Circular No. 17/2001/TT-BTM dated July 12, 2001 of the Ministry of Trade guiding sale promotion activities prescribed in the Government’s Decree No. 32/1999/ND-CP dated May 5, 1999 on sale promotion, commercial advertisement, and trade fairs as well as exhibitions

CIRCULAR

GUIDING SALE PROMOTION ACTIVITIES PRESCRIBED IN THE GOVERNMENT’S DECREE NO. 32/1999/ND-CP OF MAY 5, 1999 ON SALE PROMOTION, COMMERCIAL ADVERTISEMENT, AND TRADE FAIRS AS WELL AS EXHIBITIONS

Pursuant to the Government’s Decree No. 32/1999/ND_CP of May 5, 1999 on sale promotion, commercial advertisement and trade fairs as well as exhibitions, hereinafter called Decree No. 32/1999/ND-CP for short;

After consulting with some relevant agencies and getting the Prime Minister’s consent (The Government’s Document No. 501/CP-KTTH of June 8, 2001 guiding the implementation of Decree No. 32/1999/ND-CP), the Ministry of Trade hereby guides in detail the sale promotion activities for uniform application as follows:

I. RIGHT TO SALE PROMOTION ACTIVITIES

Vietnamese traders, foreign-invested enterprises in Vietnam, Vietnamese traders’ branches and branches of Vietnam-based foreign traders, hereafter referred collectively to as traders, may apply forms of sale promotion for goods and services falling under their business scope and must abide by the provisions in Article 183 and Article 185 of the Commercial Law, as well as the provisions in Decree No. 32/1999/ND-CP and this Circular.

Representative offices of Vietnamese traders, foreign-invested enterprises in Vietnam and of Vietnam-based foreign traders must mot carry out sale promotion activities.

II. GOODS AND/OR SERVICES ENTITLED TO SALE PROMOTION AND GOODS AND/OR SERVICES USED FOR SALE PROMOTION

1. Goods and/or services entitled to sale promotion

a/ Goods and/or services entitled to sale promotion are those traded in or provided by the traders, for which sale promotion forms are applied in order to promote their sale and/or provision.

b/ Goods and/or services entitled to sale promotion must be outside the list of goods banned from circulation, commercial serviced banned from provision, and must comply with law provisions on goods and services circulated or provided on the market.

2. Goods and/or services used for sale promotion

a/ Goods and/or services used for sale promotion are those falling within or outside the business scope of traders and are given by the traders to their customers as presents or rewards.

b/ Goods and/or services used for sale promotion must be outside the list of goods banned from circulation, commercial serviced banned from provision as prescribed by law at the time of sale promotion application, and must comply with the provisions of legislation on goods circulated on the market.

c/ It is forbidden to use liquor, beer or cigarettes for sale promotion for children aged under 26 years.

d/ The value of goods and/or services used for sale promotion for one unit of goods and/or services entitled to sale promotion must not exceed 30% of the pre-sale promotion unit price of such goods or service, except for the forms of sale promotion prescribed in Articles 8, 9 and 10 of Decree No. 32/1999/ND-CP

Unit price of goods or services entitled to sale promotion is the pre-sale promotion payment prices of such goods or services.

III. PROCEDURES FOR APPLICATION OF SALE PROMOTION FORMS

1. In order to apply the sale promotion forms prescribed in Article 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9 of Decree No. 32/1999/ND-CP, the traders shall only notify in writing the provincial/municipal Trader Services of the localities where they organize sale promotion of the sale promotion forms, and the time of sale promotion commencement and terminal.

Particularly for the application of the sale promotion forms of " Selling goods or providing services together with coupons or other forms of winning prizes according to rules and prizes already announced" (Article 8) and "Selling goods or providing services together with contest coupons for customers so as to select prize winners according to rules and prizes already announced" (Article 9), at the end of sale promotion, the trader must notify the provincial/municipal Trade Services of the localities where they organize sale promotion of the prize-winning results according to the already announced rules within 30 (thirty) days after the end of sale promotion, and at the same time, announce the prize-winning results at least a mass medium.

2. For the sale promotion form of " Selling goods or providing services together with lottery tickets for drawing prizes according to the rules and prizes already announced " (Article 10), the traders must get the written consent of competent State agency(ies) before applying such form, more concretely :

a/ For sale promotion organized within a province or centrally-run city, the traders must get the written consents of the provincial/municipal Trade Service of the locality where they organize the prize drawing.

b/ For sale promotion organized simultaneously at a time within two or more provinces or centrally-run cities, the traders must get the written consent of the Trade Ministry.

c/ The requesting dossiers and time for consideration and approval shall comply with the provisions in Clause 2, Article 10 of Decree No. 32/1999/ND-CP

3. In the cases where sale promotion is organized in forms other than those prescribed in Decree No. 32/1999/ND-CP, the traders must get the written consent of the Trade Ministry before applying such forms.

a/ The traders shall send the dossiers requesting the organization of sale promotion to the Trade Ministry within 15 (fifteen) days before the date the sale promotion is expected to commence.

b/ A dossier requesting sale promotion organization comprises :

- An application for sale promotion organization, which contains sale promotion forms; goods and/or services entitle to sale promotion; goods and/or services used for sale promotion; time of sale promotion; and location where sale promotion is organized ;

- Sale promotion rules .

c/ The Trade Ministry shall consider to permit or not to permit (clearly stating the reasons therefor) in writing the traders to organize sale promotion and send copies of this document to the Trade Services of the provinces or centrally-run cities where the traders organize sale promotion within 7 (seven) working days after receiving the complete and valid dossiers.

d/ Sale promotion organizing traders shall send reports on the results of the implementation of sale promotion programs to the Trade Ministry and the provincial/municipal Trade Services of the localities where they organize sale promotion within 30 (thirty) days after the end of sale promotion.

IV. IMPLEMENTATION ORGANIZATION AND HANDLING OF VIOLATIONS

1. The provincial/municipal Trade Services of the localities where traders organize sale promotion shall have to supervise, inspect and handle the violations committed by the sale promotion-organizing traders according to law provisions.

2. Traders committing acts of violating the provisions in Decree No. 32/1999/ND-CP and this Circular shall, depending on the seriousness of their violations, be handled according to law provisions.

3. This Circular takes effect 15 days after its signing and replaces the regulations on sale promotion in legal documents, issued previously by the Trade Ministry.