Nguyen Khac Lich, deputy director of the Information Safety Department. Photo: VNN

What are the new points contained in Decree 91/2020 regarding all forms of advertising via telecommunications, including SMS, email and calls?

Decree 91/2020 was issued in August 2020 to govern all forms of advertising via telecommunications such as SMS, email and phone calls. The decree introduces a wide range of new restrictions on telemarketing and corresponding sections. Any texts, emails or phone calls that are not compliant with the requirements will be deemed spam.

Under the decree, telemarketers are not permitted to make any calls before obtaining the prior consent of the targeted consumers.

What should users do if they continue to receive unwanted messages or phone calls?

The Ministry of Information and Technology will have to compile a list of customers who do not wish to receive advertising messages or calls as regulated in Article 7 of the decree Vietnam has developed using experience from the Great Britain, Singapore, Australia and the US.

All telecommunications companies will also have to develop technical measures to prevent customers from receiving advertising.

Also under the decree, if someone has registered not to receive advertising messages but is still receiving them, the senders will be fined VND80-100 million. We hope when this decree comes into force it will become a very effective way of protecting the general public.

Have authorities adopted any measures to protect the general public from receiving unwanted messages or phone calls?

A key objective of creating the 5656 hotline is to receive complaints from people who are receiving unwanted messages. However, anyone who does not want to receive advertisements from their phones can also call 5656.

When Big Data is introduced, the management of unwanted messages will be more effective.

Under Decree 91, if someone wants to send advertising messages to potential customers, they will have to register with the authorities and use a special number with the name of the company and other information.

What responsibilities will network providers have to take to prevent unwanted messages?

The decree includes all the governing measures on how to sanction unwanted messages and telephone calls.

The responsibilities of network providers and advertising agencies have been clearly prescribed in the decree.

The network providers will be allowed to lock SIM cards that have been used to violate the regulations. To stop unwanted messages and phone calls, it is the responsibility of all players – the advertising company/person, the network and the user. For users, if they receive wanted messages, please refer them to 5656 of the General Department for Information Safety. VNS/VNN  

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