Ordinance No. 39/2001/PL-UBTVQH10 on Advertising

ORDINANCE

On Advertising

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To enhance the effectiveness of state management over advertising, to protect the rights and legitimate interests of consumers, organizations, and individuals in advertising activities, and to contribute to promoting economic and social development;

Based on the Constitution of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam in 1992;

Based on the Resolution of the 10th National Assembly, 8th Session regarding the Law and Ordinance Building Program for 2001;

This Ordinance stipulates on advertising.

Chapter 1:

GENERAL PROVISIONS

Article 1. Scope of Regulation and Applicability

1. This Ordinance stipulates on advertising activities; the rights and obligations of organizations and individuals in advertising activities.

2. This Ordinance applies to Vietnamese organizations and individuals, and foreign organizations and individuals conducting advertising activities within the territory of Vietnam. In cases where international treaties to which the Socialist Republic of Vietnam is a party have different provisions, such treaties shall be applied.

Article 2. Advertising Rights of Organizations and Individuals

Organizations and individuals have the right to directly advertise their business operations, goods, and services, or to hire organizations and individuals engaged in advertising service businesses to conduct advertising for them.

Article 3. State Policy on Advertising Activities

1. The State protects the rights and legitimate interests of advertisers, advertising service providers, advertising distributors, and consumers.

2. The State creates conditions for advertising service providers and advertising distributors to develop diverse types of advertising, improve the quality of advertising, and contribute to economic and social development.

3. The State encourages overseas Vietnamese and foreign organizations and individuals to cooperate and invest in developing advertising services in Vietnam.

Article 4. Definitions

In this Ordinance, the following terms shall be understood as follows:

1. Advertising is the introduction to consumers about business operations, goods, and services, including profit-oriented services and non-profit-oriented services.

Profit-oriented services are services aimed at generating profits for the organizations or individuals providing such services.

Non-profit-oriented services are services not aimed at generating profits for the organizations or individuals providing such services.

2. Advertisers are organizations or individuals who need to advertise their business operations, goods, and services.

3. Advertised products are products that embody the content and form of advertising.

4. Advertising distributors are organizations or individuals who deliver advertised products to consumers, including news agencies, publishers, organizations managing computer information networks, organizers of cultural, sports, trade fair, and exhibition programs, and organizations or individuals using other advertising media.

5. Promoting advertising is the activity of seeking and promoting opportunities to sign advertising service contracts and providing advertising services.

6. Advertising service providers are organizations or individuals who carry out one, several, or all stages of the advertising process with the aim of generating profits.

Article 5. Prohibited Acts in Advertising Activities

Strictly prohibit the following acts:

1. Advertising that discloses state secrets, harms national independence, sovereignty, national defense, security, and public safety;

2. Advertising that goes against historical traditions, culture, ethics, and good customs and practices of the Vietnamese people;

3. Using the National Flag, Party Flag, State Emblem, National Anthem, or its melody, images of leaders, images of Vietnamese currency, traffic signs for advertising purposes;

4. Deceptive advertising;

5. Advertising that negatively impacts urban aesthetics, landscapes, environment, and traffic safety;

6. Using advertising to defame the reputation and credibility or infringe upon the rights and legitimate interests of organizations and individuals;

7. Advertising products, goods that are not permitted to circulate, or services that are not permitted to be performed at the time of advertising;

8. Advertising goods or services prohibited from being traded or advertised under the law.

Chapter 2:

ADVERTISING ACTIVITIES

Article 6. Content of Advertising

1. The content of advertising includes information about business activities, goods, and services.

2. Information about business activities, goods, and services in advertising must be truthful, accurate, clear, and not cause damage to producers, traders, and consumers.

Article 7. Forms of Advertising

1. The form of advertising is the representation of advertising products through speech, writing, symbols, colors, light, images, actions, sounds, and other forms.

2. The form of advertising must be clear, easy to understand, and aesthetically pleasing.

3. The form of advertising must have distinguishing signs between advertising information and non-advertising information to avoid confusion for producers, traders, and consumers.

