Promotion is known to be the method that is applied most in the field of business and brings efficiency, as well as revenue in business activities. However, according to the law, there are promotional programs that need to be notified or registered with the competent state agency before being applied in practice.

1. Legal basis

– Commercial Law No. 36/2005/QH11 promulgated by the National Assembly on June 14, 2005 (“Commercial Law 2005”);

– Decree 81/2018/ND-CP detailing the 2005 Commercial Law on trade promotion activities issued by the Government on May 22, 2018 (“Decree 81”);

– Decree 52/2013/ND-CP regulating e-commerce issued by the Government on May 16, 2013 (“Decree 52”);

– Unified Document No. 20/VBHN-BCT unifying the circular on management of e-commerce websites issued by the Ministry of Industry and Trade on March 18, 2020 (“Unified Document 20”).

2. What is promotion?

According to the provisions of Article 88 of the Commercial Law 2005, promotion is understood as follows: “Promotion is a trade expediting activity of a trader aimed at promoting the purchase, sale of goods and provision of services by offering customers special certain interests.” Besides, according to the Vietnamese dictionary, “promotion” is encouraging the purchase of goods, usually by lowering prices or with gifts.

3. Distinguish between promotional notifications and promotional registrations

3.1 In which cases should the promotion be notified?

• Organize for customers to participate in arts, culture, entertainment and other events for the common purpose of promotion.
• Give sample goods or provide sample services for customers to try and no need to pay.
• Donate goods or provide services to customers and do not charge money.
• Make a promotion in the form of discounts on goods or services provided.
• Sales or service providers with both submissions to customers to select the awarde according to the rules and prizes previously announced.
• Organize customer programs on a regular basis, according to which, the customer reward will be based on the quantity or value when purchasing goods or services that customers perform in the form prescribed as customer cards, services, vouchers recording the purchase or other forms.

Procedure of promotional notifications

Companies and organizations that implement the promotion must notify promotional activities to the Department of Industry and Trade where the company organizes the promotion. The notice must be sent to the Department of Industry and Trade at least three (03) working days before carrying out the promotion (based on the date of receipt recorded on the post bill of or other forms of equivalent value in case of mailing, based on the date stated on the dossier receipt in case of direct submission, based on the time recorded on the e-mail system or based on the date recorded on the system in case of submission through the system of online public service).

3.2 In what cases should the promotion be registered?

– Organizations and companies must register promotions if trading in products and services accompanied by risky trade promotion activities. It means the promotion is organized where the winning is based on the luck of participants according to the announced rules and prizes, the winning is based on the probability of winning or not winning, for example, the form of sweepstakes, bingo, …

– Organizations and companies must register promotions if other trade promotion activities approved by state management agencies.

Procedure of promotional registrations 

– Companies and organizations before implementing the promotion must register with competent state agencies to be certified. The competent authority shall handle the following:

• Department of Trade Promotion – Ministry of Industry and Trade for the implementation of promotions in 02 provinces and cities or more.
• Department of Industry and Trade for the implementation of promotions in 01 province or city.

– Within five (05) working days from the date of receipt of the dossier (based on the date of receipt recorded on the post tracking bill or other forms of equivalent value; in case of post-mail, based on the date stated on the dossier receipt paper; in case of direct submission or based on the date recorded on the system; in case of submission through the system of online public service), the above-mentioned processing authority shall consider, respond to confirmation or non-confirmation of registration for the implementation of the promotion.