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Foreign e-commerce platforms must set up an office or appoint representative in Vietnam

Foreign traders and foreign organizations having e-commerce activities in Vietnam must establish representative offices or appoint representatives according to Vietnam’s regulations.

This regulation is in the document of the Department of E-commerce and Digital Economy (Ministry of Industry and Trade) to foreign traders and foreign organizations having e-commerce activities in Vietnam about regulations of the management agency that have taken effect from 2022.

Decree 85 (issued in 2021) stipulates that foreign traders and foreign organizations that have websites providing e-commerce services in Vietnam must register for e-commerce activities and set up representative offices in Vietnam according to regulations or appoint their authorized representative in Vietnam.

To provide e-commerce services in Vietnam, foreign traders and organizations must carry out registration procedures with the Ministry of Industry and Trade within 12 months from the effective date of this Decree.

E-commerce is defined as a conditional market access industry for foreign investors. The definition includes foreign traders and foreign organizations that have websites providing e-commerce services in Vietnam, and using Vietnamese domain names; and websites with display language in Vietnamese or have 100,000 transactions from Vietnam/year.

Conditions for market access include: foreign investors must invest in a business providing e-commerce services in Vietnam in the form of establishing economic organizations or investing in the form of capital contribution, share purchase, or capital purchase. Foreign investors controlling one or more enterprises in the group of five leading enterprises in the e-commerce service market in Vietnam (according to the list announced by the Ministry of Industry and Trade) must have an appraisal opinion on national security from the Ministry of Public Security.

According to the new regulations in this Decree, from the beginning of 2022, Vietnamese e-commerce trading floors must be responsible for verifying the identities of foreign traders and organizations selling goods on their e-commerce trading floors.

Duy Vu

Source: https://vietnamnet.vn/en/foreign-e-commerce-platforms-must-set-up-an-office-or-appoint-representative-in-vietnam-2022194.html