Procedures for registration of mobile applications with the Ministry of Industry and Trade of Vietnam

First of all, you need to understand what an e-commerce service provision application is, and in what specific cases need to register for the application?

According to Clause 3 Article 3 of Circular No. 59/2015/TT-BCT of the Ministry of Industry and Trade of Vietnam, e-commerce service provision application means an e-commerce application on mobile equipment established by a trader or an organization to create an environment for other traders, organizations and individuals to carry out trade activities. E-commerce service provision applications include e-commerce trading floor applications, online auction applications and online sales promotion applications. Thus, applications that provide the above features must register.

1. Process of registration of e-commerce service provision applications

The process of registration of an e-commerce service provision must comply with the process of registration of e-commerce service provision websites prescribed in Articles 15 and 16 of Circular No. 47/2014/TT-BCT of the Ministry of Industry and Trade of Vietnam.

Receipt and handling of the registration documents for e-commerce service websites shall be done online by the Ministry of Industry and Trade on the e-commerce management portal at www.online.gov.vn.

Step 1: Traders and organizations register for the account to access the system by providing the following information:

- Names of traders and organizations;

- Business registration No. of traders or Establishment decision No. of organizations;

- Areas of business;

- Addresses of traders and organizations' head offices;

- Contact information.

Step 2: Within three working days, traders, organizations or individuals shall receive results from the Ministry of Industry and Trade via registered emails regarding one of the following subject matters:

- If registration information for an account is adequate, traders and organizations shall be granted an account and continue Step 3:

- If the registration is rejected or supplements are required, traders and organizations should carry out registration again or supplement the information as requested.

Step 3: After being granted an account for access to the system, traders and organizations shall carry out logging on, choose a feature “registration for e-commerce service websites, fill in the forms as instructed and enclose registration documents.

Step 4: Within a period of seven working days, traders and organizations shall receive responses from the Ministry of Industry and Trade via registered emails regarding one of the following subject matters:

- Confirmations that the documents are adequate and eligible and traders; requests for traders and organizations to do Step 5;

- Notice the documents are inadequate or requests for supplements. In this case, traders and organizations should return to Step 3 for declaration again or supplementing the information as requested.

Step 5: After receipt of the notice confirming adequacy and eligibility of the documents, traders and organizations shall send to the Ministry of Industry and Trade (Department of E-commerce and Information Technology) a complete registration dossier (hard copy).

2. Dossier of registration of e-commerce service provision applications

Dossier of registration of e-commerce service provision applications is specified in Article 14 of Circular No. 59/2015/TT-BCT, including:

- An application for registration of an e-commerce service provision (made according to the form provided in the Appendix (not translated) to this Circular).

- A certified copy of the establishment decision (for organizations), or business registration certificate, investment certificate or investment license (for traders).

- An e-commerce service provision scheme, comprising the contents specified in Clause 3, Article 54 of Decree No. 52/2013/NĐ-CP of Vietnam’s Government.

- The regulation on operation management of the application, indicating:

+ The contents prescribed in Article 38 of Decree No. 52/2013/NĐ-CP;

+ The process and time limit for handling reported law-breaking business acts on the application.

- A model service contract or a cooperation agreement between the trader or organization owning the application and traders, organizations and individuals engaged in trading or organization of auctions or sales promotion of goods and services on such application.

- General terms applicable to trading activities or organization of auctions and sales promotion of goods and services on the application (if any).

Hai Thanh

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