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Group of Regulations on Control of Sales Regulations (Sales Conditions) Issued by Supermarkets

- Honest information about product and goods quality.


- Apply measures to maintain the quality of goods during transportation, storage and preservation.

- Notify the buyer of the conditions that must be followed when transporting, storing, preserving and using the goods.

- Provide information about product warranty to buyers.

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- Provide documents and information about inspected goods to quality controllers, inspection teams, and product and goods quality inspection agencies.

Group of Regulations on Control of Sales Regulations (Sales Conditions) Issued by Supermarkets

- Timely provide information about the safety risks of goods and ways to prevent them to buyers when receiving warning information from manufacturers and importers.

- Promptly stop selling and inform manufacturers, importers and buyers when discovering unsafe goods or goods that do not comply with applicable announced standards and corresponding technical regulations.

- Refund or exchange for new goods, receive back defective goods returned by the buyer.

- Cooperate with manufacturers and importers to recall and handle goods that do not comply with applicable announced standards and corresponding technical regulations.

- Compensation for damages according to the provisions of law.


- Comply with regulations and decisions on inspection and examination of competent state agencies.

- Pay for sampling, testing and appraisal costs as prescribed.

For goods traded in supermarkets, supermarket operators shall implement quality management requirements [13, Article 38]:

- Comply with relevant technical regulations during the circulation of goods or self-apply quality control measures to maintain the quality of the goods sold;

- Subject to product quality inspection; handle violations of legal regulations.


Supermarkets are under the management of three sectors: industry and trade, agriculture and rural development, and health. Each product, to be put into business in supermarkets, must fully meet strict requirements (for example: Food items must have a quality declaration file according to the decision of the Ministry of Health; imported goods must have a customs declaration, certificate of origin, import quality certificate of the Ministry of Health, etc.) Therefore, in principle, the process of bringing a product into the supermarket is very strict and tight.

Violations of regulations on standards and quality of goods may be subject to penalties according to the provisions of Decree No. 80/2013/ND-CP dated July 19, 2013 of the Government on penalties for administrative violations in the field of standards, measurement and quality of products and goods.

Thus, the above regulations have basically met the requirements on standards and quality of goods and business services in supermarkets. However, there are currently no specific and unified regulations on standardization of goods and business services in supermarkets to ensure the provision of goods and services with consistent standards and quality among supermarkets, bringing benefits and convenience to consumers.

2.1.3. Group of regulations on information for goods


According to the United Nations guidelines, the right to information is one of the eight basic rights of consumers. One of the main orientations when building the Law on Consumer Protection in countries and territories around the world and in Vietnam is to "overcome the weak position of consumers" and especially to overcome the situation of "information asymmetry between consumers and business organizations and individuals". That shows that information is one of the factors that consumers care about most when buying and using goods and services. Because, to ensure that consumers can make the right decision and choice, the most important issue is information about the goods and services that consumers are considering buying or using. Consumers need to have the most basic information about goods and services such as: origin, price, quality, features, after-sales service, payment methods... as well as about the organization or individual trading in those goods and services such as: reputation, brand, operating capacity, business location, warranty, repair of goods... However, apart from the organization or individual trading, consumers or anyone else find it difficult to access this information due to limitations in professionalism, expertise and means of implementation. Therefore, regulating the obligation of business organizations and individuals to provide information to consumers is necessary and is one of the most basic and important obligations in the law on protecting consumer rights.

For consumers buying goods at supermarkets, product information plays a particularly important role because the buying and selling relationship here is a standard contract, general transaction conditions, consumers do not have the right to bargain or negotiate when buying.

The Law on Consumer Protection 2010 stipulates that consumers have the right to be provided with accurate and complete information about organizations and individuals trading in goods and services; the content of goods and service transactions; the origin of goods; and to be provided with invoices, vouchers, documents related to transactions and other necessary information about goods and services that consumers have purchased and used.

Pursuant to Article 12 of the Law on Consumer Protection 2010, supermarket businesses must be responsible for providing information about goods and services to consumers, including:

- Labeling of goods according to the provisions of law;


- Publicly post prices of goods and services at business locations;


- Warning about the possibility of goods and services having adverse effects on the health, life and property of consumers and preventive measures;

- Provide instructions for use, conditions, duration, location, and warranty procedures in case of goods and services under warranty;

- Accurately and fully notify consumers about the standard contract and general transaction conditions before the transaction.

To ensure that information is provided fully and honestly, Vietnamese law has many regulations to regulate the information provision activities of business organizations and individuals.

Decree No. 89/2006/ND-CP dated August 30, 2006 of the Government on product labels has regulated specific issues on product labels (one of the main means of providing information to consumers) such as: product label location, label size, color of letters, symbols, images on the label, label language, content and labeling method.

