Circular No. 22/2021/TT-BTTTT provides detailed regulations on certain provisions of the Government's Decree No. 91/2020/NĐ-CP dated August 14, 2020, concerning spam messages, spam emails, and spam calls.

COPY; Ministry of Information and Communications, 14/12/2021 11:31:36

CIRCULAR

Detailed regulations on certain provisions of Decree No. 91/2020/NĐ-CP dated August 14, 2020 of the Government on combating spam messages, spam emails, and spam calls

Pursuant to the Law on Information Technology dated June 29, 2006;

Pursuant to the Law on Telecommunications dated November 23, 2009;

Pursuant to the Advertising Law dated June 21, 2012;

Pursuant to the Law on Cybersecurity dated November 19, 2015,

Pursuant to Decree No. 91/2020/NĐ-CP dated August 14, 2020 of the Government on combating spam messages, spam emails, and spam calls;

Pursuant to Decree No. 17/2017/NĐ-CP dated February 17, 2017, issued by the Government, on the functions, tasks, powers, and organizational structure of the Ministry of Information and Communications;

At the request of the Director of the Cybersecurity Agency,

The Minister of Information and Communications issues this Circular detailing certain provisions of Decree No. 91/2020/NĐ-CP dated August 14, 2020 of the Government on combating spam messages, spam emails, and spam calls.

Article 1. Scope of Regulation

This Circular details certain provisions of Decree No. 91/2020/NĐ-CP dated August 14, 2020 of the Government on combating spam messages, spam emails, and spam calls.

Article 2. Applicability

This Circular applies to organizations and individuals related to activities concerning the combating of spam messages, spam emails, and spam calls, and sending promotional messages, promotional emails, and promotional calls in Vietnam as stipulated in Article 2 of Decree No. 91/2020/NĐ-CP.

Article 3. Explanation of Terms

1. Message source is the information source identified as sending messages to a subscriber.

2. Call source is the information source identified as making calls to a subscriber.

3. Email source is the information source identified as sending emails to a specific email address.

4. Message recipient or call recipient is the subscriber identified as receiving messages or calls from the message source.

5. Email recipient is the email address receiving information from the email source.

6. USSD message is an information exchange message between the user and telecommunications enterprises displayed directly on the phone screen, allowing the user to interact through the keypad.

Article 4. Criteria for identifying spam messages, spam calls, and spam emails

1. A message is determined to be a spam message based on the following criteria:

a) Frequency of sending messages is the number of messages sent from the message source within a period of time;

b) Usage behavior characteristics: The main usage of the source is for sending messages with low rates of making and receiving calls; Ratio of sending messages to subscribers without relationships is the ratio of messages sent to subscribers without relationships (who have not previously received messages) over the total number of messages sent;

c) Spam message template is a common set of characters used to identify spam messages including templates collected and shared by telecommunications enterprises.

2. A call is determined to be a spam call based on the following criteria:

a) Frequency of making calls is the number of calls made from the call source within a period of time;

b) Usage behavior characteristics: The main usage of the source is for making outgoing calls without answering and sending messages; Ratio of short call duration is the ratio of calls with short connection times (from when the call connects until it ends) over the total number of calls; Ratio of short intervals between calls is the ratio of calls with short intervals between consecutive calls over the total number of calls; Ratio of calls to subscribers without relationships is the ratio of calls to telephone numbers without relationships (who have not previously been called) over the total number of outgoing calls.

3. An email is determined to be a spam email based on the following criteria:

a) Frequency of sending emails: is the number of emails sent from an email address within a period of time;

b) Usage behavior characteristics:

The source only uses for sending emails without using for receiving or exchanging information;

Ratio of sending emails to other addresses without relationships: is the ratio of emails sent to email addresses without relationships (who have not previously exchanged emails) over the total number of emails sent.

c) Technology used for sending and receiving emails.

Article 5. Guide users to report and provide evidence to the System for Receiving Reports on Spam Messages, Spam Emails, and Spam Calls.

1. Guide users to report and provide evidence of spam messages:

a) Report through a message to the hotline 5656: Users compose a reporting message according to the format: S [Source of dissemination][Content of spam message] or S (source of dissemination)(Content of spam message) sent to 5656;

b) Report following the instructions at the website thongbaorac.ais.gov.vn or through the hotline or application.

2. Guide users to report and provide evidence of spam calls:

a) Report through a message to the hotline 5656: Users compose a reporting message according to the format: V [Source of dissemination] [Content of spam call] or V (source of dissemination)(Content of spam call) sent to 5656;

b) Report following the instructions at the website thongbaorac.ais.gov.vn or through the hotline or application.

3. Guide users to report and provide evidence of spam emails:

a) Report by forwarding spam emails to the email address: [email protected];

b) Report following the instructions at the website thongbaorac.ais.gov.vn or through the hotline or application.

Article 6. Guide users on how to register or cancel the No Advertising List.

1. Registration or cancellation of the No Advertising List can be carried out through one of the following methods:

a) Register or cancel via SMS (through the number 5656);

b) Register or cancel via the website (khongquangcao.ais.gov.vn) or hotline or application.

