A customer buys goods online. (Photo: daidoanket.vn) According to the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT)’sE-commerce and Digital Economy Agency, it will coordinate with other relevantunits under the Ministry of Information and Communications, and the Ministry ofFinance to take measures in connecting and sharing data to strengthen themanagement of business activities on social networks in particular and incyberspace in general.
The inspection will be also applied to see the responsibilities ofe-commerce exchanges and social networks in screening, preventing and blockingaccounts that do not provide adequate information and have signs of tradingviolated and counterfeit goods.
The agency will continue to work closely with the MoIT’s MarketManagement Agency, the Ministry of Public Security’s Department ofCybersecurity and High-Tech Crime Prevention, the Ministry of Science andTechnology, and the Ministry of Information and Communications to inspect andsupervise the businesses’ compliance with the law on e-commerce according tothe plans approved by the Minister of Industry and Trade.
It will also review existing policies to take practicaladjustments with an aim to better manage e-commerce business activities.
The agency will upgrade infrastructure systems and supportingservices for e-commerce besides developing and applying new technologies ine-commerce, and supporting the digital transformation of enterprises.
In addition, it will promote training to improve the inspectionand handling of violations in e-commerce. Events on anti-counterfeiting andenhancing the responsibility of e-commerce website owners in protectingconsumers' interests will be also organised.
In 2022, Vietnam's e-commerce sector continually developed tobecome an important distribution channel. During the economic recovery periodafter the pandemic, e-commerce has been one of the pioneering areas of thedigital economy.
According to a survey of the Ministry of Industry and Trade,retail e-commerce revenue in Vietnam last year surged by 20% compared to2021, reaching 16.4 billion USD, accounting for 7.5% of the country’stotal retail sales of goods and services.
With the goals of creating trust for consumers in online shopping,protecting healthy traders and promoting e-commerce development, the departmentreviewed and requested e-commerce companies to remove or lock 1,663 stalls with6,437 violated and counterfeit goods, and block five infringing websites.
However, to both prevent tax loss and ensure the legitimateinterests of business individuals, experts said there should be regulations onthe responsibility of information security of relevant organisations andindividuals. Specifically, the responsibility for the security of websites andthe responsibility to provide information to the tax authorities, helping tomake tax management more effective.
According to Associate Professor Le Xuan Truong, Director ofthe Academy of Finance’s Faculty of Taxation and Customs under the Ministry ofFinance, the Government should add a regulation that forces e-commerce tradingfloors to be responsible for withholding and paying taxes on behalf ofindividuals as well as perform payment intermediary services and participate inoperating and controlling delivery activities and receiving money from buyers.
He added that more than 40 countries have so far regulated theresponsibility of e-commerce exchanges in deducting taxes of individuals if thefloor provides payment services, or directly participates in the delivery andreceipt of goods of buyers and sellers./.
VNA
