Fines up to 100 million VND for unregistered online sales

This regulation is in Decree 185/2013 of the Government, effective from January 1, 2014.

Decree 185/2013/ND-CP on administrative sanctions for violations in commercial activities, production and trading of counterfeit and banned goods and protection of consumer rights takes effect from January 1, 2014.

Accordingly, starting today (January 1, 2014), individuals and businesses that sell goods online without registration will be fined up to 50 - 100 million VND, have their operations suspended for 6 - 12 months, and have their exhibits and means confiscated, and have their ".vn" domain names used to commit the violation revoked (in which, the administrative fine for individuals will range from 10 - 50 million VND. For organizations and businesses, it will range from 10 - 100 million VND).

Violations will be handled in relation to regulations on setting up a website without notifying the competent state management agency as prescribed; falsifying registration information on websites providing e-commerce services; taking advantage of the name of e-commerce business activities to illegally mobilize capital; taking advantage of e-commerce to trade in counterfeit goods, goods and services that infringe intellectual property rights or other prohibited goods and services...

This regulation applies to individuals and businesses operating in the field of e-commerce (e-commerce) in the form of e-commerce websites selling goods, websites providing e-commerce services and other types of websites as prescribed by the Ministry of Industry and Trade.

Websites subject to inspection and examination include e-commerce websites selling goods, websites providing e-commerce services (e-commerce trading floors, online auction websites, online promotion websites and other types of websites as prescribed by the Ministry of Industry and Trade)./.

According to VOV