Is a company allowed to hold a press conference?

Pursuant to Clause 1, Clause 2 and Clause 3, Article 41 of the 2016 Press Law, which regulates the right to press conferences of agencies, organizations and individuals. as follows:

– Vietnamese agencies, organizations, and citizens have the right to organize press conferences to announce, declare, explain, and respond to contents related to the tasks, powers, or interests of that agency, organization, or individual.

Press conferences of foreign representative agencies and foreign organizations in Vietnam shall comply with the provisions of Clause 10, Article 56 of this Law.

– Spokesperson or person responsible for providing information of political organizations, National Assembly, Government, President; agencies of political organizations and socio-political organizations at the central and provincial levels; ministries and ministerial-level agencies; The People’s Council and Provincial People’s Committee, according to their functions and tasks, are responsible for holding regular and unscheduled press conferences to provide information to press agencies.

– Agencies and organizations not regulated in Clause 2 of this Article and citizens have the right to hold press conferences to provide information to the press.

We see that agencies, organizations and individuals have the right to hold press conferences according to the provisions of law.

Does the company holding a press conference have to notify the competent state authority?
According to Clause 3, Clause 4 and Clause 5, Article 41 of the 2016 Press Law regulates the organization of press conferences by agencies, organizations and individuals as follows:

– Agencies and organizations not specified in Clause 2 of this Article and citizens have the right to organize press conferences to provide information to the press, however, they must notify the press conference in writing 24 hours in advance of the intended time of the press conference to the state management agency in charge of the press according to the following regulations:

+ Centrally affiliated agencies and organizations notify the Ministry of Information and Communications;

+ Agencies and organizations not covered by Point a of this Clause and citizens notify the Provincial People’s Committee where the press conference is held.

– The notification content includes the following information:

+ Press conference location;

+ Press conference time;

+ Press conference content;

+ The person who chairs the press conference.

– The state management agency in charge of the press is responsible for responding to agencies, organizations and citizens about press conferences within the time specified in Clause 3 of this Article; In case there is no written response, organizations and citizens may conduct a press conference.

The content of the press conference must be consistent with the content approved by the state management agency for the press. In case there is no written response, it must be consistent with the content notified to the state management agency for the press.

We see that, in case a company holds a press conference to launch a product and provides information to the press agency, there must be a written notice ensuring complete content sent to the Chairman of the Provincial People’s Committee where the press conference is held 24 hours in advance of the time of the press conference.

What should the company organizing the press conference keep in mind?

When conducting press conferences, companies should note the following:

First, cases of suspension of press conferences according to decisions of state management agencies are specified in Clause 6, Article 41 of the 2016 Press Law as follows:

The state management agency in charge of the press has the right to suspend a press conference if it detects signs of violating the law or the press conference content contains information specified in Clauses 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9, Article 9 of this Law, specifically in the following cases:

– Posting and broadcasting information against the State of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam with the following content:

+ Distorting, defaming, denying the people’s government;

+ Fabricating and causing confusion among the People;

+ Causing psychological warfare.

– Post and broadcast information with the following content:

+ Causing division between different classes of people, between the People and the people’s government, the people’s armed forces, political organizations, and socio-political organizations;

+ Causing hatred, discrimination, division, ethnic separatism, violating equal rights in the Vietnamese ethnic community;

+ Causing division between religious people and non-religious people, between people following different religions, dividing religious believers from the people’s government, from political organizations, and socio-political organizations; insulting beliefs and religions;

+ Sabotage the implementation of international solidarity policy.

– Posting or broadcasting information with content inciting war against the independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.

– Distorting history; deny revolutionary achievements; insulting the nation and national heroes.

– Disclosing information on the list of state secrets, personal privacy secrets and other secrets according to the provisions of law.

– Information that promotes bad customs, superstitions, and superstitions; Information about mysterious stories causes confusion in society, negatively affecting order, social safety and community health.

– Inciting violence; propagate depraved lifestyles; meticulously describe lewd and criminal acts; The information is not consistent with Vietnamese customs and traditions.

– Information that is false, distorted, slanderous, insulting the reputation of agencies, organizations, honor and dignity of individuals; Accusing a crime without a Court verdict.

– Information that affects the normal physical and mental development of children.

In addition to the notes to avoid suspension of the press conference as mentioned above, the company needs to ensure that the press conference is organized in accordance with the provisions of law to avoid being handled for violations of press conferences according to Article 11 of Decree 119/2020/ND-CP as follows:

“Article 11. Violation of regulations on press conferences
1. Fine from 1,000,000 VND to 3,000,000 VND for press conference without prior written notice or notice not on time.
2. A fine from 3,000,000 VND to 5,000,000 VND shall be imposed for a press conference whose content is inconsistent with the content approved by the state management agency for the press or inconsistent with the content notified to the state management agency for the press.
3. Fine from 20,000,000 VND to 40,000,000 VND for holding a press conference when it has been suspended by a competent state authority.
4. A fine from 30,000,000 VND to 50,000,000 VND shall be imposed for acts of press conference containing content that distorts or insults the honor and reputation of the organization, honor and dignity of individuals.
5. Fine from 70,000,000 VND to 100,000,000 VND for press conference with content inciting violence.
6. Fines from 140,000,000 VND to 200,000,000 VND for press conferences with content that affects national interests but does not rise to the level of criminal prosecution.
7. Additional penalties:
Confiscate evidence of administrative violations for the acts specified in Clauses 4, 5 and 6 of this Article.
8. Remedial measures:
Forced to publicly apologize on the mass media for the acts specified in Clauses 4, 5 and 6 of this Article.”

Thus, we see that the company has the right to hold a press conference to announce and launch the company’s products but must ensure compliance with the provisions of law for this activity and must notify the organization of the press conference to the competent state authority within a reasonable time. determined.