Article 8. Speech and Writing in Advertising

1. Speech and writing used in advertising shall be in Vietnamese, except in the following cases:

a) Internationalized terms, trademarks, or terms that cannot be replaced with Vietnamese;

b) Advertising through books, newspapers, publications permitted to be published in ethnic minority languages in Vietnam, foreign languages; radio, television programs in ethnic minority languages in Vietnam, foreign languages.

2. In cases where both Vietnamese and ethnic minority languages in Vietnam, or foreign languages are used on the same advertising product, Vietnamese should be written first, followed by ethnic minority languages and foreign languages, and the size of the characters in ethnic minority languages and foreign languages must not exceed the size of the Vietnamese characters.

Article 9. Advertising Media

Advertising media include:

1. Press including printed newspapers, spoken newspapers, visual newspapers, electronic newspapers;

2. Computer information networks;

3. Publications including films, photographs, video tapes, video discs, audio tapes, audio discs;

4. Cultural and sports events;

5. Trade fairs, exhibitions;

6. Boards, signs, posters, banners, screens placed in public places;

7. Luminescent objects, objects in the air, underwater;

8. Means of transportation, other mobile objects;

9. Goods;

10. Other advertising media as prescribed by law.

Article 10. Advertising in the Press

1. Printed newspapers may contain advertising up to 10% of their area, except for dedicated advertising newspapers; each advertising campaign for a single advertised product shall not exceed five days for daily newspapers or five consecutive issues for periodical newspapers; advertising campaigns shall be separated by at least five days for daily newspapers or four consecutive issues for periodical newspapers; advertising of business activities, goods, and services shall not appear on the front page or cover of the newspaper.

2. Spoken newspapers may contain advertising up to 5% of the program duration, except for dedicated advertising channels; each broadcast campaign for a single advertised product shall not exceed eight days, except in special cases prescribed by the Government; each day shall not exceed ten broadcasts; advertising campaigns shall be separated by at least five days; advertising shall not immediately follow the station identification music or during news programs.

3. Visual newspapers may contain advertising up to 5% of the program duration, except for dedicated advertising channels; each broadcast campaign for a single advertised product shall not exceed eight days, except in special cases prescribed by the Government; each day shall not exceed ten broadcasts; advertising campaigns shall be separated by at least five days; advertising shall not immediately follow the station identification image or during news programs.

4. Electronic newspapers shall be subject to the same regulations as printed newspapers as stipulated in Clause 1 of this Article.

Article 11. Advertising on computer information networks

Advertising on computer information networks must be carried out in accordance with the provisions of the law on advertising, access services, connection services, and the provision of various types of advertising services on computer information networks; implementing technical and operational regulations to ensure state secrecy.

Article 12. Advertising in publications

Advertising in publications shall be implemented according to the following provisions:

1. Only products that serve educational purposes may be advertised on the covers of student notebooks.

2. Films, video tapes, video discs, audio tapes, audio discs, and other recording media may not exceed 5% of the program duration for advertising.

3. It is prohibited to advertise business activities, goods, and services on the front cover of books; it is also prohibited to advertise in textbooks, teaching materials, and political works.

4. Other provisions of the law on publishing and the provisions of this Ordinance.

Article 13. Advertising in cultural, sports, trade fair, and exhibition programs

Advertising through cultural, sports, trade fair, and exhibition programs must be carried out in accordance with the provisions of the law on performing arts, sports, trade fairs, exhibitions, and the provisions of this Ordinance.

Article 14. Advertising on other means

Advertising on the means specified in Points 6, 7, 8, and 10 of Article 9 of this Ordinance must comply with the provisions of the law on advertising, urban and rural planning, ensuring urban aesthetics, landscape, environment, traffic safety, and social security.

Article 15. Conditions for advertising business activities, goods, and services

1. The conditions for advertising business activities, goods, and services are stipulated as follows:

a) Advertising goods listed in the quality inspection catalog or the quality certification catalog must have a quality certification document from the competent state management agency for goods quality; in cases where standards are self-declared, a self-declaration document must be provided; if the goods are intellectual property objects, a certificate of intellectual property rights must be provided.

b) Advertising assets that the law requires to be registered for ownership must have a certificate of asset ownership.

c) Advertising about business activities, goods, and services must have a business registration certificate.

d) Advertising on computer information networks; on boards, signs, posters, banners, screens placed in public places, luminous objects, objects in the air, underwater, transportation vehicles, and other mobile objects must have an advertising implementation permit issued by the competent state management agency for Culture and Information.

