• Publicly announce the list of organizations and individuals trading in goods and services that violate consumer rights as prescribed in Clause 4, Article 26 of the Law on Consumer Protection and Article 23 of Decree No. 99/2011/ND-CP detailing and guiding the implementation of a number of articles of the Law on Consumer Protection;
• Report on the results of state management of consumer protection in the district periodically or at the request of competent authorities at higher levels;
• Other responsibilities specified in Article 49 of the Law on Consumer Protection.
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Despite many efforts, up to now, the state management of consumer rights protection in general and consumer rights protection in e-commerce in particular in many localities is still confused and has not achieved the expected results. The reasons come from many sides, from the infrequent direction, guidance and supervision of the Ministry of Industry and Trade to the lack of initiative of local consumer rights protection agencies as well as the limited resources for this work. Based on the provisions of the Law on Consumer Rights Protection, the state management function of consumer rights protection at the central level is assigned to the Ministry of Industry and Trade and this function is assigned by the Ministry of Industry and Trade to the Department of Competition and Consumer Rights Protection; at the local level, it is assigned to the Department of Industry and Trade (Department of Trade Management or Sub-Department of Market Management) and the Economic Department (district level). However, in reality, even at the Competition and Consumer Protection Department, there are only about 10 officers directly working on consumer rights protection. Meanwhile, at local state management agencies, there is even a lack of resources, as there is usually only one officer working on consumer rights protection but concurrently holding about 3 to 4 other jobs. This reality leads to the implementation results of these agencies not achieving the desired results, leading to the fact that consumer rights are not guaranteed in practice.
2.3.1.2. Specialized state management agency
Consumer protection activities are related to many fields and specialties under the management authority of different state agencies. Therefore, in addition to the provisions assigning the Ministry of Industry and Trade the main responsibility, the ministries and ministerial-level agencies within the scope of their tasks and powers must also coordinate with the Ministry of Industry and Trade to carry out state management of consumer protection. Currently, some agencies playing an important role in consumer protection in e-commerce include:
Department of E-commerce and Digital Economy: According to Decision No. 3839/QD-BCT dated October 5, 2017 of the Ministry of Industry and Trade stipulating the functions, tasks, powers and organizational structure of the Department of E-commerce and Digital Economy, the Department of E-commerce and Digital Economy is an organization under the Ministry of Industry and Trade, performing the function of advising and assisting the Minister of Industry and Trade in state management and law enforcement in the field of e-commerce and digital economic activities; organizing and managing public service activities in the field and scope of management of the Department according to the provisions of law and decentralization and authorization of the Minister. An important task of the Department is to receive registration and notification dossiers for e-commerce websites, which is also an indirect method of protecting consumers through a pre-inspection mechanism, specifically as follows:
* Procedures for notifying the establishment of an e-commerce website for sales:
An e-commerce website is an e-commerce website established by traders, organizations, and individuals to serve their trade promotion, sales of goods, or service provision activities.
Decree 52/2013/ND-CP, amended and supplemented by Decree 85/2021/ND-CP, stipulates that entities setting up e-commerce websites for sales must register with the Ministry of Industry and Trade according to the provisions of Article 53 as follows:
- Traders, organizations and individuals shall notify the Ministry of Industry and Trade online about the establishment of an e-commerce website to sell goods through the E-commerce Management Information Portal before officially selling goods and providing services to users;
- Information to be notified includes:
a) Domain name of e-commerce website;
b) Type of goods and services introduced on the website;
c) Registered name of the merchant, organization or name of the individual who owns the website;
d) Head office address of the trader, organization or permanent residence address of the individual;
d) Number, date of issue and place of issue of the business registration certificate of the trader, or number, date of issue and unit issuing the establishment decision of the organization; or personal tax code of the individual;
e) Name, title, identity card number, telephone number and email address of the trader's representative and the person responsible for the e-commerce website;
g) Other information as prescribed by the Ministry of Industry and Trade.
This notification process is specifically regulated by the Ministry of Industry and Trade in Circular 47/2014/TT-BCT on management of e-commerce websites.
Step 1: Merchants, organizations and individuals register for a system login account by providing the following information:
- Name of trader, organization, individual;
- Business registration number of the trader or establishment decision number of the organization or personal tax code of the individual;
core;
- Business/activity field;
- Head office address of the trader, organization or permanent address of the individual
- Contact information.
Step 2: Within 3 working days, traders, organizations and individuals
Receive results from the Ministry of Industry and Trade via registered email address regarding one of the following contents:
- If the account registration information is complete, the trader, organization or individual will be given a system login account and proceed to Step 3;
- If account registration is rejected or additional information is required, the trader, organization or individual must re-register or provide additional information as requested.
Step 3: After being granted a system login account, traders, organizations and individuals log in, select the function of Notifying e-commerce sales website and declare information according to the form.
Step 4: Within 3 working days, traders, organizations and individuals will receive feedback from the Ministry of Industry and Trade via the registered email address regarding one of the following contents:
- Confirm that the declared information is complete and valid;
- Indicates that the declared information is incomplete or invalid. In that case, the trader, organization or individual must return to Step 3 to re-declare or supplement the information as required.
3. Traders, organizations and individuals are responsible for monitoring the status of application processing via email or the granted system access account to update and edit information as required.
4. Within 10 working days from receiving the notice requesting additional information in Step 4 as prescribed in Clause 2 of this Article, if the trader, organization or individual does not respond, the notification file will be terminated and the notification file must be re-issued from Step 3.
