Data Protection in Vietnam

Electronic marketing in Vietnam

According to Vietnam’s new anti-spam regulation (i.e. Decree No. 91/2020/ND-CP on anti-spam text messages, emails and calls), advertisements by text message, email and call may only be sent or made in compliance with specific requirements, notably including:

  • it is prohibited to send advertising messages or make advertising calls to phone numbers on the Do-Not-Call Register;
  • for phone numbers not included in the Do-Not-Call Register, only one initial advertising registration message (i.e. a message inquiring whether the user would like to receive advertising communications from the advertiser) is allowed;
  • if the user refuses to receive advertising messages after receiving the initial advertising registration message, no further advertising message is allowed;
  • immediately after receiving a refusal request from a user, the advertiser must terminate providing advertising messages, email or calls to such user;
  • no more than three advertising messages / three advertising emails / one advertising call per day may be sent or made to the same user;
  • advertising messages are only allowed from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m.; advertising calls are only allowed from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.; and
  • advertising contents must comply with advertising laws.

Once again, the traders or organizations collecting and using the consumers’ personal information on E-commerce websites must have a specific mechanism for the information subjects to choose the permission or refusal of using their personal information in the cases of using personal information to send advertisements and introduce products and other commercial information.

Additionally, the organization shall not be allowed to hide their names or use unlawfully the name of others when sending advertisements via e-mail or text message. Specific information must be stated in each electronic message: for example,  information about the advertiser and the advertising service provider, opt-out function (refusing acceptance of advertisements), and a label identifying “QC” or “ADV” [QC means Adv. in Vietnamese].

With regard to the method of advertising into Vietnam (i.e. to target Vietnam-based recipients), foreign organizations which do not operate in Vietnam (i.e. do not have commercial presence in Vietnam) but wish to advertise their products, goods, services and operation in Vietnam, are required to hire a Vietnam-based advertising service provider (a company with business lines of provision of advertisement) to conduct relevant advertising activities.

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