2. Advertisers must present the documents specified in Clause 1 of this Article to advertising service providers or advertising publishers; advertising service providers must present the documents specified in Clause 1 of this Article to advertising publishers.

Article 16. Competent authority and procedures for issuing advertising implementation permits

1. The Ministry of Culture and Information issues permits for advertising on computer information networks, radio channels and programs, television channels and programs dedicated to advertising, and for special pages and supplements dedicated to advertising.

2. Provincial Departments of Culture and Information issue permits for advertising on boards, signs, posters, banners, screens placed in public places, luminous objects, objects in the air, underwater, transportation vehicles, and other mobile objects.

3. The Ministry of Culture and Information specifies in detail the procedures for issuing advertising implementation permits.

Article 17. Advertising Service Contracts

The hiring of advertising services must be established through a contract. An advertising service contract must include the following contents:

1. Names and addresses of the parties to the contract;

2. Forms, contents, means, and products of advertising;

3. Time, location, and scope of advertising;

4. Service fees, related costs, and payment methods;

5. Rights and obligations of the parties;

6. Liability for breach of contract;

7. Other contents agreed upon by the parties.

Chapter 3:

FOREIGN FACTOR ADVERTISING ACTIVITIES

Article 18. Advertising by foreign organizations and individuals

1. Foreign organizations and individuals operating in Vietnam may directly advertise their business activities, goods, and services, or hire Vietnamese advertising service providers or Vietnamese advertising distributors to carry out advertising on their behalf.

2. Foreign organizations and individuals not operating in Vietnam wishing to advertise their business activities, goods, and services in Vietnam must hire Vietnamese advertising service providers or Vietnamese advertising distributors to carry out advertising on their behalf.

Article 19. Representative Office for Advertising

The representative office of foreign organizations and individuals engaged in advertising services in Vietnam can only operate after obtaining permission from the competent state agency and can only engage in promoting advertising, not directly engaging in advertising service business.

Article 20. Branches for Advertising

Foreign organizations and individuals engaged in advertising services may establish branches in Vietnam to conduct advertising service business.

The Government shall specify the establishment and operation of foreign advertising branches in Vietnam.

Article 21. Cooperation and Investment in Advertising Activities

Vietnamese organizations and individuals engaged in advertising services may cooperate and invest in advertising activities with foreign organizations and individuals in accordance with the provisions of the law.

Article 22. Advertising Abroad

Vietnamese organizations and individuals may advertise their business activities, goods, and services abroad in accordance with the provisions of the law.

Chapter 4:

RIGHTS AND OBLIGATIONS OF ORGANIZATIONS AND INDIVIDUALS ENGAGED IN ADVERTISING

Article 23. Rights and Obligations of Advertisers

1. Advertisers have the following rights:

a) To advertise about their business activities, goods, and services;

b) To choose advertising service providers, advertising distributors, means, and forms of advertising;

c) To register intellectual property protection for their advertising products;

d) Other rights as prescribed by law.

2. Advertisers have the following obligations:

a) To ensure that advertising is consistent with the content of the business registration certificate;

b) To guarantee that the content of advertising is truthful and accurate;

c) To fulfill obligations stipulated in contracts;

d) To fulfill other obligations prescribed by law.

Article 24. Rights and Obligations of Advertising Service Providers

1. Advertising service providers have the following rights:

a) To choose forms and fields of advertising service business;

b) To request advertisers to provide truthful and accurate information about the content of advertising;

c) To register intellectual property protection for their advertising products;

d) To cooperate with organizations and individuals in advertising activities;

đ) To participate in domestic and international advertising associations;

e) Other rights as prescribed by law.

2. Advertising service providers have the following obligations:

a) To comply with the provisions of the business registration certificate;

b) To comply with the provisions of the law on advertising;

c) To fulfill obligations stipulated in advertising service contracts;

d) To compensate for damages caused by themselves;

đ) To fulfill other obligations prescribed by law.

