Conditions for establishing a social network company in Vietnam

What is a social network?

Social network is an information system that provides the community of network users with services of storing, providing, using, searching, sharing and exchanging information with each other, including services of creating personal websites, forums, online chat,  sharing audio, images and other similar forms of services.

Conditions for establishing a social network company in Vietnam

Conditions on business lines

An enterprise carrying out procedures for applying for a social network establishment license in the Certificate  of Business Registration (or buisness registration data on the National Business Registration Portal must have the following business line:

• Business line 6311: Data processing, leasing, and related activities
• Business line 6312: Portals (excluding journalism): Set up social networks.

In case the enterprise does not have the business line 6311 and the business line 6312, the enterprise must supplement the business line to be eligible to apply for a license to establish a social network.

Conditions for issuance of a Social Network Setup License in Vietnam

Enterprises can only set up social networks when they have a license to set up social networks.

An enterprise shall be granted a license to establish a social network when fully meeting the following conditions:

• Being an enterprise established under Vietnamese law with functions, tasks or business lines registration in accordance with the services and information provided posted on the National Business Registration Portal;
• Having organizations and personnel meeting the provisions of Decree 27/2018/ND-CP;
• Have registered a domain name used to establish a social network and meet the provisions of Article 23b of Decree 27/2018/ND-CP;
• Meet technical conditions as prescribed in Article 23c of Decree 27/2018/ND-CP;
• Take measures to ensure information security, information security and information management as prescribed in Article 23d of Decree 27/2018/ND-CP.

Organizational and personnel conditions for social network sites

Conditions on personnel responsible for managing information content

• At least 01 employee responsible for managing information content is a Vietnamese national or for foreigners with a temporary residence card issued by a competent agency valid for at least 06 months in Vietnam from the time of submission;
• There is an information content management department.

Conditions on personnel of the technical department

There is at least 01 information content management personnel and 01 technical management personnel.

Domain name conditions

• For organizations or enterprises that are not press agencies, the sequence of characters that make up the domain name must not be the same or identical to the name of the press agency.
• The social network uses at least 01 domain name “.vn” and stores information at the server system with an IP address in Vietnam.
• Social networks of the same organization or business must not use the same domain name with the same character range (including secondary domain names, for example, forum.vnn.vn, news.vnn.vn domain names with different character ranges).
• Domain names must comply with regulations on management and use of Internet resources. For international domain names, there must be confirmation of the use of a legal domain name.

Technical conditions for social networks

Establish technical equipment systems capable of meeting the following requirements:

• For social networks: Store at least 02 years for information about the account, login time, logout, IP address of the user and posted information processing log;
• Receive and handle warnings of infringement information from users;
• Detect, warn and prevent illegal access, forms of attacks in the network environment and comply with standards to ensure information security;
• Have a backup plan to ensure the maintenance of safe and continuous operation and remedy when incidents occur, except for force majeure cases as prescribed by law;
• Ensure that there must be at least 01 server system located in Vietnam, allowing at any time to meet the inspection, inspection, storage and provision of information on all websites and social networks owned by organizations or enterprises.

Conditions on the social network setup system

In addition to ensuring technical conditions, the technical system for setting up social networks must be able to meet the following requirements:

• Register and store members’ personal information, including: Full name; date, month, year of birth; ID card number/citizen identification card/passport, date of issue, place of issue; phone number and email address (if applicable). In case the Internet user is under 14 years old and does not have an identity card/citizen identification card/passport, the legal guardian shall decide on the registration of personal information of the guardian as prescribed at this point to show the permission and take responsibility before law for such registration;
• Authenticate service users through messages sent to phone numbers or email boxes when registering to use the service or changing personal information;
• Prevent or remove infringing information upon request from competent state management agencies;
• Set up a mechanism to warn members when posting information with spammy content (filters).

Conditions on management of information content for social networks

• Have an agreement to provide and use appropriate social network services in accordance with the regulations of the organizations providing information sources to ensure the legitimacy of the source and posted on the homepage of the social network;
• Ensure that users must agree to use social network services by online methods to be able to use social network services and utilities;
• Have a coordination mechanism to immediately remove content that violates Clause 1 Article 5 of Decree 27/2018/ND-CP no later than 03 hours after self-detection or at the request of the Ministry of Information and Communications or licensing agencies (in writing, phone, email);
• Take measures to protect the confidentiality of private information and personal information of users;
• Ensure the right of users to decide in allowing the collection of their personal information or providing it to other organizations, enterprises and individuals.

