It is recommended that foreign organizations and individuals providing cross-border advertising services in Vietnam must be responsible for registering their operations with the management agency.

At the 9th session of the 15th National Assembly, contributing comments to the Draft Law amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Law on Advertising, delegate Chu Thi Hong Thai - National Assembly Delegation of Lang Son province expressed her agreement with the report of the National Assembly Standing Committee on receiving, explaining and revising the Draft Law. The revised and supplemented contents have been fully and reasonably received and explained by the drafting agencies and the reviewing agencies.

Adding more comments to the Draft Law, delegate Chu Thi Hong Thai said that Clause 1 of the amendment and supplement to Article 4 on state management of advertising activities has been mentioned quite fully. However, it is necessary to study and consider adding the control of advertising content on the network environment as a separate content to emphasize the urgency.

According to delegates, the online environment such as the internet, social networks, and cross-border platforms are becoming the main advertising channels, gradually replacing traditional methods, but they are easily exploited to spread false information, fraud, and support poor quality products, such as functional foods, drugs of unknown origin, and disguised gambling and betting services.

Therefore, the delegate suggested that the drafting agency study and consider adding a point after point g, which is to control, monitor and handle advertising content on the network environment, social networks, and cross-border digital platforms. It is recommended to add the responsibility of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism to perform this task in the Draft Decree detailing regulations to clarify responsibilities and avoid overlap with other ministries such as the Ministry of Health or the Ministry of Industry and Trade .

Delegate Chu Thi Hong Thai - National Assembly Delegation of Lang Son province

Second, regarding Article 15a on the rights and obligations of the person transmitting the advertising product. Clause 3 stipulates the influencers when transmitting the advertising product. This is a very timely supplement, reflecting the reality of the strong development of advertising through social networks.

However, point a requires influencers to verify the credibility of the advertiser when transmitting the advertising product, which is confusing in practice. How can influencers verify the credibility when all information is provided by the advertiser, and how is credibility understood here as the legality or safety of the product?

According to the delegate, there should be a legal information support mechanism from the state management agency so that the carrier can perform its obligations in a feasible manner. Therefore, the delegate suggested that the drafting agency study and consider adding an additional point, which is to assign the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism to issue detailed instructions on the reliability verification process and provide online support contacts. In case the carrier does not have the conditions to verify, they can send a written request for verification support to the state management agency and receive a response within a certain period of time. Clearly stipulate that the carrier must be responsible if they ignore the verification process or intentionally cooperate with an unreliable partner.

"Through this content, I also propose that it is necessary to clearly define the threshold for determining influencers such as the number of followers or interactions to avoid arbitrary application," delegate Chu Thi Hong Thai suggested.

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  Create a solid legal framework to manage the advertising market

Third, Clause 6, Article 23 stipulates the management of cross-border advertising activities. The draft Law stipulates that foreign advertisers who wish to advertise products, goods, and services through cross-border advertising must go through Vietnamese advertising service providers.

Delegates said that this is an important step, creating a clear legal focal point in the country for management agencies to monitor and handle violations, but it is still not enough to comprehensively manage cross-border advertising activities, lacking mandatory regulations on registration, data storage and reporting of foreign organizations to Vietnamese management agencies and also not clear enough to force cross-border platforms to take full responsibility for adjusting to Vietnamese law. Currently, the Law on Cybersecurity has provisions on the responsibility for storage and registration of activities in Vietnam.

Through studying the Draft Decree detailing the attached documents of the Law Project, Clause 1, Article 15 has assigned the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism to be the focal point to contact and request organizations and individuals to provide information. However, the regulations on the responsibility and obligation to provide information of these organizations and individuals have not been specifically stated in the Draft Law.

Therefore, the delegate suggested that the drafting agency study and consider adding the content that foreign organizations and individuals providing cross-border advertising services in Vietnam must be responsible for registering their activities with competent state management agencies, storing data related to advertising activities arising in Vietnam, implementing a periodic reporting regime and being subject to the regulations of Vietnamese law. In the case of providing advertising services through digital platforms, foreign organizations and individuals must ensure coordination with competent Vietnamese agencies in handling violations of advertising laws.

Fourth, the Draft Law does not amend or supplement Article 27 on advertising on billboards and banners. This article stipulates that the period for hanging banners is no more than 15 days, but does not stipulate the period for advertising on billboards.

In fact, billboards are mainly outdoors and are directly affected by the weather, so they are easily blurred and torn over a period of time. Many billboards, for many reasons, are not replaced or removed when they become blurred or torn, causing loss of aesthetics.

"Therefore, I propose that the drafting agency consider adding a clause in Article 27 or adding at the end of Clause 4 regarding the advertising period on billboards or that it must be removed when the advertisement is blurred or torn," delegate Chu Thi Hong Thai suggested.

Source: https://bvhttdl.gov.vn/kien-nghi-to-chuc-ca-nhan-nuoc-ngoai-cung-cap-dich-vu-quang-cao-xuyen-bien-gioi-tai-viet-nam-phai-co-trach-nhiem-dang-ky-hoat-dong-voi-co-quan-quan-ly-20250512105648181.htm