Foreign companies providing cross-border advertising services in the cyberspace and generating income in Vietnam must observe Vietnam’s laws on tax, advertising, management, provision and use of Internet services, and cyber information.
It is highlighted in a draft decree designed by the Ministry of Information and Communications (MIC) to revise Decree 181 of 2013 which guides the implementation of the Law on Advertising.
When providing cross-border advertising services in Vietnam, foreign service providers must inform their contact information to the MIC, and make reports on an annual basis or at the request of the Authority of Broadcasting and Electronic Information.
Cross-border service providers would have to regularly check and review advertisements so as to ensure compliance with the 2012 Law on Advertising and the 2018 Law on Cyber Security. For example, they must not run advertisement of guns, weapons, tobacco, stimulants or other products that reveal state secrets or harm the national independence and sovereignty, defense and security, and offend the prestige, honor and dignity of national heroes or other organizations and individuals.
The draft also requires cross-border advertising service providers to look for and work out solutions to help Vietnamese advertisement publishers. i.e., organizations and individuals using means of advertising under their management to present the advertisements to the public, including the press, publishers, website owners, organizers of sports events and cultural programs, and the organizations and individuals using other means of advertising, to control, detect and remove illegal ads.
Advertisers that need to advertise their products or services would be prohibited from running ads in unlawful advertising platforms and would be held responsible for advertisement contents when signing contracts with cross-border platforms.- (VLLF)
