Law on Protection of Consumer Rights

The 2023 Law on Protection of Consumer Rights (the Law) will enter into force on July 1 this year and replace its 2010 predecessor with revisions made in 2018.

The Law introduces principles of and policies on protection of consumer rights; rights and obligations of consumers; responsibilities of business organizations and individuals toward consumers; activities of agencies and organizations to protect consumer rights; settlement of disputes between consumers and business organizations and individuals; and state management of protection of consumer rights.

The Law plays an important role in the system of legal documents on protection of consumer rights, serving as a basis for the formulation and implementation of other legal documents concerning protection of consumer rights. It has helped deal with shortcomings and inadequacies revealed in the 2010 Law on Protection of Consumer Rights and relevant codes and laws to frame a complete legal system regulating the issue of protection of consumer rights.

The Law, with seven chapters and 80 articles, contains salient new provisions compared to the 2010 version.

Subjects of application

The Law applies to consumers; business organizations and individuals; the Vietnam Fatherland Front; socio-political organizations; social organizations (including socio-political-professional organizations, social organizations and socio-professional organizations) participating in the protection of consumer rights; and domestic and foreign agencies, organizations and individuals related to the protection of consumer rights.

Compared to the current regulations, the Vietnam Fatherland Front, socio-political organizations and social organizations are added as new subjects of application of the Law. For transactions with cross-border elements and transactions in cyberspace, the Law adds foreign agencies, organizations and individuals related to the protection of consumer rights to its subjects of application.

The Law offers definitions of terms of a number of new subjects, e.g., influencers, vulnerable consumers, organizations and individuals conducting business in cyberspace, multi-level marketing organizations and individuals participating in multi-level marketing.

Rights and obligations of consumers

In order to raise the role and position of consumers in new consumption trends and, at the same time, ensure a balance between rights and obligations of consumers, the Law additionally provides a number of new consumer rights in Article 4. Accordingly, consumers will be given the opportunity to choose a healthy and sustainable consumption environment. They will also have the right to request organization of negotiations or assistance in negotiations to resolve arising disputes. Concurrently, the Law adds a number of consumer obligations. As stated in Article 5.3 of the Law, consumers are obliged to comply with regulations on inspection, environmental protection and sustainable consumption. They are held responsible for provision of inaccurate or inadequate information about their transactions with business organizations and individuals under Article 5.5 of the Law.

Responsibilities of business organizations and individuals toward consumers

Responsibilities of business organizations and individuals toward consumers are defined in Chapter II of the Law.

The Law introduces new provisions on responsibilities for assurance of safety, measurement, quantity, volume, quality and utility of products, goods and services sold and provided to consumers; and responsibility for protection of consumer information. It also adds provisions on responsibility to receive and settle consumers’ feedback, requests and complaints; and responsibility for provision of services that are at variance with those in the registered, notified, announced, posted, advertised, introduced, concluded or committed contents.

Regarding recall of defective products and goods, the Law classifies defective products and goods into two groups. Group A consists of products and goods that are likely to cause harms to consumers’ life and health while group B is composed of products and goods that are likely to cause harms to consumers’ property. Defective products and goods that are likely to harm consumer’s life, health and property will be treated as group-A defective products and goods. For each group of defective products and goods, the Law specifies the corresponding responsibility for the recall to help business organizations and individuals identify groups of defective products and goods and recall them in an appropriate manner.

By VLLF