Tightening the responsibility of floor owners in the draft Law on E-commerce

On the afternoon of November 3, discussing in groups about the draft Law on E-commerce, National Assembly deputies highly appreciated the Government's efforts in drafting the Law on E-commerce with a structure of 7 chapters and 48 articles.

According to delegate Tran Hoang Ngan (Ho Chi Minh City delegation), upgrading the decree to law is an extremely necessary and timely step in the context of Vietnam's e-commerce market having one of the highest growth rates in the world .

Delegates cited that the growth rate of this industry is over 20%/year, with estimated sales reaching 30 billion USD this year, up from 25 billion USD last year. This strong development also entails many complex issues and disputes, requiring a legal corridor at the law level to effectively regulate and improve legality.

Mr. Ngan noted that the draft law has focused on core issues such as protecting consumer rights and fighting counterfeit goods in cyberspace.

Delegate Tran Hoang Ngan ( Ho Chi Minh City delegation).

According to Delegate Nguyen Tam Hung (Ho Chi Minh City), the core goal of building the Law on E-commerce this time is to create a transparent, safe and favorable legal environment, ensuring a harmonious balance between promoting innovation and healthy development of e-commerce platforms and business models.

Protect the legitimate rights and interests of consumers against pressing issues that have been and are happening, causing social outrage such as counterfeit goods, counterfeit goods, commercial fraud and personal data leakage. At the same time, improve the efficiency and effectiveness of state management, especially in controlling cross-border transactions and collecting fair taxes in society.

Regarding the scope of regulation in Article 1, according to the delegate, this scope of regulation basically covers the core contents and urgency of current e-commerce activities.

However, to better respond to the rapid and complex development of this field, delegates proposed that the drafting committee consider adding some content to avoid missing subjects with significant e-commerce activities and help manage effectively. The reason is that many digital platforms are currently multi-service such as social networks, messaging applications with integrated sales functions.

According to many delegates, Vietnam's e-commerce is developing "by leaps and bounds", but this is accompanied by major challenges regarding counterfeit goods, fake goods and consumer rights protection. Article 15 of the draft law, which stipulates the responsibilities of platform owners, is considered one of the core contents to solve these problems.

Therefore, contributing to the draft law, many National Assembly deputies said that it is necessary to further tighten the responsibilities of platform owners, especially regulations on joint liability when violations occur and the feasibility of automatic censorship tools in Article 15.

Delegate Nguyen Thi Lan (Hanoi delegation) said that the general regulations on the responsibility of platform owners in Article 15 are not strong enough. Reality shows that the situation of selling fake and fraudulent goods on the platforms is increasing, causing loss of trust and affecting the sustainable development of the market.

To thoroughly resolve this issue, delegate Lan proposed to directly add two important contents to Article 15.

First, authenticate the seller’s identity. The law should require “The owner of the e-commerce platform is responsible for authenticating the seller’s identity using electronic identification (eKYC) before allowing the operation”.

Delegate Nguyen Thi Lan (Hanoi delegation).

Second, joint liability. It is necessary to clearly stipulate that “The platform owner is jointly liable if he fails to control the seller’s violations”.

According to the delegate, this regulation is completely consistent with international trends such as the Digital Services Act 2024 of the European Union, or regulations in Singapore and China. This not only enhances transparency and protects consumers but also strengthens the reputation of the Vietnamese e-commerce market.

Meanwhile, delegate Do Duc Hien (Ho Chi Minh City delegation) expressed special interest in Clause 4, Article 15, which requires platform owners to have an "automatic censorship" tool to combat counterfeit, banned, and unknown origin goods.

Mr. Hien said that this is a necessary regulation to strengthen the platform's responsibility in filtering information. However, delegate Hien also pointed out a big challenge regarding the feasibility of this regulation. Requiring a tool that can automatically detect all types of infringing goods is a very difficult problem in terms of technology and cost.

"Although this is a necessary requirement for large platforms, it may create barriers, limiting the development of smaller businesses and new platforms entering the market," Mr. Hien analyzed.

Therefore, delegates suggested that the Drafting Committee should carefully consider feasibility and have a more suitable regulation, to both ensure effective management and not hinder the healthy and diverse development of the e-commerce market.

Minh Thu

Source: https://doanhnghiepvn.vn/chuyen-doi-so/siet-trach-nhiem-chu-san-trong-du-thao-luat-thuong-mai-dien-tu/20251103042242550