Acts of violation of commercial law in Vietnam

Acts of violation of commercial law in Vietnam (Internet image)

Regarding this issue, LawNet would like to answer as follows:

1. Acts of violation of commercial law in Vietnam

According to Article 320 of the Commercial Law 2005, acts of violation of commercial law include:

- Violating provisions on business registration; business licenses of traders; establishment and operation of representative offices and branches of Vietnamese traders and foreign traders;

- Violating provisions on domestically traded goods and services, and exported or imported goods and services; temporary import for re-export, temporary export for re-import; transfer through border-gates; transit;

- Violating provisions on taxes, invoices, documents, accounting books and reports;

- Violating provisions on prices of goods and services;

- Violating provisions on labeling of domestically circulated goods and exports and imports;

- Smuggling, trading in goods illegally imported, counterfeit goods or raw materials and materials for production of counterfeit goods, or conducting illegal business;

- Violating provisions on quality of domestically traded goods and services, and exported or imported goods and services;

- Defrauding and deceiving customers in the purchase and sale of goods or the provision of services;

- Violating provisions on protection of interests of customers;

- Violating provisions on intellectual property rights to domestically traded goods and services; and exported or imported goods and services;

- Violating provisions on origin of goods;

- Other violations in commercial activities according to the provisions of law.

2. Forms of handling of violations of commercial law in Vietnam

Specifically, Article 321 of the Commercial Law 2005 stipulates forms of handling of violations of commercial law as follows:

- Depending on the nature, seriousness and consequences of violations, violating organizations and individuals shall be handled in one of the following forms:

+ Sanctions according to the provisions of law on handling of administrative violations;

+ Where an act of violation involves all elements constituting a crime, the violator shall be examined for penal liability according to the provisions of law.

- Where an act of violation causes harm to the interests of the State or legitimate rights and interests of organizations and/or individuals, compensation must be paid according to the provisions of law.

3. Fundamental principles in commercial activities in Vietnam

Pursuant to Section 2 of the Commercial Law 2005, fundamental principles in commercial activities in Vietnam are as follows:

- Principle of traders’ equality before law in commercial activities

Traders of all economic sectors are equal before law in commercial activities.

- Principle of freedom and freewill to agreement in commercial activities

+ Parties have the rights of freedom to reach agreements not in contravention of the provisions of law, fine traditions and customs and social ethics in order to establish their rights and obligations in commercial activities. The State respects and protects such rights.

+ In commercial activities, the parties shall act on their own freewill, and neither party is allowed to impose its own will on, to force, intimidate or obstruct, the other party.

- Principle of application of customs in commercial activities pre-established between parties

Except otherwise agreed, the parties shall be regarded as automatically applying customs in commercial activities pre-established between them which they have already known or ought to know, provided that such customs are not contrary to the provisions of law.

- Principle of application of practices in commercial activities

Where it is neither provided for by law nor agreed by the parties, and there exist no customs pre-established between them, commercial practices shall be applied provided that such practices are not contrary to the principles provided for in the Commercial Law 2005 and the Civil Code.

- Principle of protection of legitimate interests of consumers

+ Traders conducting commercial activities are obliged to provide consumers with sufficient and truthful information on goods and/or services they trade in or provide and take responsibility for the accuracy of such information.

+ Traders conducting commercial activities must be responsible for the quality and lawfulness of goods and/or services they trade in or provide.

- Principle of recognition of legal validity of data messages in commercial activities

In commercial activities, data messages which satisfy all technical conditions and standards provided for by law shall be recognized legally valid as documents.

Ho Quoc Tuan

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