2. Content of registration or cancellation.

a) Register or cancel the No Advertising List for receiving no promotional messages.

Registration syntax: DK DNC S sent to 5656;

Cancellation syntax: HUY DNC S sent to 5656.

b) Register or cancel the No Advertising List for receiving no promotional calls.

Registration syntax: DK DNCV sent to 5656;

Cancellation syntax: HUY DNCV sent to 5656.

c) Register or cancel the No Advertising List for receiving no promotional messages and calls.

Registration syntax: DK DNC sent to 5656;

Cancellation syntax: HUY DNC sent to 5656.

3. Any registration or cancellation of the No Advertising List through the website or application must be verified through the phone number that has registered or canceled.

Article 7. Guide on implementing the assessment of the status of spam messages and spam calls on telecommunications networks.

1. The Cybersecurity Agency shall conduct statistics on user reports of spam messages and spam calls on the System for Receiving Reports on Spam Messages and Spam Calls (through the number 5656).

2. Telecommunications enterprises shall conduct statistics and update data according to the model issued together with this Circular on the System for Receiving Reports on Spam Messages and Spam Calls of the Cybersecurity Agency.

Article 8. Regulations on sending the first and only advertising registration message.

1. Advertisers may only send the first and only advertising registration message to one mobile number. The first and only advertising registration message must be labeled with the format DKQC. The label must be placed at the beginning of the message.

2. The minimum content of the message includes:

a) Introduction of the advertiser requesting registration;

b) Guidance on registering to receive advertisements through the system established by the advertiser;

c) Guidance on refusing through the system established by the advertiser.

3. The first and only advertising registration message may only be sent from 07:00 to 22:00.

4. Within 24 hours from the time of sending the first and only advertising registration message, if the user does not respond, the advertiser may not send any further advertising registration messages or promotional messages to that phone number.

5. Advertisers must simultaneously send a copy of the first and only advertising registration message to the number 5656 and synchronize the registration and refusal data of the first and only advertising registration message to the No Advertising List management system.

Article 9. Guidelines for displaying the identifier name in USSD messages and promotional calls

1. The identifier name in USSD messages shall be displayed in the advertising bulletin.

2. Telecommunications enterprises are responsible for implementing technical solutions to ensure the display of the identifier name for calls made with promotional purposes.

Article 10. Provisions on implementation

2. Abolishing Clause 11 of Article 1 of Circular No. 32/2020/TT-BGTVT dated December 14, 2020, issued by the Minister of Transport amending and supplementing certain articles of Circular No. 29/2018/TT-BGTVT dated May 14, 2018, on quality inspection, technical safety, and environmental protection for railway transportation vehicles and Circular No. 31/2018/TT-BGTVT dated May 15, 2018, on the implementation of system safety assessment for urban railways.

2. The Head of the Office, the Director of the Information Security Department, the Heads of agencies and units under the Ministry, the Directors of Provincial Departments of Information and Communications, the General Directors, and the Directors of telecommunications enterprises, Internet service providers, email service providers, and related organizations and individuals are responsible for implementing this Circular.

3. During the implementation process, if any difficulties arise, they should promptly report to the Ministry of Information and Communications (Information Security Department) for consideration, guidance, and resolution./.

ANNEX

(issued pursuant to Circular No. 22/2021/TT-BTTTT dated December 13, 2021 of the Ministry of Information and Communications)

Template for updating spam message and call data

UPDATE SPAM MESSAGE AND CALL DATA

(Reporting Month: .../2021)

1. Message Data

2. Call Data

____________________

(¹) Number of valid user complaints about spam messages (on number 5656)*: Is the number of spam message complaints recorded on the spam message complaint reception system (on number 5656) when complete information about the source of dissemination; complaint number; meaningful complaint content; non-repetitive complaints within one hour simultaneously regarding: source of dissemination, complaint number, complaint content, and verified by telecommunications enterprises to have data on their systems.

(²) Number of incoming messages received by subscribers on that network: Is the total number of messages received by subscribers of that network including messages from user to user; from application to user; messages from identifiers, short numbers, excluding incoming international messages.

(³) Number of inter-network spam messages from Network A: Is the total number of spam messages from Network A sent to other networks, intercepted by other networks and reported to the Information Security Department.

(⁴) Number of messages sent to other networks from Network A: Is the total number of messages sent from Network A to other networks reported by Network A to the Information Security Department.

(⁵) Number of spam message disseminating subscribers blocked by Network A: Is the number of one-way blocked subscribers due to spam message dissemination behavior.

(⁶) Number of valid user complaints about spam calls (on number 5656): Is the number of spam call complaints recorded on the spam message complaint reception system (on number 5656) when complete information about: source of dissemination; complaint number; meaningful complaint content; non-repetitive complaints within one hour simultaneously regarding: source of dissemination, complaint number, complaint content, and verified by telecommunications enterprises to have data on their systems.

(⁷) Number of outgoing calls: Is the number of calls generated by subscribers on that network including intra-network and inter-network calls.