* Procedures for registering to set up a website providing e-commerce services
An e-commerce service website is an e-commerce website established by a trader or organization to provide an environment for other traders, organizations, and individuals to conduct commercial activities. E-commerce service websites include the following types:
a) E-commerce trading floor;
b) Online auction website;
c) Online promotional website;
d) Other types of websites as prescribed by the Ministry of Industry and Trade (Article 25 of Decree 52/2013/ND-CP)
- Traders and organizations shall register online with the Ministry of Industry and Trade to establish a website providing e-commerce services after the website has been completed with full structure, features and information according to the service provision plan, has been operating at the registered domain name address and before officially providing services to users.
- Registration documents include:
a) Application for setting up a website providing e-commerce services;
b) Copy from the original book or certified copy or copy presented with the original for comparison of the establishment decision (for organizations); electronic copy from the original book or certified electronic copy from the original; business registration certificate or enterprise registration (for traders), business license (for foreign investors, economic organizations with foreign investment capital);
c) Service provision plan as prescribed;
d) Regulations on management of the operation of websites providing e-commerce services comply with the provisions of this Decree and relevant legal provisions;
d) Sample service provision contract, general transaction conditions, if any;
e) Other documents prescribed by the Ministry of Industry and Trade.
The process of registering a website providing e-commerce services is similar to the process of notifying an e-commerce website selling goods, but the time to review the documents and procedures will be longer and specifically, there is an additional Step 5 as follows:
Step 5: After receiving the notice confirming the complete and valid dossier, the trader or organization shall send to the Ministry of Industry and Trade (Department of E-commerce and Digital Economy) a complete registration dossier (paper copy) according to regulations.
- Traders and organizations are responsible for monitoring the status of application processing via email or the granted system access account to update and edit information as required.
- Within 30 working days from the date of receipt of the notice requesting additional information in Step 4 as prescribed, if the trader or organization does not respond, the registration file on the system will be terminated and the trader or organization must re-register from the beginning.
It can be said that the participation of the Department of E-commerce and Digital Economy in consumer protection is mainly indirect through controlling the e-commerce activities of traders. According to statistics from the Ministry of Industry and Trade, by the end of 2018, nearly 36,000 violating products were forced to be removed from e-commerce trading floors and more than 3,000 accounts and stores on the floors were locked . 66 . Facing that situation, on April 18, 2019, the Department of E-commerce and Digital Economy
66 Industry and Trade Magazine, Fraud in e-commerce: consumers need to declare war, source: https://congthuong.vn/gian-lan-trong-thuong-mai-dien-tu-nguoi-tieu-dung-can-tuyen-chien-125476.html , accessed December 18, 2021
The number of coordination with the Department of Competition and Consumer Protection organized the signing ceremony of the commitment "Say no to counterfeit goods in e-commerce" with the participation of representatives of a number of e-commerce trading floors such as Adayroi.com, Lazada.vn, Sendo.vn, Shopee.vn, Tiki.vn. The coordination activities of state management agencies, typically the above activities of the Department of E-commerce and Digital Economy and the Department of Competition and Consumer Protection, have contributed to enhancing the responsibility of business organizations and individuals in protecting consumer rights in e-commerce.
General Department of Standards - Metrology - Quality: According to Decision No. 27/2014/QD-TTg dated April 4, 2014 of the Prime Minister stipulating the functions, tasks, powers and organizational structure of the General Department of Standards - Metrology - Quality, the General Department of Standards - Metrology - Quality is an organization under the Ministry of Science and Technology, performing the function of advising and assisting the Minister of Science and Technology in state management and organizing the enforcement of laws on standards, metrology and quality nationwide, including: standards, technical regulations, metrology, product and goods quality and organizing the implementation of public service activities on standards, metrology and quality according to the provisions of law. The most synchronous way to protect consumers in e-commerce is to encourage businesses to meet standards such as TCVN or ISO, especially standards on e-commerce, consumer protection, etc. The great contribution of the General Department is to issue and supervise the application, maintenance and implementation of these standards in practice, consumers will be protected in a unified manner, with specific principles and procedures.
2.3.2. Social organizations participating in protecting consumer rights
In addition to the system of state management agencies, social organizations also participate in the work of protecting the rights of Vietnamese consumers. These social organizations are established in accordance with the provisions of law and operate according to their charters. Currently, Vietnam has 56 Consumer Rights Protection Associations. In
Of which, one Association operates nationwide, the remaining Associations operate in provinces and cities. The Law on Consumer Protection 2010 stipulates the activities that Associations can participate in consumer protection as follows:
Guide, assist and advise consumers upon request;
Representing consumers in litigation or filing litigation on their own behalf in the public interest;
Provide state management agencies on consumer rights protection with information on violations of the law by organizations and individuals trading in goods and services;
Independently survey and test the quality of goods and services provided by themselves; inform and warn consumers about goods and services and be legally responsible for their information and warnings; recommend competent state agencies to handle violations of the law on consumer rights protection;
Participate in the development of laws, policies, guidelines, plans and measures to protect consumer rights;
Perform tasks assigned by state agencies;
Participate in propaganda, dissemination, legal education and consumer knowledge.
In 2018, there was an important event for the activities of the Associations, which was the separation of the Vietnam Standards and Consumer Protection Association into two Associations: the Vietnam Standards and Quality Association and the Vietnam Consumer Protection Association. In the coming time, the relevant associations need to complete