Commercial Advertising Services in Vietnam: Rules Under the Amended Law on Advertising

Under current legal provisions, may a business household engage in commercial advertising services?

Current legal basis: The Law on Advertising 2012, as amended and supplemented by Law No. 75/2025/QH15 (effective from 1 January 2026), and Decree No. 342/2025/ND-CP guiding the implementation of the Law on Advertising (issued 26 December 2025, effective from 15 February 2026). Important note: Section 2 of Chapter IV of the Law on Commerce 2005 (Articles 102–116 on commercial advertising) was repealed by Law No. 75/2025/QH15 with effect from 1 January 2026; advertising activities are now uniformly governed by advertising legislation.

1. May a business household register to provide commercial advertising services?

Under the Law on Advertising 2012 (as amended and supplemented by Law No. 75/2025/QH15), a provider of advertising services is an organization or individual performing one, several, or all stages of the advertising process under an advertising service supply contract with the advertiser.

Advertising legislation does not require an advertising service provider to be an enterprise; the provider may be an organization or individual under an advertising service supply contract. Therefore, a business household may register to provide advertising services, provided it fully complies with the Law on Advertising (as amended in 2025) and Decree No. 342/2025/ND-CP.

2. What does it mean to be a provider of advertising services?

Under the Law on Advertising 2012 (as amended and supplemented by Law No. 75/2025/QH15), an advertising service provider is an organization or individual performing one, several, or all stages of the advertising process under an advertising service supply contract with the advertiser.

Law No. 75/2025/QH15 added responsibilities for advertising service providers, persons conveying advertising products, and influencers, including the obligation to prevent and remove infringing advertisements within no more than 24 hours from the request of a competent state agency, and a prohibition on placing advertisements within content that violates the law.

3. What forms do advertising media take?

Under the Law on Advertising 2012 (as amended and supplemented by Law No. 75/2025/QH15), advertising media include:

• The press.
• Electronic information pages, electronic devices, terminal devices, and other telecommunications devices.
• Printed products, audio and video recordings, and other technological devices.
• Billboards, banners, signboards, light boxes, and advertising screens.
• Means of transport.
• Fairs, seminars, conferences, events, exhibitions, and cultural and sports programs.
• Persons conveying advertising products; advertising objects.
• Online advertising (electronic newspapers, aggregated electronic information pages, social networks, online applications, and other Internet-connected digital platforms, including cross-border platforms) — a new dedicated article on online advertising activities was added by Law No. 75/2025/QH15.
• Other advertising media as prescribed by law.

4. What are the conditions for advertising?

Under Article 20 of the Law on Advertising 2012 (as amended and supplemented by Law No. 75/2025/QH15), advertising conditions are prescribed as follows:

• Advertising of business activities involving products, goods, or services must have a business registration certificate as prescribed by law.
• When advertising special products, goods, or services, there must be a valid written document or information certifying that such products, goods, or services are permitted for circulation or provision in Vietnam, except where the special products, goods, or services are not on the list requiring licensing. Specifically:
  • Advertising of pharmaceuticals is carried out in accordance with pharmaceutical legislation;
  • Advertising of cosmetics must have a cosmetic product notification as prescribed by law;
  • Advertising of insecticidal and disinfectant preparations for household and medical use must have a certificate of circulation registration as prescribed by law;
  • Advertising of food, food additives, and nutritional products for children up to 36 months of age must comply with the conditions of the Law on Advertising and must register a product declaration or self-declare the product in accordance with food safety legislation;
  • Advertising of medical examination and treatment services must have a medical practice license or a medical examination and treatment operation license in accordance with medical examination and treatment legislation;
  • Advertising of medical devices must have a circulation number or, for imported medical devices, an import license in accordance with the law, except where the medical device does not require a circulation number or import license;
  • Advertising of plant protection products must have a plant protection product registration certificate in accordance with plant protection and quarantine legislation;
  • Advertising of veterinary drugs must have a veterinary drug circulation certificate and a product characteristics summary in accordance with veterinary legislation;
  • Advertising of fertilizers must have a decision recognizing the fertilizer for circulation in Vietnam; advertising of crop varieties must have a decision recognizing the variety for circulation, a decision recognizing the variety for exceptional circulation, a published announcement of self-declared crop variety information for circulation, or an import license for crop varieties issued by a competent state agency; advertising of animal feed and livestock waste treatment products must have information published in accordance with livestock legislation.
• The Government prescribes the list of special products, goods, and services and the requirements for the content of advertising of special products, goods, and services.