This is one of the notable contents stipulated in Decree 91/2020/ND-CP on regulations against spam messages, spam emails, and spam calls which will take effect from October 01, 2020.
Fining up to 10 million VND for advertising calls without user's consent (Illustrative image)
In Article 32 of Decree 91/2020/ND-CP, points c, d, dd, Clause 2, Article 94, Decree 15/2020/ND-CP of the Government of Vietnam, currently in effect, stipulates administrative penalties in the fields of postal services, telecommunications, radio frequency, information technology, and electronic transactions as follows:
A fine ranging from 5 million to 10 million VND for one of the following acts:
- Sending advertising emails or messages to recipients without their consent;- Labeling advertising emails or messages incorrectly or incompletely according to regulations;- Making advertising calls to users without their explicit consent;- Making advertising calls to users who have refused to receive such calls;- Sending advertising registration messages when users have refused or not responded to the registration messages.
Effective October 1, 2020, making advertising calls to users without their consent or to users who have refused to receive such calls will incur a fine up to 10 million VND. Additionally, the phone number used for the violation will be revoked as a remedial measure.
Furthermore, a fine ranging from 20 million to 30 million VND will be imposed for one of the following acts:
- Making more than one advertising call to one phone number within 24 hours without another agreement with the user;- Making advertising calls outside the hours of 08:00 to 17:00 each day without another agreement with the user;- Failing to check for users' clear, prior consent before sending advertising messages, emails, or making advertising calls;- Failing to provide users with tools to look up or store agreements on registering or refusing advertising calls and registration messages on their portal/website or social network to facilitate inspection, examination, and resolution of complaints and denunciations.
Thus, from October 1, 2020, advertisers using phone calls, messages, or emails should be cautious to avoid administrative penalties.
Le Vy