Expected amendments to regulations on trade promotion activities

Dự kiến sửa đổi quy định về hoạt động xúc tiến thương mại- Ảnh 1. — The Ministry of Industry and Trade proposed to amend regulations on trade promotion activities.

The Ministry of Industry and Trade said that through review, it was found that some provisions in Decree No. 81/2018/ND-CP are currently unclear, have many different interpretations, are unreasonable, unfeasible, causing difficulties in applying and implementing the law.

Specifically: Clause 1 and Clause 2, Article 5 of Decree No. 81/2018/ND-CP currently stipulate that goods and services that are promoted and goods and services used for promotion are products and services that are prohibited from promotion as prescribed by specialized laws. This provision will not be suitable when the provisions of specialized laws on promotion change. Therefore, it is necessary to remove cases that have been prescribed by specialized laws.

Clause 1, Article 13 of Decree No. 81/2018/ND-CP currently stipulates: "The determination of winners in lucky promotional programs must be organized publicly, according to announced rules, with the presence of customers..." without specifying whether the customer's witness is direct or indirect, causing difficulties in the implementation process. In fact, during the COVID-19 pandemic, many businesses have determined winners with indirect witnessing (through online platforms), which is also consistent with the current period when businesses promote the application of information technology in production and business activities.

Clause 5, Article 13 of Decree No. 81/2018/ND-CP stipulates: "The prize without a winner of a lucky promotion program specified in Clause 4 of this Article is the prize in case the prize awarding period has expired but there is no recipient or the winner cannot be identified". During the COVID-19 outbreak, many businesses awarded prizes to winning customers past the prescribed time limit. According to the above regulations, prizes awarded to winning customers past the time limit will be unwinning prizes and the business will have to deduct 50% of the announced prize value into the state budget even if the prize has been awarded to the customer. Thus, this is one of the shortcomings and difficulties of businesses, although businesses have tried to award prizes and ensure the rights of customers.

Currently, the procedures for registering to organize trade fairs and exhibitions abroad have been decentralized to the People's Committees at the provincial level (stipulated in Decree No. 146/2025/ND-CP dated June 12, 2025 of the Government regulating decentralization and delegation in the field of industry and trade). Traders can carry out administrative procedures in different provinces and cities to register to organize trade fairs and exhibitions with the same name, theme, time, and location, so it is not feasible to organize consultation to select traders to be confirmed to register to organize such fairs. Therefore, the proposal to amend Clauses 8 and 9, Article 29 stipulates that consultation only applies in the case of registering to organize trade fairs and exhibitions in Vietnam.

Some current regulations are contradictory and overlapping.

According to the Ministry of Industry and Trade, some current regulations are contradictory and overlapping, limiting innovation, developing new growth drivers, and issues that have arisen in practice but have no specific regulations:

In recent years, following the development trend of the world , activities related to e-commerce, e-payment, intermediary payment, digital transformation... have developed very rapidly in Vietnam. Enterprises have actively applied and introduced many types and methods of payment... to better serve their business activities as well as bring more convenience to customers. Types of payment vouchers, purchase vouchers, service vouchers or other forms of equivalent value that were previously often issued by enterprises and provided to customers in the form of vouchers/cards/papers (physical form) are now gradually being replaced in the form of electronic copies/codes/barcodes... (data message form) and are quite commonly applied. The promotional activities of enterprises have used vouchers/payment vouchers... in the form of electronic copies/card codes (in the form of data messages) as gifts, prizes (as goods and services used for promotion) for customers. Therefore, it is necessary to supplement the forms of goods and services used for promotion as prescribed in Clause 3, Article 5 of Decree 81/2018/ND-CP to ensure the legal basis in the process of implementing promotional activities of enterprises.

Clause 5, Article 10 of Decree No. 81/2018/ND-CP stipulates: "The total time for implementing promotions in the form of discounts for a type of brand of goods and services must not exceed 120 days in a year, not including the time for implementing promotions of promotional programs in the form of discounts within the framework of concentrated promotional programs and trade promotion programs and activities decided by the Prime Minister." However, businesses have an increasing need to implement many promotional programs for customers, bringing many benefits to customers. Limiting the promotion time will no longer be suitable, limiting the business activities of businesses. Therefore, it is proposed to abolish Clause 5, Article 10 of Decree 81/2018/ND-CP, which stipulates the promotion time limit to unlock resources and promote economic development.

Form No. 08 of the Appendix issued with Decree No. 128/2024/ND-CP stipulates the content: "Article 3. (name of trader) is responsible for implementing this decision within 30 working days from the date of receipt of the Decision" is inconsistent and overlaps with the content: "Within 45 days from the date of receipt of the collection decision of the state management agency, the trader is responsible for paying 50% of the announced value of the unwinning prize of the promotional program according to the decision" as prescribed in Point b, Clause 7, Article 1 of Decree No. 128/2024/ND-CP. Therefore, it is necessary to replace Form No. 08 to ensure uniform application and enforcement of the law.

Modify multiple contents

In the draft, the Ministry of Industry and Trade proposed to amend and supplement Article 5 in the direction of removing products and services prohibited from promotion as prescribed by specialized laws, and adding more forms of goods and services used for promotion to suit reality.

Specifically, according to the draft: Goods and services that are promoted or used for promotion must comply with the provisions of the Commercial Law and the following provisions:

Promotional goods and services and those used for promotion do not include prescription drugs (except for promotions for drug traders), medical examination and treatment services of public health facilities, educational services of public facilities, public vocational training facilities, goods and services specified in prohibited investment and business sectors and occupations, prohibited goods and services, goods and services not yet permitted for circulation in Vietnam and goods and services prohibited from promotion according to the provisions of law.

Money, payment vouchers, purchase vouchers, service vouchers or other forms of equivalent value (expressed in physical form or data messages or other forms of equivalent value) can be used as prizes, rewards, or gifts for customers in promotional programs similar to the goods and services used for promotion.

In addition, the draft proposes to amend and supplement the provisions in Clause 1, Article 13 to clarify the witnessing of customers in direct or online forms when the organization determines the winners in lucky promotional programs.

Amend and supplement the regulations on prizes without winners of lucky promotion programs in Clause 5, Article 13 in the direction of creating favorable conditions for businesses in cases where prizes have been awarded to customers but the time limit has expired due to force majeure as prescribed by law.

Amending Point b, Clause 2, Article 29, decentralizing the authority to handle administrative procedures for registering to organize trade fairs and exhibitions abroad to the People's Committees at the provincial level (stipulated in Decree No. 146/2025/ND-CP dated June 12, 2025 of the Government regulating decentralization and delegation in the field of industry and trade).

Amending Clause 7, Article 29 and Clause 3, Article 30 reduces the time for handling administrative procedures for registering to organize trade fairs and exhibitions and registering to amend and supplement the content of organizing trade fairs and exhibitions from 07 working days to 05 working days.

Amend and supplement Clause 8 and Clause 9, Article 29 in the direction of only organizing consultation in cases where two or more traders or organizations with trade-related activities register to organize trade fairs and exhibitions in Vietnam with the same name, theme, time, and location.

Abolish Clause 5, Article 10 of Decree No. 81/2018/ND-CP, Point a and Point b, Clause 1, Article 1 of Decree No. 128/2024/ND-CP.

Replaces Forms 08, 11 and 12.

We invite readers to read the full draft and give comments here./.

Source: https://baochinhphu.vn/du-kien-sua-doi-quy-dinh-ve-hoat-dong-xuc-tien-thuong-mai-102251010173150571.htm