Laws of Vietnam

Over the recent years, Vietnam's Internet has witnessed a fast development and exerted positive impacts on various aspects of the national socio-economic life, thus actually bringing about great efficacies and creating favorable conditions for and effectively supporting the implementation of the open-door and proactive international economic integration policies of the Party and the State.

Together with the general development of Internet, public Internet agents have also actively contributed to the universalization of Internet services to people of all strata. However, besides positive aspects of this mode of service provision, many public Internet access spots, which are providing Internet services in form of Internet service agents, have failed to comply with the law provisions on Internet management, letting users arbitrarily access unhealthy information which may cause harms to the political security, social order and safety and national cultural identity of Vietnam.

In order to enhance the management of activities of public Internet agents in strict compliance with the provisions of the Government's Decree No. 55/2001/ND-CP of August 23, 2001 on management, provision and use of Internet services, thus minimizing negative phenomena which may occur in Internet agency activities, the Minister of Post and Telematics hereby instructs as follows:

1. Internet service providers (ISP) and telecommunications on-line service providers (OSP) shall:

a/ Notify and guide Internet service users who wish to provide public Internet services in making business registrations and signing of agency contracts with Internet service providers. The signing of Internet agency contracts shall be effected only after the users have registered the Internet agency business with the local business registries according to law provisions.

b/ Elaborate and promulgate the Regulation on management of Internet agents and model agency contracts for unified use by providers. The providers' model Internet agency contracts must be sent to the Ministry of Post and Telematics. The contents of Internet agency contracts, besides general law provisions on contracts, must be added with some points related to the responsibilities of agent owners, more concretely as follows:

- Agent owners must post up internal regulations on the use of Internet services at their own establishments, which include the bans prescribed in Article 11 of the Government's Decree No. 55/2001/ND-CP of August 23, 2001 on management, provision and use of Internet services.

- Agent owners must register their telephone numbers or serial numbers of their contracts on hiring of telecommunications transmission lines used for Internet access with Internet service providers.

- Internet agent owners must guide service users in complying with the regulations on Internet use. When detecting service users who intentionally violate the regulations on Internet use or violate internal regulations on Internet service use, Internet agents shall have to immediately stop the service users' violations.

- The agent owners' acts of facilitating or intentionally covering up acts of stealing passwords or access accounts; spreading viruses; accessing electronic news pages or propagating or spreading documents with depraved or obscene contents, violating the fine customs and traditions or infringing upon the national security, shall constitute grounds for providers to stop providing services and suspend the agency contracts.

c/ Work out plans on, and take the initiative in conducting, the inspection and supervision of the performance of the signed contracts by the Internet agents. In the course of inspection and supervision of the performance of agency contracts, if providers have enough grounds to conclude that agent owners' violations of contract provisions constitute the conditions for suspending contracts, they shall make written records thereon, stop providing services and concurrently send written notices on law violations by such agents to the local Post and Telematics Departments or Services.

d/ Review the management of Internet agents by providers according to the contents of the Government's Decree No. 55/2001/ND-CP, the guiding documents of the Ministry of Post and Telematics, the Ministry of Culture and Information and the Ministry of Public Security as well as the provisions of this Directive, paying special attention to the agent management regulation; contents of agency contracts; plans on supervision and inspection of contract performance by agents. Where they deem the agent management is not up to the set requirements, providers shall have to temporarily suspend the signing of new Internet agency contracts for reorganizing their management work and reporting such to the Ministry of Post and Telematics.

2. Telecommunications enterprises shall have to coordinate with Internet service providers in disconnecting Internet agents' telephone numbers or telecommunications transmission lines for Internet access if they receive written notices of the Inspectorate of the Ministry of Post and Telematics or the local Post and Telematics Departments or Services on law violations committed by agents and their requests for disconnecting telephone numbers or telecommunications transmission lines for Internet access.

3. The Post and Telematics Ministry's Inspectorate shall expeditiously assume the prime responsibility for elaborating a joint circular guiding Article 41 of the Government's Decree No. 55/2001/ND-CP of August 23, 2001 on Internet service management, provision and use regarding violation acts, forms and levels of sanction against administrative violations in Internet domain. The Inspectorate of the Ministry of Post and Telematics, the provincial/municipal Post and Telematics Departments and Services shall:

a/ Work out plans on, and conduct, inspection or examination of Internet service providers in the management of public Internet agents. In the course of inspection or examination, if detecting that providers fail to meet the requirements of the agent management according to regulations, the Inspectorate of the Ministry of Post and Telematics shall request in writing those providers to temporarily suspend the signing of new agency contracts for reorganizing their agent management.

b/ Take initiative in coordinating with the local administrations and the concerned ministries and branches in organizing the inspection of activities of public Internet agents, especially those in large cities like Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh city, Da Nang, Hai Phong, Can Tho, etc.

c/ Resolutely sanction administrative violations committed by service providers and public Internet agents regarding law provisions on Internet according to their respective State management competence and functions prescribed in the Ordinance on Handling of Administrative Violations, the Government's Decree No. 142/2004/ND-CP and Decree No. 55/2001/ND-CP.

4. The Telecommunications Department shall coordinate with the concerned units under the Ministry of Culture and Information and the Ministry of Public Security in studying and organizing the elaboration of a joint circular on management of public Internet agents for promulgation in 2004.

The Minister of Post and Telematics shall request Internet service providers, telecommunications enterprises and concerned units to strictly implement this Directive.

Minister of Post and Telematics
DO TRUNG TA