License of registration for setting up e-commerce service provision websites in Vietnam

Traders or organizations providing e-commerce services, setting up websites to provide an environment for other traders, organizations and individuals to conduct trade promotion activities, sell goods or provide services must carry out the procedure of “Registering an e-commerce website”. Procedures for registering an e-commerce website are carried out as follows.

Legal basis

• Decree 52/2013/ND-CP, amended and supplemented by Decree 85/2021/ND-CP on e-commerce;
• Circular 47/2014/TT-BTC regulating the management of e-commerce websites.

Popular types of e-commerce websites must undergo registration procedures

• E-commerce trading floor;
• Online promotional website;
• Online auction website.

Conditions for registering an e-commerce website

Traders and organizations must be established in accordance with law

• For enterprises that have been granted Enterprise Registration Certificate;

Therefore, applicant need to complete enterprise registration procedure as presented by articles Set up foreign-invested e-commerce service company in Vietnam or Establish foreign-invested e-commerce service company in Vietnam of Viet An Law.

• For other organizations that are granted establishment decisions and have tax identification numbers.

Having a service provision plan clearly stating the followings:

• Model of organization and operation, including service provision, service promotion and marketing both online and offline; logistics services.
• Rights and responsibilities of the trader or organization providing e-commerce services and service users.

Regulations on operation management of the e-commerce service website in compliance with relevant laws

To meet this criterion, traders need to develop and publicly announce on the website the operating regulations of the e-commerce trading floor; monitor and ensure the implementation of that regulation on the e-commerce trading floor, including the following contents:

• Rights and obligations of traders and organizations providing e-commerce trading floor services;
• Rights and obligations of users of e-commerce trading floor services;
• Describe the transaction process for each type of transaction that can be conducted on the e-commerce trading floor;
• Review activities and handling competence of traders and organizations providing e-commerce trading floor services when detecting illegal business acts on the trading floor;
• Rights and obligations of the parties in transactions performed on the e-commerce trading floor;
• Limiting the liability of traders and organizations providing e-commerce trading floor services in transactions performed on the floor;
• Regulations on information security and information management on e-commerce trading floors;
• Mechanism to settle complaints and disputes between parties related to transactions conducted on the e-commerce trading floor;
• Policy on protection of personal information of users of e-commerce trading floor services;
• Measures to deal with acts of infringing on the interests of consumers on the e-commerce trading floor;
• Measures to handle violations for those who do not comply with the operating regulations of the e-commerce trading floor.

Information of sellers on e-commerce websites

• Name and address of the head office of the trader or organization or the name and permanent address of the individual.
• Number, date and place of issue of the Enterprise Registration Certificate of the trader, or the number, date of issue and the unit issuing the establishment decision of the organization, or the personal tax identification number of the individual.
• Phone number or another online contact method.

Establish a mechanism to allow traders, organizations and individuals participating in e-commerce websites to perform the process of entering into contracts if the website has an online ordering function, specifically:

• Notice inviting proposal to enter into contract;
• Provide the terms of the contract when using the online ordering function on the e-commerce website;
• Offer to enter into a contract;
• Review and confirm contract content;
• Respond to the proposal for entering into a contract;
• Termination of an offer to enter into a contract;
• Time to enter into a contract when using the online ordering function on the e-commerce website;
• Contract termination procedures for e-commerce service contracts and other online services;
• Signing a contract on an e-commerce website for purchase.

Store personal information of subjects participating in e-commerce websites, including:

• Purpose of collecting personal information;
• Scope of information use;
• Information storage time;
• Persons or organizations that may have access to such information;
• The address of the information collection and management unit, including the contact method so that the consumer can inquire about the collection and processing of information related to him/her;
• Methods and tools for consumers to access and edit their personal data on the e-commerce system of the information collecting unit.
• Mechanism for receiving and resolving consumer complaints related to the misuse of personal information or the reported scope.

Notes on storing personal information of subjects participating in e-commerce websites: 

• This policy must be clearly visible to the user of the service before or at the time of information collection.

Publicly announce the mechanism to settle disputes arising in the course of transactions on e-commerce websites. When a customer on an e-commerce website has a conflict with a seller or suffers damage to his/her legitimate interests, they must provide customers with information about the seller, actively support customers to protect their legitimate rights and interests. his law.

Display full information about the owner of the e-commerce website (usually in the footer of the homepage), including:

• Unit name, address, phone, email;
• Enterprise Registration Certificate number, date of issue, place of issue.

Dossier to register for an e-commerce website

• An application for registration for setting up an e-commerce service website;
• Copy extracted from master register or certified true copy or copy presented with its original for verification purpose of the establishment decision (of the organization) or the electronic copy from master register or electronic certified true copy; business registration certificate or enterprise registration certificate (of trader), business license (of foreign investor or foreign-invested business entity);
• The service provision plan with the contents mentioned in the above section.
• Regulations on operation management of the e-commerce service website, including the above mentioned contents.
• Model service provision contract and general trading conditions, if any;
• Other documents prescribed by the Ministry of Industry and Trade in some special cases.

Some notes when preparing an e-commerce website registration dossier

Language used on e-commerce website

Owner must use Vietnamese language for e-commerce website.

Providing e-commerce trading floor services and online promotion services on the same e-commerce website

In this case, the trader or service-providing organization must fully declare the contents of the service provided in the same registration dossier, including 2 contents: E-commerce trading floor and Online promotion service line.

