges for tax management, consumer protection, personal data protection, as well as controlling counterfeit, banned and poor quality goods.
In particular, cross-border e-commerce still has many shortcomings in controlling the quality of goods, protecting domestic production and consumer rights.
Therefore, the development of the E-commerce Law project to comprehensively regulate this field, contributing to protecting the rights of participants, promoting innovation, and creating momentum for Vietnam to develop the digital economy.
Accordingly, the draft Law consists of 8 chapters and 50 articles. The draft Law has comprehensively supplemented regulations on 8 contents.
Typically, legal positioning of e-commerce models, enhancing platform responsibility in reviewing, recovering violating products and protecting consumers.
Expand responsibility towards social networks, multi-service integrated platforms, ensure healthy competition; regulate the identification of domestic and foreign sellers, information transparency...
In particular, the draft Law stipulates to limit the responsibilities of entities operating livestream and affiliate marketing; requiring foreign platforms to have legal entities or legal representatives in Vietnam to fulfill tax obligations and protect consumers.
Add responsibility to e-commerce support service providers, and a mechanism for quick response when detecting violations.
Mr. Tran Van Hien - Head of the Training Department - Vietnam Association of Small and Medium Enterprises - suggested that it is necessary to add a new clause stipulating that the owner of an e-commerce platform must ensure that organizations and individuals selling goods have the right to access, manage and exploit customer data information arising from transactions on the platform, in accordance with the law on information data protection.
Some opinions suggested adding a regulation that e-commerce platform owners are responsible for information security, preventing the purchase, sale, exchange, and transfer of Vietnamese consumer data information; protecting national interests and maintaining equal competition.
At the same time, supplement regulations on applying sanctions to suppliers of counterfeit, fake or poor quality goods that affect consumer rights.
When receiving complaints from consumers about counterfeit, fake or poor quality products, suppliers are responsible for compensation and refunds to consumers.
