Vietnam Internet Services
On July 17, 2023 Vietnam Ministry of Information and Communications (MIC) released a Draft Decree on Internet services for public consultation till September 15, 2023. This Draft Decree is intended to supersede the Decree 72/2013/ND-CP to regulate the management, provision and use of Internet services and online information, including online gaming services and social network services.
Under this Draft Decree, the MIC proposed several additional obligations on offshore suppliers of Internet services and online information. In particular, the following proposed obligations will potentially pose economic and operational challenges for the suppliers.
First, cross-border information providers (CIPs) are required to take down, block or remove social network accounts, fan pages, content channels, community groups, or applications within three hours or 24 hours upon the request of the MIC. This obligation may be operationally unfeasible for the CIPs to comply with. CIPs refer to foreign organizations and individuals that provide cross-border information services, including social network and application store operators. As such, international social media platforms like Facebook, Google, Twitter, Apple App Store, or Google Play Store, and foreign on-line newspapers or magazines are categorized as CIPs.
Second, CIPs are required to monitor, inspect and remove information, applications and services that violate Article 8.1 of the Law on Cybersecurity and Article 5.1 of the Draft Decree. Specifically, violations are defined to include information, applications and services that contain illegal or false online information which violates national, security, disrupts public order or violates lawful rights and interests of other organizations or individuals. CIPs are also required to provide the search engine and scanning tools used for the monitoring and inspection, and provide periodic and ad hoc ones at the request of the MIC. These onerous monitoring and reporting requirements place a significant burden on the CIPs.
Third, CIPs are required to collect and store a wide range of personal user information, including full name, date of birth, email address and mobile phone number in Vietnam. This requirement on data localization, which is duplicative with relevant requirements under Decree 53/2022 guiding the implementation of Vietnam Cybersecurity Law, is expected to increase the operational costs for CIPs.
Vietnam, with 72 million Internet users and 67 million social media users (as reported by Datareportal in 2022), offers a significant market potential for U.S. suppliers of Internet-based services. However, the above-mentioned proposed obligations under the Draft Decree on Internet services are expected to make it very challenging for U.S. suppliers to conduct and sustain effective business operations in Vietnam.
For more information, please contact: Office.Hanoi@trade.gov or Office.HoChiMinhCity@trade.gov.