Cross-border e-commerce platforms to be required to establish offices in Vietnam

Foreign e-commerce platforms providing cross-border services in Vietnam would have to apply for a license and establish their representative offices or designate legal entities to act as their authorized representatives in Vietnam.

This new regulation has been proposed by the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MOIT) in the latest draft Law on E-commerce.

According to the MOIT, registration of e-commerce activities and establishment of representative offices are currently provided in Decree 52 of 2013 which was revised by Decree 85 of 2021. However, such requirement is only applicable to traders and organizations operating websites with the Vietnamese domain name, displaying Vietnamese language or having more than 100,000 transactions originating from Vietnam per year. However, some cross-border e-commerce platforms that have not registered to operate in Vietnam like Temu and Shein still persist in providing services that enable users to download apps, purchase goods, and make payment on their platforms.

Under the draft Law, if cross-border e-commerce platforms have yet to complete registration procedures with the competent agency, they would be prohibited from selling goods and providing services. Entities providing e-commerce support services such as intermediary, logistics or payment services would also be disallowed to cooperate with and provide services to platforms that fail to meet law-specified conditions for operation in Vietnam.

The draft also requires e-commerce platforms to authenticate foreign sellers and compensate purchasers upon occurrence of violations on their platforms.



E-commerce platform owners would have to provide information on goods and services and classify domestic and foreign goods sold on their platforms. Foreign goods and services marketed to Vietnam must adhere to local standards and regulations.

Persons selling goods or providing services on e-commerce platforms would have to comply with identification and e-authentication regulations before conducting transactions. They would also have to provide e-commerce platforms with personal information, including name, address, identification number, and personal income tax identification number.

The draft Law is scheduled to be passed by the National Assembly in May 2026.-