That is the assessment of Lawyer Tran Tuan Anh - Director of Bright Legal Law Firm - on the new regulations of the Law on E-commerce.
The Law on E-commerce clearly stipulates the responsibilities of e-commerce platforms and the responsibilities of sellers. How do you evaluate this regulation?
- Previously, when there were disputes or problems with goods purchased on e-commerce platforms, consumers often had difficulty determining the responsibilities of the parties. E-commerce platforms will often "ignore" their responsibility related to the legality of goods with the reason that they are only intermediaries connecting.
Currently, according to the provisions of Article 22 of the Law on e-commerce, the platform is no longer an "outside party" but must take more clear responsibility for content management, seller authentication, complaint handling and coordination with competent authorities. This helps prevent "empty spaces" in responsibility, especially in potentially risky activities such as livestream sales.
The seller must also be responsible for providing honest information about documents proving the origin and quality of the product, as well as confirming the advertising content when required. At this time, the responsibility of the e-commerce platform is to censor and authenticate information provided by the seller.
The new E-commerce Law creates more favorable conditions for consumers when encountering problems such as: Goods that are not as described (The seller must be responsible for the information provided); counterfeit goods, poor quality goods (responsibilities of both the seller and the platform in censoring and preventing violating goods); false advertising...
For foreign platforms, the Law on E-commerce requires authorized or legal representatives in Vietnam. What is the advantage of this?
- The regulation that the platform must have a representative/ focal point is a conditional "open- door" mechanism, allowing foreign platforms to operate in the Vietnamese market, but must comply with the rules on content management, consumer protection and full tax obligations.
Foreign platforms that have been operating without official registration will not be able to operate cross-border without a clear contact point in Vietnam. Thus, monitoring and comparing revenue and profit to determine tax obligations becomes more transparent and feasible, avoiding these platforms recording revenue abroad to avoid domestic tax obligations.
For the Law to come into life and be effective, how does it require synchronous preparation from the State, businesses and consumers, sir?
- The Law on E-commerce takes effect from July 1, 2026, and there will be a period of time for relevant parties to prepare.
On the State side, management agencies must ensure feasibility and avoid overlap. The State needs to build a detailed legal framework, modern monitoring infrastructure, capable of monitoring cross-border transactions, detecting counterfeit goods and managing risks based on data (post-inspection). Strengthen training of management and inspection staff on new digital business models (transaction platforms, business networks, livestream).
For e-commerce platforms and sellers, it is necessary to fully comply with new obligations, creating a competitive advantage from transparency. Enterprises need to review the entire operating system such as: Service regulations, personal data protection policies and seller management processes, updating operating mechanisms to comply with new transparency requirements...
On the consumer side, it is necessary to clearly understand their rights, including the right to personal data protection, the right to request information transparency and the complaint/compensation process.
