Sale website notification service in Vietnam

E-commerce sales websites are online platforms established by merchants, organizations, or individuals to promote their commercial activities, sell goods, or provide services. With the rapid growth of e-commerce, the number of sales websites has significantly increased. However, a substantial number of websites have yet to comply with the mandatory notification requirements, thereby facing the risk of adverse legal consequences, directly affecting their business operations. Currently, the procedure for notifying a sales website has been streamlined and simplified, allowing merchants, organizations, and individuals to either complete the process directly or utilize third-party notification services. In the following article, Viet An Law will provide clients with detailed information about our comprehensive sale website notification service in Vietnam.

Why is it necessary to notify a sales website?

Currently, it is mandatory for merchants, organizations, or individuals engaged in business activities via a sales website to notify the Ministry of Industry and Trade of their e-commerce sales website. Complying with the sales website notification requirement brings certain benefits to businesses, including the following:

• Notifying a sales website helps build customer trust: When a website is notified, it serves as proof that the Ministry of Industry and Trade has confirmed that the goods and services on the website are legally compliant at the time of notification, following an information review process.
• Notifying a sales website enhances business credibility: Once the notification procedure is completed, sales websites are issued a logo that can be displayed on the website. This logo links to the Ministry of Industry and Trade’s portal, confirming the website’s successful notification.
• Notifying a sales website helps avoid adverse legal consequences: Under Clause 3 and Clause 4, Article 62 of Decree 98/2020/ND-CP, amended and supplemented by Clause 33, Article 3 of Decree 17/2022/ND-CP, failing to notify a sales website to the competent state authority before selling goods or providing services to consumers can result in fines ranging from VND 10,000,000 to VND 20,000,000.

Procedure for notifying a sales website

Step 1: Identify the website’s operational model

Merchants, organizations, or individuals can either conduct their own research or use the services of Viet An Law to determine whether their website falls under the category requiring “Notification” or “Registration” with the Ministry of Industry and Trade.

• Notification procedure: Applicable to e-commerce sales websites (websites set up to promote the sale of goods or provision of services by the website owner)
• Registration procedure: Applicable to websites providing e-commerce services, established to provide a platform for other merchants, organizations, or individuals to conduct commercial activities:
• E-commerce marketplace services;
• Online promotion services;
• Online auction services.

Step 2: Submit information on the Ministry of Industry and Trade’s website

For sales websites, businesses, organizations, or individuals that own this website must notify the Ministry of Industry and Trade through its online portal at: http://online.gov.vn.

For those without an account:

Merchants, organizations, or individuals using Viet An Law’s services will receive assistance in registering an account on the homepage www.online.gov.vn by following these steps:

Step 1: Submit information according to the form: Viet An Law selects the appropriate entity to register for an account and proceed with the notification process based on the type of organization:

• Merchants: Legally established economic entities or individuals conducting independent, regular commercial activities with business registration (e.g: corporations, companies, enterprises, household businesses, etc.).
• Organizations: Legally established administrative agencies, associations, or units that may or may not have a tax code.
• Individuals: Business individuals who must have a tax code.

Step 2: Receive feedback on account registration via email: The Ministry of Industry and Trade will review the account registration information within 3 working days from the receipt of the application and will send feedback via email:

• If the account registration is approved, Viet An Law will provide the merchant, organization, or individual with the login account details.
• If the account registration is rejected or requires additional information, Viet An Law will reapply or supplement the necessary information provided by the merchant, organization, or individual as required

For those with an existing account:

Upon request from merchants, organizations, or individuals, Viet An Law will log into the system (using the merchant’s or individual’s tax code as the account), input the website information for notification, and attach the necessary documents. Merchants, organizations, or individuals must provide Viet An Law with the information needed for the notification process.