Article 25. Rights and Obligations of Advertising Publishers

1. Advertising publishers have the right to advertise on their own media and charge service fees for advertising publication in accordance with the provisions of the law.

2. Advertising publishers shall perform the following obligations:

a) Comply with the provisions of the law on press, publishing, management of computer network information, cultural, sports, fair, exhibition programs, and this Ordinance when using press, publications, computer network information, cultural, sports, fair, exhibition programs, and other advertising media for advertising purposes;

b) Fulfill advertising publication contracts signed with advertisers or advertising service providers;

c) Compensate for damages caused by themselves.

d) To fulfill other obligations prescribed by law.

Article 26. Rights and Obligations of Advertising Media Leasing Parties

1. Advertising media leasing parties have the following rights:

a) To select advertisers and advertising service providers;

b) To collect rental fees from leasing advertising media according to the agreement in the contract;

c) Other rights related to leasing advertising media in accordance with the provisions of the law.

2. Advertising media leasing parties shall perform the following obligations:

a) To fulfill all obligations stipulated in the advertising media leasing contract;

b) To compensate for damages caused by themselves;

c) To perform other obligations related to leasing advertising media in accordance with the provisions of the law.

Article 27. Taxes, Fees, and Charges for Advertising

Advertisers, advertising service providers, advertising publishers, and advertising media leasing parties have the obligation to pay taxes, fees, and charges in accordance with the provisions of the law.

Chapter 5:

STATE MANAGEMENT OF ADVERTISING

Article 28. Content of State Management of Advertising

The content of state management of advertising includes:

1. Developing and directing the implementation of planning, policies, and plans for advertising development;

2. Issuing and organizing the implementation of legal normative documents on advertising;

3. Issuing and revoking permits for advertising activities; permits for establishing representative offices and branches of foreign advertising service providers in Vietnam;

4. Organizing and managing training, research, and application of science and technology in the field of advertising;

5. Implementing international cooperation in advertising;

6. Inspecting, auditing, handling complaints and denunciations, and dealing with violations of advertising laws.

Article 29. State Management Agencies for Advertising

1. The Government exercises unified state management over advertising.

2. The Ministry of Culture and Information is responsible before the Government for implementing state management over advertising.

3. The Ministry of Trade, ministries, agencies at the ministerial level, and government agencies within their respective functions and powers shall cooperate with the Ministry of Culture and Information to implement state management over advertising.

4. People's Committees at all levels within their respective functions and powers shall implement state management over advertising locally in accordance with the delegation of the Government.

Article 30. Advertising Inspection

The State Inspectorate of Culture and Information performs the function of specialized inspection in advertising.

Specific tasks of the State Inspectorate of Culture and Information in specialized advertising inspection are regulated by the Government.

Article 31. Complaints and Reports and Handling of Complaints and Reports

1. Organizations and individuals have the right to file complaints; individuals have the right to report violations of the law on advertising.

2. Organizations and individuals with authority to receive complaints and reports shall be responsible for handling complaints and reports in accordance with the provisions of the law on complaints and reports.

Chapter 6:

REWARD AND VIOLATION HANDLING

Article 32. Awards

Organizations and individuals who achieve outstanding results in advertising activities shall be awarded in accordance with the provisions of the law.

Article 33. Handling Violations

1. Any person who commits a violation of the law on advertising shall be subject to administrative sanctions or criminal prosecution depending on the nature and severity of the violation; if damage is caused, compensation must be provided in accordance with the provisions of the law.

2. Any person who abuses their position or power to violate regulations on issuing and revoking permits for advertising activities, obstructing lawful advertising activities of organizations and individuals, harassing or engaging in other acts that violate the provisions of this Ordinance and other relevant laws shall be subject to disciplinary action or criminal prosecution depending on the nature and severity of the violation; if damage is caused, compensation must be provided in accordance with the provisions of the law.

Chapter 7:

IMPLEMENTING PROVISIONS

Article 34. Effective Date

1. This Ordinance takes effect from May 1, 2002.

2. All previous provisions contrary to this Ordinance are abolished.

The Minister of Home Affairs shall be responsible for guiding the implementation and supervising the enforcement of this Decree.

The Government shall provide detailed regulations and guidance for the implementation of this Ordinance.