Providing services on e-commerce websites is a conditional business

Traders and organizations providing services on e-commerce websites are conditional business lines that need a sub-license granted by a competent authority to conduct such business before registering. .

For example: Labor supply industry, job brokerage; Social network…

The application is submitted online, so it must be in the following formats: jpg, png, jpeg, doc, docx, pdf, rar, zip, xls, xlsx.

The agency that receives the application for registration of an e-commerce website

• The receipt and processing of dossiers of notification of e-commerce websites are carried out online by the Ministry of Industry and Trade (the Department of E-Commerce and Digital Economy) at the e-commerce management portal at www.online.gov.vn

Procedure for registering an e-commerce service provision website

The receipt and processing of application for registration of an e-commerce service provision website is carried out by the Ministry of Industry and Trade online at the e-commerce management portal at online.gov.vn. To declare a profile and issue an e-commerce trading floor license, enterprises access the e-commerce management portal and take the following steps:

Step 1: Enterprises register for an account and log into the system at website www.online.gov.vn by providing the following information:

• Company’s name;
• Enterprise registration number;
• Line of business/activity;
• Address of the head office of the enterprise;
• Contact information.

Step 2: Within 3 working days, enterprises receive results from the Ministry of Industry and Trade via registered email address on one of the following contents:

• If the account registration information is complete, the enterprise is granted an account to log in to the system and proceed to Step 3;
• If the account registration is denied or additional information is required, the enterprise must re-register or supplement information as required.

Step 3: After being granted an account to log in to the system, the enterprise logs in, selects the function of Registering an e-commerce service provider website, declares information according to the form and attaches the registration dossier.

Step 4: Within 7 working days, enterprises receive feedback from the Ministry of Industry and Trade via registered email address about one of the following contents:

• Confirm the complete and valid registration dossier and request the enterprise to continue with Step 5;
• Notify invalid registration documents or request additional information. The enterprise then returns to Step 3 to re-declare or supplement information and records as required.

Step 5: After receiving the notification confirming that the application is complete and valid, the enterprise sends to the Ministry of Industry and Trade (the Department of E-Commerce and Information Technology) a complete set of registration documents (paper copy).

Enterprises are responsible for monitoring the status of processing records via email or the system access account has been granted to update and correct information as required.

Within 30 working days from the date of receipt of the notice requesting additional information in Step 4, if the enterprise has no response, the registration dossier on the system will be terminated and the enterprise must proceed with the registration process. re-sign from scratch.

Notes when submitting the paper registration application:

• Paper documents submitted to the Ministry of Industry and Trade must match documents and information declared online via the system access account.

Step 6: Confirm the registration, the Ministry of Industry and Trade will send traders and organizations via registered email a code to attach to the website providing e-commerce services, shown as the registration icon. sign. When selecting this icon, the user is directed to the corresponding registration information of the trader or organization at the e-commerce management portal.

Thus, the time limit for registering to set up a valid e-commerce service website is 15-20 working days.

Some questions of traders and organizations when registering an e-commerce website

I am an individual who has been granted a personal tax code, can I register for an e-commerce website?

Individuals who are granted a personal tax code do not meet the conditions for registering an e-commerce website. In order to provide e-commerce services, the owner must be an enterprise or other organization with legal person status and fully meet the conditions on technical facilities and personnel to manage the website’s operation. .

What is the difference between the procedure for registering an e-commerce website and noticing e-commerce website?

The procedure of “Registration for an e-commerce website” applies to cases where traders and organizations create websites for the purpose of creating an environment for other individuals and organizations to access their websites to sell goods, services, and perform trade promotion activities. Thereby, e-commerce service provision website is the center facilitor which attending and affecting connection among 3 parties: Website’s ower – Buyer – Seller

The procedure “Notify e-commerce website” applies to cases where traders, organizations and individuals create websites for the purpose of selling goods and services, and carrying out their own trade promotion activities. Thereby, it can be seen that this is the type of connection between the two parties: Website’s ower – Buyer.

For your further information, please refer to the article: Conditions for setting up a sales e-commerce website in Vietnam to understand about annoucement of sales e-commerce website.

After being granted the “Registered” confirmation, what obligations does the website owner need to perform?

Before January 15 of each year, traders and organizations providing e-commerce services shall provide the Ministry of Industry and Trade with statistical reports on their operations in the preceding year.

The reporting is done online through the account of the trader or organization at the e-commerce management portal or in the form of a document by post.

When setting up an e-commerce website, is the owner obliged to manage the products and services that the seller provides on the website?

The owner of an e-commerce website is obliged to manage the products and services that the seller provides on the website, list the list of prohibited products and services on the website’s operating regulations. The seller is obliged to comply with the operating regulations, if violations will be handled in accordance with the law.

E-commerce website registration service of Viet An Law Firm

• Advising on conditions for carrying out registration procedures for e-commerce websites;
• Advice on procedures to register for an e-commerce website;
• Advising customers to prepare documents in accordance with the provisions of the E-commerce law related to the registration procedures for e-commerce websites;
• Consulting on drafting all documents for registration of e-commerce website;
• Carry out the procedures for registering a sales website with the Ministry of Industry and Trade.

Individuals and organizations that need advice to carry out the procedures for registering an e-commerce website with the Ministry of Industry and Trade, please contact  Viet An Law Firm  for advice and support for legal services to operate. act quickly, safely and legally.