Vietnam: Is it allowed to advertise alcohol products? What are the penalties for illegally advertising alcohol products?
Is it allowed to advertise alcohol products in Vietnam?
Pursuant to Clause 1, Article 2 of the 2012 Law on Advertising as follows:
1. Advertising is the employment of various means in order to present the public with profitable products, goods and service; non-profitable products and services; organizations and individuals trading and providing the presented products, goods and services, except for news, social policies; personal information.
Accordingly, advertising is the employment of various means in order to present the public with profitable products, goods and services; non-profitable products and services; organizations and individuals trading and providing the presented products, goods and services, except for news, social policies; personal information.
Pursuant to Article 7 of the 2012 Law on Advertising as follows:
Products, goods and services banned from advertising
1. Goods and services banned from trade as prescribed by law.
2. Cigarettes.
3. Wine that contains 150 alcohol or above.
4. Dairy being breast milk substitute for children under 24 months old, dietary supplements for children under 06 months old; artificial feeding bottles and pacifiers
5. Prescription drugs, non-prescription drugs recommended by competent State agencies to use restrictively or under the doctor’s supervision.
6. Pornographic products.
7. Shotguns and cartridges, sporting weapons and products that might incite violence.
8. Other products, goods and services banned from advertising specified by the Government depending on the actual requirements.
According to the above regulations, it is allowed to advertise alcohol products that contain 150 alcohol or above. Alcohol products that do not contain 150 alcohol or above will still be advertised.
What are the penalties for illegally advertising alcohol products in Vietnam?
Pursuant to Article 33 of Decree 38/2021/ND-CP as follows:
Violations against regulations on the advertising of products, goods and services subject to advertising prohibitions
1. Imposing the fine ranging from 50,000,000 dong to 70,000,000 dong for one of the following violations:
a) Advertising cigarettes;
b) Advertising alcohol containing at least 15% alcohol by volume;
c) Advertising breast milk substitutes for children under 24 months of age; supplementary foods for infants under 06 months of age; artificial feeding bottles and pacifiers;
d) Advertising prescription drugs; over-the-counter drugs subject to a competent state authority’s warning of restricted use or use through oversight of physicians; drugs of which the periods of registration for marketing authorization are expired;
dd) Advertising other products, goods and services subject to advertising prohibitions.
2. Imposing the fine ranging from 70,000,000 dong to 100,000,000 dong for one of the following violations:
a) Advertising goods and services subject to trading prohibitions in accordance with regulations in force;
b) Advertising products and goods for sexual arousal/stimulation/enhancement;
c) Advertising shotguns and shotgun shells, sports guns and other products and goods inciting violence.
3. Remedies:
Compelling the removal, demolition and deletion or erasure of advertisements or the recall of printed newspapers and magazines with advertisements with respect to the acts specified in clause 1 and 2 of this Article.
According to the above regulations, the advertising of alcohol products that contain 150 alcohol or above will be administratively fined from 50 to 70 million VND.
In addition, the violator must remove and dismantle advertisements related to alcohol products that contain 150 alcohol or above.
Note: The above fine applies to individuals. For organizations, the fine shall be doubled.
What are the rights and obligations of alcohol advertisers in Vietnam?
Pursuant to Article 12 of the Law on Advertising 2012, the rights and obligations of alcohol advertisers are as follows:
- Advertisers have the rights to:
+ Advertise their products, goods, services, organization and individual;
+ Make decisions on the forms and methods of advertising;
+ Receive information from local agencies in charge of advertising about the approved outdoor advertising planning;
+ Request advertisement appraisal;
- Advertisers have the following obligations:
+ Provide the advertising service providers or advertisement publishers with accurate information about the agencies, organizations, individuals, products, goods, services and documents related to the advertising conditions and being responsible for such information.
+ Ensure that the product, goods and service quality is consistent with the advertisements;
+ Be responsible for their advertisements when directing advertising on the means of advertising; or being jointly responsible for the advertisements when hiring others to advertise;
+ Provide documents related to the advertisements at the request from the advertisement receiver or competent State agencies.
- Other obligations and rights as prescribed by law.
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