Regulations on food advertising in Vietnam

Regarding this issue, LawNet answers as follows:

1. Foods for which advertisement contents must be registered in Vietnam

Article 26 of Decree 15/2018/ND-CP stipulates foods for which advertisement contents must be registered including:

- Dietary supplements, medical foods, food for special dietary uses.

- Dietary products for children up to 36 months not banned from advertising according to Article 7 of the Law on Advertising.

Regulations on food advertising in Vietnam (Internet image) 

2. General regulations on registration of advertisement contents in Vietnam

According to Clauses 1, 2, 3, Article 27 of Decree 15/2018/ND-CP, the registration of food advertisement contents shall comply with advertising laws and the following regulations:

- Before advertising, the owner of the advertised product shall register the advertisement content to the authority that issued the certificate of product registration.

- The advertisement content must be consistent with the effects of the product specified in the product declaration.

Do not use images, equipment, uniforms, documents of health facilities, physicians, pharmacists, health workers, patients’ appreciation letter, articles written by health facilities, physicians or pharmacists to advertise foods.

- Regarding dietary supplements:

= It is required to have the text “Thực phẩm này không phải là thuốc và không có tác dụng thay thế thuốc chữa bệnh” (equivalent to “this product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease”), which must be written clearly and has a contrasting color with the background;

= The text in Point a above must be read aloud in case of audio and video advertisements;

= The text mentioned in Point a above is not required if the duration of an audio or video advertisement is shorter than 15 seconds, but must be displayed during the advertisement.

3. Application for certification of advertisement contents in Vietnam

An application for certification of advertisement contents consists of the following documents:

- The application form (Form No. 10 in Appendix I of Decree 15/2018/ND-CP);

- The certificate of registered product declaration and the product declaration certified by a competent authority (a copy certified by the applicant);

- A sample label (certified by the applicant);

- For audio or video advertisement, a disc that contains the advertisement script; For other types of advertisement, a maquette (certified by the applicant);

- The uses or effects other than those written in the product declaration must be proven by scientific documents (copies certified by the applicant);

The documents must be written in Vietnamese language; documents in other languages must be translated into Vietnamese language and notarized.

4. Procedures for issuance of the certificate of advertisement contents in Vietnam

- The owner of the advertised product shall submit the application for the certificate of advertisement content to the authority that issued the certificate of registered product declaration;

- Within 10 working days from the receipt of the satisfactory application, the receiving authority shall process it and issue form No. 11 in Appendix I of Decree 15/2018/ND-CP.

The aforementioned time limit is determined according to the date stamp of the receiving authority (if the application is sent by post) or the date of receipt on the online public service system.

If advertisement content is not concurred with or the application has to be supplemented, the receiving authority shall provide explanation in writing and specify the legal basis. The receiving authority may request the applicant to supplement the application 01 time.

Within 10 working days from the day on which the supplemented application is received, the receiving authority shall process it and make a written response.

If the application fails to supplement the application within 90 working days from the day on which a written request is made, the application will be invalidated;

- The receiving authority shall post on its website and update on the food safety database the products that have the certificate of advertisement contents and names of their suppliers;

- The applicant shall pay the fee for application processing to the receiving authority.

The owner of the advertised product and the advertiser may only advertise the product after having obtained the certificate of advertisement contents and must adhere to the content of the certificate.

(Based on Clauses 4 and 5, Article 27 of Decree 15/2018/ND-CP)

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