Vietnam issues the Draft Law on E-Transactions for public comments

Currently, the Vietnam Ministry of Information and Communications is developing a Draft Law on Electronic Transactions. The Draft Law on E-Transactions is at the moment open for public comments. The comments will be taken into account and the Draft Law will be amended accordingly if needed. 

The Draft Law will change regulations on: 

• the scope applies to all electronic transactions arising in social life; 
• form of creation, transformation, and legal value of data messages;
• electronic certificates; 
• electronic Signature; 
• legal validity of electronic documents; 
• classification and process of entering into electronic contracts; 
• reliable services and support services for electronic transactions; 
• obligations of digital platforms; 
• digital service management;
• … 

It is expected that the document will affect all organizations and businesses that have activities related to electronic transactions.

The Draft Law on E-Transactions

In order to meet the demands of Vietnam’s rapid development of the digital economy, Vietnam has updated the Law on E-Transaction 2005 with the Draft Law on E-Transactions 2022.

This Draft Law includes amendments and supplements to provisions on digital signatures, digital identity, e-contracts, and even new regulations specific to digital platforms. 

One new change is that with the Draft Law, digital platforms are classified clearly, including Intermediary Digital Platforms, Social Network/Online Communication Network Platforms, Online Search Platforms, Application Store Platforms, Online Advertising Platforms, E-Commerce Trading Floors, Cloud Computing Platforms, etc.

Key changes in the Draft Law

Some of the most important key changes in the Draft Law are:

Privacy obligations of digital platform providers

All digital platform providers must now:

• publish terms of service and privacy policies;
• provide tools/mechanisms for users to report issues concerning violating content or quality of goods and services;
• remove information that violates the law; and
• protect users’ privacy.

Liabilities of digital platform providers

The digital platform providers will not have to take liabilities for the violation contents on their platform if they are unaware of such violation/illegal content and, relating to a claim for damages, unaware of the circumstance from which such violation has been committed/illegal content is clear.

If they are indeed aware of such violations, they would not have to take responsibility if they have taken necessary measures to remove/shut down that violation actions. 

However, it should be noted that for the following circumstances, the exemption of liabilities will not be approved: 

• users have taken actions under the digital platform provider’s control; 
• Misconception by the consumer and the merchant user that makes other consumers believe the goods/services are provided by the platform itself; 
• Misconception by the consumer and the merchant user makes other consumers believe that the merchant user is under the control and management of the digital platform.

Data protection obligations

To further tighten the responsibilities of digital platforms, the Draft Law has stated the responsibilities of digital platforms in Vietnam, including: 

• provide data to competent authorities upon request;
• provide users with the accessibility to the data they generate on the digital platform;
• publish information on the users’ data collection and generation; and
• provide support if users wish to transfer their data to another data processing platform.

*** Other Articles***

– You could visit here to see the Trademark Registration in Vietnam.

– You can also check the Vietnam Trademark Law: Detailed Guide And Legal Notes.

– You could check Questions of filing trademark in Vietnam: POA, Trademark requirement and trademark fee in Vietnam.

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