Lawfully established businesses of all economic sectors may act as Internet service providers in the Vietnamese territory but are strictly prohibited from taking advantage of the Internet and online services to oppose the Vietnamese State and harm the national security and social order and safety and propagate violence and immoral lifestyles, according to Government Decree No. 97/2008/ND-CP of August 28.
The Decree reiterates that the management, provision and use of Internet services and online information must comply with regulations on information technology, intellectual property, press and publication, protection of state secrets, copyright, advertising and state management of digital information.
Businesses are also allowed to hire telecommunications transmission lines of licensed network infrastructure developers to set up their own Internet equipment systems connected directly with international Internet service providers and collect charges for standard and quality Internet services at package rates stated in contracts with Internet users.
Internet access and online services for telecommunications should be provided to users through organizations or individuals licensed to act as Internet agents under agency contracts.
If wishing to provide free-of-charge Internet services to their customers within their establishments’ premises, according to the Decree, owners of hotels, restaurants, offices for lease, airports or car terminals are required to sign agency contracts with Internet service providers and comply with regulations applicable to Internet agents.
Press agencies licensed to publish online newspapers may develop their websites for use in press activities.
Enterprises intended to develop their websites to provide online services must register with the Information and Communication Ministry.
When permitted, agencies, organizations and businesses operating in Vietnam may set up their intranets for exclusive use of Internet services.
As per the Decree, the State encourages more and more information and data in Vietnamese to be published and posted on the Internet.
The national domain name “.vn”, Internet addresses and identification numbers managed by Vietnam are regarded as an important part of the national information resources and need to be effectively managed, exploited and used for proper purposes.
On principle, all organizations and individuals may register for use the Vietnamese national domain name and international domain names, the Decree states.-