Procedures for establishing a social network company in Vietnam

Company establishment procedures

Step 1: Draft a dossier to establish a social network company

• Application for business registration;
• The company’s charter;
• List of founding members or shareholders;
• A valid copy of ID card/CCCD/passport of the owner, capital contributing members, founding shareholders, the legal representative of the enterprise and the authorized representative to submit the application (if any).
• In case the capital contribution is an organization, it is necessary to enclose the Establishment Decision/Business Registration Certificate or other equivalent document and a valid copy of the personal certificate of the representative authorized to manage the contributed capital.
• Investment registration certificate in case the enterprise is established by a foreign investor or a foreign-invested economic organization according to the provisions of the Law on Investment and implementation guiding documents.

Step 2: Submit the application for business establishment registration and pay the enterprise information disclosure fee

• A dossier of registration for establishment of a social network business company shall be submitted to the Business Registration Office through the National Business Registration Portal for content appraisal.
• Procedures for payment of fees for disclosure of business registration information will be carried out in parallel with the procedures for submitting enterprise establishment dossiers.
• If the dossier is invalid, the Business Registration Office will notify in writing clearly stating the reason and requirements to amend and supplement the dossier for the enterprise to know.
• If the application is valid, the enterprise will proceed to submit 01 set of documents (paper dossier) at the dossier receiving department at the Business Registration Office.
• After receiving the dossier (paper copy) of the enterprise, the Business Registration Office will issue an Enterprise Registration Certificate and publish business information on the National Business Registration Portal.

Step 3: Procedures after establishing a social network company

• Engraving of seals and publication of seal samples
• Sign up for a bank account
• Buy invoices
• Pay license fees and charges as prescribed

Procedures for applying for a Social Network Establishment License

Step 1: Prepare an application for a social network establishment license

A dossier of application for a license shall be made into 01 set, including:

• An application for a license to establish a social network according to Form No. 25 in Appendix I enclosed with Decree 27/2018/ND-CP;
• A valid copy includes a copy issued from the original book or a certified copy or a copy compared to the original of one of the documents: Certificate of Business Registration, Investment Registration Certificate, Establishment Decision (or a valid copy of the Certificate, other valid equivalent licenses issued before the effective date of the Law on Investment No. 67/2014/QH13 and the Law on Enterprises No. 68/2014/QH13); Operation charter (for associations and mass organizations).
• The establishment decision or operation charter must have functions and tasks suitable to the field of information exchanged on social network sites;
• The operation scheme shall be signed and sealed by the head of the organization or enterprise applying for a license, including the main contents: Types of services; scope; field of information exchange; plans for organizing personnel, technical, information management and finance in order to ensure the operation of social networks in accordance with legal regulations; information about the location of the server system in Vietnam;
• The agreement on provision and use of social network services must contain at least the following contents: Contents prohibited from exchanging and sharing on social networks; rights and responsibilities of users of social network services; rights and responsibilities of organizations and enterprises establishing social networks; handling mechanisms for members who violate the agreement on provision and use of social network services; warn users of risks when storing, exchanging and sharing information online; mechanism for settling complaints and disputes between members of social networks and organizations or enterprises establishing social networks or with other organizations and individuals; publicize whether or not to collect and process personal data of service users in the agreement on the provision and use of social network services; policies on protection of personal information and private information of users of social network services.

Step 2: Submit the application for a license

• An application for a permit shall be sent in person, by post or via the Internet.
• Competent agency to process dossiers: Ministry of Information and Communications (Department of Radio, Television and Electronic Information).

Step 3: Grant a Social Network Setup License

• Within 30 days after receiving a valid dossier, the Ministry of Information and Communications shall consider and grant a license according to Form No. 26 in Appendix I enclosed with Decree 27/2018/ND-CP.
• In case of refusal, the Ministry of Information and Communications shall issue a written response clearly stating the reason.

If you want to establish a social network company, please contact Viet An Law Firm for the fastest support!