Today, with the development of science and technology, sales are made more and more popular in the e-commerce environment. Business units are increasingly shifting the trend of sales and communication to online sales. However, not all business units fully understand the legal issues of selling goods online (hereinafter referred to as e-commerce).
Therefore, this article of ours will briefly mention the legal provisions on e-commerce.
1. What is an e-commerce website?
Pursuant to the provisions in Clause 8 Article 3 of Decree 52/2013/ND-CP dated May 16, 2013 on e-commerce websites, then: “E-commerce website (hereinafter referred to as website) is an information page Electronic equipment is set up to serve part or all of the process of buying and selling goods or providing services, from displaying and introducing goods and services to entering into contracts, providing services, making payment. accounting and after-sales service”.
All traders, organizations and individuals must notify and register with the Ministry of Industry and Trade about e-commerce websites set up by traders, organizations and individuals themselves.
2. When setting up an e-commerce website, do I need to get permission from a state agency?
In the case of being the owner of an e-commerce website, the trader, organization or individual must notify and register with the Ministry of Industry and Trade and carry out a number of procedures in accordance with regulations on management of e-commerce websites. e-commerce to avoid administrative penalties. Specifically, traders, organizations and individuals that own sales e-commerce websites are responsible for notifying sales e-commerce websites set up by traders, organizations and individuals themselves to serve their activities. trade promotion, sale of its goods or provision of services. For traders and organizations, registration must be carried out with the Ministry of Industry and Trade if such traders or organizations set up a website to provide e-commerce services about e-commerce trading floor services, e-commerce trading services. Online promotion, online auction service.
- Sanctions without permission:
If they fail to carry out the notification and registration procedures according to the above provisions, traders, organizations and individuals will be administratively sanctioned according to regulations on sanctioning of administrative violations in commercial activities, production, trade in counterfeit and banned goods and protect consumers’ interests. Specifically, according to Clauses 1, 2, 3, 4, Article 62 of Decree 98/2020/ND-CP stipulating penalties for administrative violations in commercial activities, production and trading of counterfeit and banned goods and insurance. protect the interests of consumers; if violating, they will be fined from 1,000,000 VND to 30,000,000 VND. In addition, if the trader, organization or individual commits the violation many times or repeats the violation, the state agency will have an additional penalty of suspending e-commerce activities according to Clause 5, Article 62 of the Decree above.
3. What to do to avoid being processed?
Currently, the process of notifying and registering an e-commerce website is very simple and does not take much time; Traders, organizations and individuals only need to register online at the e-commerce management portal at www.online.gov.vn.
The process of announcing sales e-commerce website:
According to the provisions of Article 9 of Circular 47/2014/TT-BCT regulating the management of e-commerce websites, the process of announcing sales e-commerce websites is as follows:
- The receipt and processing of sales e-commerce website announcements is done online by the Ministry of Industry and Trade at the e-commerce management portal at www.online.gov.vn.
- Traders, organizations and individuals setting up sales e-commerce websites access the e-commerce management portal and take the following steps:
Step 1: Traders, organizations and individuals register for an account and log into the system by providing the following information:
+ Name of the trader, organization or individual;
+ The trader’s business registration number or the organization’s establishment decision number or the individual’s tax identification number;
+ Area of business/activity;
+ Address of the head office of the trader, organization or permanent address of the individual;
+ Contact information.
Step 2: Within 3 working days, traders, organizations and individuals receive results from the Ministry of Industry and Trade via registered email addresses about one of the following:
+ If the account registration information is complete, the trader, organization or individual is granted an account to log in to the system and proceed to Step 3;
+ If account registration is denied or additional requirements are required, traders, organizations and individuals must re-register or supplement information as required.
Step 3: After being granted an account to log in to the system, traders, organizations and individuals log in, select the function Notify sales e-commerce website and declare information according to the form.
Note: Traders and organizations that own sales e-commerce websites need to provide all the information specified in Articles 29 to 34 of Decree 52/2013/ND-CP dated May 16, 2013 on e-commerce website on the homepage of the website, specifically:
+ Article 29. Information about website owners
+ Article 30. Information about goods and services
+ Article 31. Price information
+ Article 32. Information on general trading conditions
+ Article 33. Information on transportation and forwarding
+ Article 34. Information on payment methods
(*) For conditional business lines, it is necessary to provide relevant legal documents.
