The National Assembly on November 3 heard Minister of Industry and Trade Nguyen Hong Dien present the draft Law on E-commerce. Dien said the draft law consists of seven chapters and 48 articles.

General responsibilities for entities participating in e-commerce activities include: transparency of information, regular online reporting, control of illegal content, and storage of transaction data.

Regarding information transparency, the draft law requires e-commerce platforms to ensure public disclosure of the following: ownership information; seller information (a new requirement compared with current decrees, requiring seller details to be displayed); product and service information; and basic operational conditions on the platform.

For regular online reporting, the draft specifies that reports must be submitted via the e-commerce management platform or upon request by competent state agencies. Large digital platforms must submit real-time reports on content removals through the e-commerce management system.

E-commerce platforms must implement automated information pre-screening mechanisms before content is displayed and review or remove illegal information upon detection or user reports.

Additionally, platforms must store transaction data, including information about products and services posted on the platform for at least one year from the posting date, and information related to contract content for at least three years from the date of contract signing.

For livestream sales, the draft law clearly defines platform operators’ responsibilities. Specifically, platform owners must verify the identity of livestream hosts and publicly implement real-time monitoring mechanisms for livestream sales content.

Sellers must provide livestream hosts with legal documents proving their eligibility to sell products. Livestream hosts must not provide false or misleading information about product functions, origin, quality, price, promotions, or warranty policies.

They must also comply with approved advertising content for goods and services as confirmed by competent authorities.

Regarding affiliate marketing, the draft law stipulates that organizations providing affiliate marketing services must identify affiliates, monitor their activities, and block or remove links promoting illegal goods or services.

Affiliate marketers must not provide false or misleading information about usage, origin, quality, price, promotions, warranty policies and other content related to goods and services; and must not conduct affiliate marketing on digital platforms publicly announced by competent state agencies as violating the law.

Clearer regulations needed for livestream sales

Presenting the verification report, Chair of the NA’s Economics and Finance Committee Phan Van Mai said the committee proposes to continue improving regulations on the responsibilities of managers of various types of e-commerce platforms, toward ensuring feasibility with the characteristics of each platform type and level of platform participation in the contract conclusion process performed on the platform.

The committee proposes to review and clarify the scope of manager responsibilities determined based on online ordering functions, livestream selling attached to ordering through online ordering functions on the platform or having features supporting payment services, and logistics services (including forms of support integrated with online contact functions) on the platform in order to have appropriate regulations.

Regarding livestream selling and affiliate marketing activities, according to the verification agency, clearer regulations are needed on aspects of these activities separately regulated by the e-commerce Law.

This regulation also needs to distinguish from general content regulated by the Cybersecurity Law, Network Information Security Law, Advertising Law, and Consumer Rights Protection Law.

The verification agency also proposes to improve regulations according to the principle of ensuring the goal of protecting consumer rights, protecting domestic production based on compliance with international commitments, and creating a competitive, equal and harmonious benefit environment among subjects.

The Department of E-commerce and Digital Economy under the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MOIT) recently highlighted several significant trends shaping the global and domestic e-commerce landscape.

OpenAI has ushered its GPT Pro platform into a new era with the “Buy Direct in Chat” feature, allowing users to make purchases directly within conversations. This marks the beginning of “AI Commerce,” where AI not only provides recommendations but also acts as a direct transaction bridge.

Domestically, in an official letter to the Ministry of FInance regarding the implementation of Government Resolutions 226 and 230, MOIT raised its forecast for B2C e-commerce growth rate in 2025 to 25.5 percent. The total value of B2C e-commerce transactions is expected to reach $26-28 billion, with a long-term goal of $50 billion by 2030.

This surge is mainly driven by platforms such as Shopee, TikTok Shop, and Lazada, fueled by the growing trend of video-based shopping.

Nguyen Le