The 2004 Competition Law also provides regulations to ensure that information is provided honestly and to avoid confusion for consumers by regulating unfair competition in "providing misleading instructions" or "advertising for unfair competition"...

In case business organizations or individuals violate the obligation to label goods or carry out imitative advertising, fraudulent advertising, or misleading advertising, they will be subject to certain sanctions...

Thus, legal regulations on product information are relatively complete, creating a legal basis for ensuring consumers' rights to know information about the goods and services they buy and use.

2.1.4. Group of regulations on controlling sales regulations (sales conditions) issued by supermarkets

The relationship between consumers and supermarket businesses is usually a standard contract relationship, with general terms and conditions of transaction. In this relationship, the supermarket business aims for profit, and the sales conditions are set by one party (the supermarket business). Therefore, the terms and conditions of the contract and general terms and conditions set by the supermarket business may contain abusive terms to benefit them.

To control abusive terms of business in general, the Law on Consumer Protection 2010 has stipulated abusive terms or invalid terms of contracts with consumers, general transaction conditions include [15, Article 16]:

- Excluding the responsibility of organizations and individuals trading in goods and services towards consumers according to the provisions of law;

- Limit or exclude the consumer's right to complain or sue;


- Allowing organizations and individuals trading in goods and services to unilaterally change the terms of contracts previously agreed upon with consumers or the rules and regulations on sales and service provision applicable to consumers when purchasing and using goods and services that are not specifically stated in the contract;

- Allow organizations and individuals trading in goods and services to unilaterally determine that consumers have not fulfilled one or more obligations;

- Allow organizations and individuals trading in goods and services to set or change prices at the time of delivery of goods and provision of services;

- Allow organizations and individuals trading in goods and services to interpret contracts in cases where the terms of the contract are understood differently;

- Excluding the liability of organizations and individuals trading in goods and services in cases where organizations and individuals trading in goods and services sell goods and provide services through a third party;

- Requiring consumers to comply with obligations even when organizations and individuals trading in goods and services do not fulfill their obligations;

- Allowing organizations and individuals trading in goods and services to transfer rights and obligations to a third party without the consumer's consent.

The declaration and handling of invalid terms of contracts with consumers and general transaction conditions shall be carried out in accordance with the provisions of civil law.

Thus, the Law on Consumer Protection 2010 has specifically stipulated which provisions are considered abusive provisions. However, in practice,

In fact, abusive terms that cause disproportionate benefits do not always fall within the scope of the law.

To control standard contracts and general transaction conditions, the Government has regulated this issue in Decree No. 99/2011/ND-CP dated October 27, 2011 detailing and guiding the implementation of a number of articles of the Law on Consumer Protection. Accordingly, standard contracts and general transaction conditions must be made in writing, the language used must be Vietnamese, the content must be clear and easy to understand; the font size must be at least 12, the paper background and ink color showing the content of the standard contract and general transaction conditions must be contrasting.

In addition, supermarkets trading in goods and services on the List of essential goods and services issued by the Prime Minister must register their standard contracts and general transaction conditions with the competent state management agency for consumer rights protection. If the standard contract and general transaction conditions apply nationwide or apply to two or more provinces, they must be registered with the Ministry of Industry and Trade; if the standard contract and general transaction conditions apply within a province or centrally-run city, they must be registered with the Department of Industry and Trade where the business is located. The competent authority shall review the standard contract and general transaction conditions for invalid contents as prescribed in Article 16 of the Law on Consumer Rights Protection and their compliance with the provisions of the law on consumer rights protection and general principles of contract conclusion. The standard contract and general terms and conditions of transaction in the above cases shall only apply to consumers when the registration is completed.

After completing the registration procedure, the contract form, terms of delivery

General contracts are publicly announced and stored on the website of the competent authority receiving the registration. The competent authority receiving the registration must regularly check and monitor the circulation of contracts according to the registered form and general transaction conditions.

The Decree also stipulates that business organizations and individuals must re-register contracts according to the form and general transaction conditions in the following cases [5, Article 15]:

- When the law changes, changing the content of the standard contract and general terms of transaction;

- Business organizations and individuals change the content of the contract according to the form and general transaction conditions.

Business organizations and individuals must notify consumers of changes to the model contract and general transaction conditions after completing re-registration.

To control standard contracts and general terms of transaction that are not subject to registration, the Decree stipulates [14, Article 16]:

- In case the content of a standard contract or general transaction conditions violates the law on consumer rights protection or is contrary to the general principles of contract conclusion, the competent authority specified in Article 9 of this Decree has the right to request the business organization or individual to amend or cancel such violating content.

- In case the content of the standard contract or general transaction conditions is unclear or has many different interpretations, the competent authority has the right to request the business organization or individual to clarify the content of the standard contract or general transaction conditions.

- Within ten (10) working days from the date of receipt of the request

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