Regulations on registration of promotional activities according to Vietnamese law

1. How are promotional activities registered?

Pursuant to Article 19 of Decree 81/2018/ND-CP stipulating the registration of promotional activities as follows:

“Article 19. Registration of promotional activities

1. Traders carry out administrative procedures to register promotional activities and must be approved by the management agency Competent state management agencies confirm before implementing promotional programs in the form specified in Article 13 of this Decree and other forms as prescribed in Clause 9, Article 92 of the Commercial Law.

2. Competent state management agencies specified in Clause 1 of this Article include:

a) Department of Industry and Trade for promotional programs of chance carried out in a province, centrally run cities;

b) Ministry of Industry and Trade for promotional programs of chance carried out in 2 or more provinces and centrally run cities and promotional programs in other forms.

3. Traders can choose one of the following registration methods:

a) Submit 01 registration application by mail. telegram to the competent state management agency;

b) Submit 01 registration application directly at the headquarters of the competent state management agency;

c) Use the online public service system provided by the competent state management agency.

4 including:

a) 01 Registration for promotion program according to Form No. 02 Appendix issued with this Decree;

b) 01 Promotion program regulations according to Form No. 03 Appendix issued with the Decree;

c) Form of proof of winning determination or detailed description of proof of winning bonus;

d) 01 copy without certification of documents on the quality of promotional goods according to the provisions of law.

…

8. Information about the promotion program that the trader has registered and confirmed must be disclosed by the state management agency in appropriate forms (text, website or other forms with equivalent effects) and no earlier than the start time of the promotion program. The information that must be disclosed includes:

a) Name of the merchant;

b) Detailed content of the promotion program;

c) Time of promotion;

d) Location of promotion.”

“Article 20. Register to amend and supplement promotional program content

1. In case of amending or supplementing the content of a promotion program that has been previously registered, the trader must, before making any amendment or supplement, carry out administrative procedures to register the amendment or supplementation of the promotion program content to the state management agency where it was registered. The registration dossier for amendments and supplements includes 01 document made according to Form No. 06 Appendix issued with this Decree.

2. Traders can choose one of the following registration methods:

a) Submit 01 registration application by mail to the competent state management agency;

b) Submit 01 registration application directly at the headquarters of the competent state management agency;

c) Use the online public service system provided by the competent state authority; State management agency has the authority to provide.

3. Within 05 working days from the date of receiving the dossier (based on the date of receipt recorded on the postal bill of lading or equivalent forms in case of sending by post, based on the date recorded on the dossier receipt in case of direct submission or based on the date recorded on the system in case of submitting via the online public service system), the competent state management agency in charge of commerce shall consider and respond to confirm or disconfirm the registration of amendments and supplements. Supplementing the content of merchants’ promotional programs; In case of non-confirmation, the reason must be clearly stated according to the provisions of law.

4. In case the Ministry of Industry and Trade is the agency that confirms the registration of amendments and supplements to the content of a promotion program, the Ministry of Industry and Trade shall provide the Department of Industry and Trade where the trader organizes the promotion with the confirmed amendments and supplements to the program content for coordinated management.

5. Modifications and additions to the promotional program content must ensure that it does not affect the rights of customers who participated in the program before the program’s content was amended and supplemented.”

“Article 20. Handling of issued invoices

1. In case an invoice has not yet been delivered to the buyer, if an incorrect invoice is discovered, the seller crosses out the copies and keeps the incorrect invoice number.

2. In cases where an invoice has been prepared and delivered to the buyer but the goods or services have not yet been delivered, or an invoice has been prepared and delivered to the buyer, the seller and the buyer have not yet declared tax, if found to be incorrect, it must be canceled, and the seller and buyer shall make a record to recall copies of the incorrect invoice number. The invoice revocation record must show the reason for the invoice revocation. The seller crosses out the copies, keeps the incorrect invoice number and reissues a new invoice according to regulations.

3. In case an invoice has been prepared and delivered to the buyer, goods have been delivered, services provided, the seller and the buyer have declared taxes, and then errors are discovered, the seller and buyer must make a record or have a written agreement clearly stating the errors, and at the same time the seller will make an invoice to correct the errors. The invoice clearly states the adjustment (increase, decrease) in quantity of goods, selling price, value-added tax rate…, value-added tax amount for invoice number…, symbol… Based on the adjusted invoice, the seller and buyer declare adjustments to purchase and sale sales, output and input taxes. Adjustment invoices cannot have a negative number (-).

4. Instructions for handling issued invoices in some specific cases shall comply with Appendix 4 issued with this Circular.”