Computer files are the foundation of the digital economy which in turn is the foundation of a modern economy. There are strong arguments to consider computer files being property and qualified as “things” (vật). However, in practice, it is not clear if the courts and other Government authorities will accept such arguments.

Article 105 of the Civil Code 2015 provides that property comprises things, money, valuable papers, and property rights. There is no legal definition of “things”. However, there are strong arguments that computer files are qualified as things:

In September 2021, the Government issued Decree 85/2021 amending and supplementing some articles of Decree 52/2013 on e-commerce (the E-Commerce Decree). Decree 85/2021 will take effect from 1 January 2022 with substantial changes on the conditions applicable to foreign investors in e-commerce sector. We discuss below some notable new provisions under Decree 85/2021.

A pdf version is here.

Adjustment in the scope of application

Several business sectors are excluded from the scope of application of E-Commerce Decree if the specialised laws of such sectors have regulations on e-commerce. Such sectors (the Excluded Sectors) include financial, banking, credit, insurance, and lottery services; trading and exchange of money, gold, foreign exchange, and other payment means; betting services or games of chance; services of distribution, issuance of digital content products, radio and television broadcasting services. The entities and individual having e-commerce activities must be careful when determining whether the relevant specialized laws of its business have regulations on e-commerce.

On 9 February 2021, the Ministry of Public Security issued a draft decree on the protection of personal data (Draft Decree). This decree, once enacted, will be the first comprehensive legislation of Vietnam on personal data. This blog will analyze some key points of the Draft Decree and compare them with the relevant provisions under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). This post is written by Nguyen Thu Giang and edited by Nguyen Quang Vu. Please download the pdf version here.