New rules govern e-commerce firms

January 05, 2014 | 19:28

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Enterprises and individuals operating electronic commerce businesses will be fined if they have not registered their businesses with the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT).

Products and services on offer on a website. E-commerce enterprises and individuals are now required to register their businesses with the Ministry of Industry and Trade. — VNS File Photo

According to Decree No 185 of the Government, which came into effect on January 1, 2014, unregistered firms and individuals will be fined VND10-100 million (US$475-4,760) and VND10-50 million ($475-2,380), respectively.

The penalties can also be applied in other cases, such as companies and individuals that do not report changes of information on their registered websites or who take advantage of their e-commerce business to illegally attract capital.

Along with payments, websites providing e-commerce services will be suspended from operating from six to 12 months. Management agencies are to confiscate evidence of violations, withdraw domain names ".vn", ask owners to resolve problems they caused and pay for illegal profits.

MoIT's Viet Nam E-commerce and Information Technology Agency reported that, currently, more than 200 e-commerce websites have registered their business operations and more than 100 websites providing e-commerce services have also registered.

However, there were still thousands of websites not completing their registrations. The agency will cooperate with other administrations to investigate and check firms and individuals working in e-commerce.

Websites to be investigated include those selling products and providing e-commerce services, such as e-commerce trading floors, online auction websites, online promotional websites and others regulated by MoIT.

VNS

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