Deputy Prime Minister Bui Thanh Son: The Law on E-commerce must both create development and protect consumers.

(Chinhphu.vn) - Deputy Prime Minister Bui Thanh Son emphasized that the Law on E-commerce was built to both create development and effectively manage and protect the rights of consumers and producers.

Deputy Prime Minister Bui Thanh Son clarified a number of issues of concern to delegates regarding the draft Law on E-commerce.

On the afternoon of November 13, at the discussion session in the National Assembly hall on the draft Law on E-commerce, Deputy Prime Minister Bui Thanh Son clarified a number of issues of concern to delegates.

Clarifying the responsibilities of the subjects and preventing counterfeit and fake goods

Thanking the delegates for their frank and profound comments, the Deputy Prime Minister emphasized that e-commerce activities in our country have developed strongly, "keeping pace with the times", but have only been regulated by Decree 52/2013/ND-CP and Decree 85/2021/ND-CP.

Therefore, the promulgation of a specialized law is necessary to both create new development space and effectively manage and protect the rights of consumers and producers.

Regarding the scope of regulation and application of the law, the majority of National Assembly deputies agreed with the expansion of the scope of regulation, but suggested a careful review to ensure consistency in the legal system, avoiding overlap with other laws, especially the Commercial Law.

The Deputy Prime Minister said that the drafting agency has reviewed 51 legal documents, including 31 laws and 19 decrees, including new laws such as the Law on Science , Technology and Innovation, the Law on Digital Technology Industry, the Law on Personal Data Protection, the Law on Digital Transformation, the Law on Tax Administration, the Law on Cyber ​​Security... to ensure consistency and synchronization.

However, in response to the delegates' opinions that there is still a risk of conflict and overlap, the Deputy Prime Minister affirmed that the Government will continue to direct the drafting agency to review, update and complete the draft, ensuring compatibility and consistency of the legal system.

One content that many delegates are interested in is the responsibility of the owner of the e-commerce platform. The Deputy Prime Minister said that the draft Law has fully defined the legal position for e-commerce models from direct sales to multi-party trading floor models, while at the same time, stratifying responsibilities according to the level of participation of each entity.

The draft also requires domestic sellers to identify themselves via VNeID, while foreign sellers must have legal documents to ensure transparency in transactions and traceability of goods, enhancing consumer protection. The goal is to prevent counterfeit goods, fake goods, and commercial fraud in cyberspace – issues raised by many delegates.

The Deputy Prime Minister said that the Government will absorb these opinions and provide detailed regulations in the decree guiding the implementation of the Law, including flexible and timely technical tools to combat counterfeit and fake goods.

For intermediary organizations supporting e-commerce, the draft has added responsibilities of payment platforms, payment intermediaries, and logistics service providers, such as: Establishing a mechanism to receive complaints, ensuring data security, coordinating the inspection of goods records, and removing violating platforms at the request of competent authorities. Delegates' opinions will continue to be studied and improved in a way that is both strict and creates room for development.

The National Assembly discussed the draft Law on E-commerce.

Manage livestream activities, protect consumers and children

A topic of interest to many delegates is livestream sales – a form of e-commerce that is growing rapidly and attracting a large number of users, especially women and young people.

The Deputy Prime Minister said that the draft Law stipulates that livestream platforms must authenticate the identity of broadcasters, have mechanisms to prevent and remove violating content, display warnings about risks of goods and services, and store image and audio data for management purposes.

The law also defines specific responsibilities of livestreamers and sellers, to ensure transparency, transaction safety and consumer rights, especially children – a vulnerable group in the online environment. The Government will take into account the opinions of delegates to continue to perfect this content.

Regarding e-commerce activities involving foreign elements, Deputy Prime Minister Bui Thanh Son said that the process of drafting the Law reviewed 8 international treaties (3 bilateral, 5 multilateral) and determined that the draft does not violate international commitments that Vietnam participates in.

According to the draft, foreign e-commerce platforms using the Vietnamese language, the “.vn” domain name, or reaching a certain transaction threshold with buyers in Vietnam must establish a legal entity in Vietnam or authorize a Vietnamese legal entity to perform legal obligations and deposit funds at a bank to ensure compensation obligations in case of violations.

Foreign sellers must also fulfill similar obligations to domestic sellers, such as: Providing identification information, proving business conditions, publicizing seller information... to ensure fair competition and market transparency.

Many delegates emphasized that e-commerce development policies must aim to promote innovation, expand cross-border markets and ensure national interests. The Deputy Prime Minister said that in 2023, e-commerce revenue will reach about 21 billion USD, and by 2024 it will increase to 25 billion USD, with this year's tax revenue expected to reach about 200,000 billion VND - showing that the market size is growing very rapidly.

The Government will absorb opinions to perfect the policy of developing e-commerce in a smart, green, and sustainable direction, associated with investment in digital infrastructure, payment, logistics, and development of high-quality human resources, while prioritizing support for small and medium-sized enterprises, cooperatives, business households, women, people with disabilities, and disadvantaged areas through training and digital transformation.

Regarding administrative procedures, the draft Law on E-commerce is designed according to the principle of minimizing compliance costs, shifting from pre-inspection to post-inspection, applying information technology and risk data to simplify the process.

Accordingly, in the field of e-commerce, there are only 20 administrative procedures, all of which are performed 100% in the electronic environment, helping to reduce management resources, creating convenience for businesses, while still protecting consumer rights and unifying state management.

Thu Giang

Source: https://baochinhphu.vn/pho-thu-tuong-bui-thanh-son-luat-thuong-mai-dien-tu-phai-vua-kien-tao-phat-trien-vua-bao-ve-nguoi-tieu-dung-102251113191324257.htm