(*) For websites that collect personal information of customers, there must be a Privacy Policy of customer personal information. It is regulated from Article 68 – Article 73 of Decree No. 52/2013/ND-CP dated May 16, 2013 on e-commerce websites.
+ Article 68. Consumer’s responsibility to protect personal information
+ Article 69. Consumer’s personal information protection policy
+ Article 70. Obtaining permission from consumers when collecting information
+ Article 71. Use of personal information
+ Article 72. Assurance of personal information safety and security
+ Article 73. Checking, updating and adjusting personal information
(*) For websites providing online ordering function, there must be a mechanism for customers to agree to general policies and regulations before signing a contract.
Step 4: Within 3 working days, traders, organizations and individuals receive feedback from the Ministry of Industry and Trade via registered email address about one of the following contents:
+ Confirm that the declared information is complete and valid;
+ Indicate incomplete or invalid declared information. At that time, traders, organizations and individuals must return to Step 3 to re-declare or supplement information as required.
- Traders, organizations and individuals are responsible for monitoring the status of application processing via email or the system access account has been granted in order to update and correct information as required.
- Within 10 working days after receiving the notice of request for additional information in Step 4 as prescribed in Clause 2, Article 9 of Circular 47/2014/TT-BCT above, if the trader, organization or individual If the individual does not respond, the notification will be terminated and the notice must be re-notified from Step 3.
After carrying out the registration procedure, the owner of the e-commerce website that sells the queue waits to confirm the notice from the Ministry of Industry and Trade:
- Time for notification confirmation: 03 working days from the date of receipt of complete and valid notification dossiers of traders, organizations and individuals.
- Upon confirmation of the notification, the Ministry of Industry and Trade will send traders, organizations and individuals through the registered email address a piece of code to attach to the sales e-commerce website, which will be displayed in the notification icon. newspaper. When selecting this icon, the user is directed to the corresponding notification information of traders, organizations and individuals at the e-commerce management portal.
If there is a change, terminate the notified information; Traders, organizations and individuals need to carry out the following procedures:
- In case there is a change in one of the information specified in Clause 2, Article 53 of the Decree No. 52/2013/ND-CP above, or the operation of the notified e-commerce website selling goods is stopped, the trader or organization Organizations and individuals must notify the Ministry of Industry and Trade within 7 working days from the date of change of information or cessation of operation.
- The change or termination of notification information about the sales e-commerce website is done online through the system access account that has been granted when the trader, organization or individual makes a notice in accordance with regulations. in Article 9 of Circular 47/2014/TT-BCT above.
- Time for confirmation of change or termination of notification information: 3 working days from the date of receipt of a complete and accurate notice sent by traders, organizations and individuals to the Ministry of Industry and Trade.
The process of registering a website providing e-commerce services
Traders and organizations need to prepare a full application for website registration for providing e-commerce services, including:
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Application form for website providing e-commerce services;
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A certified copy of the establishment decision (for organizations), business registration certificate, investment certificate or investment license (for traders);
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Scheme of service provision as prescribed in Clause 3, Article 54 of Decree No. 52/2013/ND-CP;
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Regulations on operation management of websites providing e-commerce services;
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Sample service contract or cooperation agreement between a trader or organization owning an e-commerce service provision website and a trader, organization or individual participating in the purchase and sale of goods and provision of services on that website;
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General trading conditions apply to the purchase and sale of goods and provision of services on the website (if any).
The registration of a website providing e-commerce services is also done online at the e-commerce management portal at www.online.gov.vn and the registration process is similar to the process. Announce e-commerce website sales. However, in step 4 of the registration process, the time limit for receiving a response from the Ministry of Industry and Trade is within 7 working days, if the registration dossier is confirmed to be complete and valid and requires traders and organizations to implement Next Step 5 is to submit a complete set of registration documents (paper copies); if the registration dossier is invalid or requires additional information, then the trader or organization will return to Step 3 to re-declare or supplement information and documents as required.
Legal regulations on e-commerce websites are very necessary and important for business units. The registration procedure is also very simple, so to avoid unfortunate consequences later, traders, organizations and individuals that own e-commerce websites need to notify/register with the Ministry of Industry and Trade.
If traders, organizations and individuals are still having difficulties with the procedures for registering an e-commerce website as well as want to have more questions answered, please contact us. DHP LAW will advise and answer issues related to E-commerce website in the best way.
For support and advice on Business, Intellectual Property, Other Licenses, etc., in the best way, please contact us with the following information:
DHP Law Firm
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