ADMINISTRATIVE PENALTIES WHEN SENDING/MAKING ADVERTISING MESSAGES, EMAILS, CALLS TO USERS WITHOUT THEIR CLEAR PRIOR CONSENT

Pursuant to Decree No. 91/2020/TT-BTC issued by the Government on August 14, 2020 and coming into effect from October 01, 2020:

– Accordingly, this Decree has given clear definitions of spam advertising messages, advertising emails, advertising calls as follows:

(i) Advertising messages, advertising emails, advertising calls are messages, emails and calls that are meant to introduce profitable/non-profitable products and services and their sellers to the public; except news; social policies; personal information; customer service messages of telecommunication enterprises.

(ii) Spam advertising messages, advertising emails, advertising calls include:    

• Advertising messages/Advertising emails/Advertising calls that are sent/made without user’s prior consent or such messages/emails/calls that violate the regulations of Decree 91/2020;
• Messages/Emails/Calls that has prohibited contents specified in Article 9 of the Law on Electronic Transactions, Article 12 of the Law on Information Technology, Article 12 of the Law on Telecommunications, Article 8 of the Law on Advertising, Article 7 of the Law on Cyberinformation Security and Article 8 of the Cybersecurity Law.

– A fine of between VND 5 million and VND 100 million shall be imposed for violations against regulations on emails, messages, calls providing product/service-related information. Specifically:

(i) A fine of between VND 5 and 10 million shall be impose for the commission of: Making advertising calls to users without their clear prior consent; Making advertising calls to users who have unsubscribed to advertising calls; Sending opt-in message after the user has refused or does not response;

(ii) A fine of 20 – 30 million VND shall be impose for the commission of: Making more than 01 advertising call to 01 phone number within 24 hours unless otherwise agreed by the user; Making advertising calls outside the 08:00 – 17:00 period unless otherwise agreed by the user;…

(iii) A fine of 60 – 80 million VND shall be impose for the commission of: Sending opt-in messages against regulations of the Ministry of Information and Communications; Sending an opt-in message to any phone number on the Do-Not-Call Register

(iv) A fine of between VND 80 – 100 million shall be impose for the commission of: sending advertising messages or making advertising calls to any of the phone number on the Do-Not-Call Register.

(v) In addition, offenders will be forced to revoke the phone numbers used for commission of such violations.

Best regards,