Content of notification information:

• Website information:
• Logo of the sales website;
• Main domain of the sales website and all other domains linked to the website (if any);
• Types of goods or services offered on the website (if no specific goods are listed, please indicate in the “others” section);
• Other types of goods or services transacted on the website;
• Đơn vị cung cấp dịch vụ Hosting service provider.
• Information about the website owner:
• Registered name of the merchant, organization, or individual owning the website;
• Registered office address of the merchant or organization, or residential address of the individual;
• Number, date of issuance, and place of issuance of the business registration certificate for merchants, or the personal tax code for individuals;
• Information about the representative of the merchant and the person responsible for the website (name, title, ID number, phone number, and email address).
• Other information as required by the Ministry of Industry and Trade.

Documents required to be attached include:

• Scanned copy of the Enterprise Registration Certificate/Investment Certificate/Investment License (for merchants);
• Scanned copy of the Decision on Establishment (for organizations);
• Scanned copy of personal identification documents such as ID card, Citizen Identification, or Passport (for individuals);
• License proving eligibility to conduct business in conditional business sectors (if applicable);
• Image file of the website’s logo;
• Other documents as required by the Ministry of Industry and Trade.

Note: When conducting the sale website notification service in Vietnam, the submission of documents is done online, and all files must be in one of the following formats: jpg, png, jpeg, doc, docx, pdf, rar, zip, xls, xlsx.

Step 3: Review and result notification by the Ministry of Industry and Trade

After Viet An Law has completed the application and submitted it through the portal, the status of the application will show as “Pending Review.” The Department of E-commerce and Digital Economy (under the Ministry of Industry and Trade) is responsible for reviewing and approving the application. Within 3 working days, the Ministry of Industry and Trade will send an email to the website owner to inform them of the registration results.

If the application requires additional information or corrections, Viet An Law will assist clients in completing and resubmitting the application as necessary.

If the application is approved, the Ministry of Industry and Trade will proceed with the following actions:

• Publicly announce on the E-commerce Activity Management Portal a list of notified sales e-commerce websites.
• Send the merchant or organization a code via the registered email to be embedded on the sales e-commerce website, which serves as a notification symbol. When selected, this symbol will direct users to the corresponding notification information of the merchant, organization, or individual on the E-commerce Activity Management Portal.

Note: After successfully notifying the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the merchant, organization, or individual owning the website is responsible for placing this logo at the footer of the notified sales e-commerce website. Merchants, organizations, or individuals may request support from a website service provider (partner of their choice) to insert the code into the website interface (updating the logo and link on the website), thereby enhancing credibility and increasing customer trust.

Guidelines for checking the completion of website notification procedures

After utilizing sales website notification service of Viet An Law, clients can verify the completion of the notification process through the following methods:

Check via the confirmation logo after successful notification

As analyzed above, once the procedure is completed, the Ministry of Industry and Trade is responsible for sending the merchant, organization, or individual a link presented in the form of a logo, indicating that the website has been successfully notified to the Ministry. Therefore, to confirm the completion of the procedure, the confirmation logo issued by the Ministry of Industry and Trade must be present.

Note: The logo is valid and legally recognized if clicking on it redirects to a link that displays information about the website owner on the homepage of the Ministry of Industry and Trade’s E-commerce Management Portal.

Directly check on the homepage of the Ministry of Industry and Trade’s E-commerce Management Portal

To verify the completion of the website notification procedure, clients can search for information in the ‘notified websites’ section on the homepage of the Ministry of Industry and Trade’s E-commerce Management Portal at http://online.gov.vn. If the website has been successfully notified, the website address and relevant information regarding the website owner will be fully displayed in the Ministry’s completed notification database.

Sale website notification service in Vietnam of Viet An Law

• Advising on the conditions required to proceed with the sale website notification procedure;
• Advising on the procedures for notifying a sale website;
• Advise clients on preparing the necessary dossiers and materials as required by Vietnamese law related to the sale website notification procedure;
• Advising on drafting the content to be posted on the sale website;
• Carrying out the sale website notification procedure with the Ministry of Industry and Trade.

The above is Viet An’s advice regarding its comprehensive sale website notification service. Should you have any questions or require further assistance, please feel free to contact to Viet An Law Firm for the best support!

Updated: 8/2024