A screenshot of Temu. The Ministry of Industry and Trade has urged consumers to be cautious when shopping on cross-border e-commerce platforms, especially those which have not registered their operations in Việt Nam. — File Photo

HÀ NỘI - The Ministry of Industry and Trade has urged consumers to be cautious when shopping on cross-border e-commerce platforms in general, singling out Chinese e-commerce platforms including Temu, Shein and 1688 for particular mention.

According to the ministry’s recent document about strengthening management on e-commerce, consumers should not have transactions with platforms which have not been verified by the Ministry of Industry and Trade.

The document came out after the cross-border e-commerce platforms such as Temu, Shein and 1688 started operations in Việt Nam, but have yet to register with the ministry.

The ministry asked Việt Nam E-commerce and Digital Economy Agency to actively work with the legal team of Temu to ask for compliance with the established regulations of Việt Nam. If necessary, the Ministry of Industry and Trade will work with the Ministry of Information and Communications to have appropriate technical solutions to block the platform.

The ministry also required Việt Nam Directorate of Market Surveillance to regularly enhance the supervision and management on warehouses of cross-border e-commerce platforms which have not been registered.

Communication should be enhanced to increase awareness of consumers about risks when purchasing via unregistered e-commerce platforms.

The ministry’s Legal Department must review the legal system to raise measures to handle cross-border e-commerce platforms which operate illegally.

The Import – Export departments will propose solutions to control products into Việt Nam via e-commerce channels.

The Việt Nam Trade Promotion Agency will raise measures to handle promotions which are not in compliance with established regulations.

In November, the Domestic Market Department will evaluate the impacts of the imported products via cross-border e-commerce platforms on domestic production to raise appropriate measures.

The focus will be on evaluating the national e-commerce development programme in 2021-25 and develop the programme for the next period to promote its sustainable development.

Cross-border e-commerce platforms with Vietnamese domain name, displayed in Vietnamese language or with more than 100,000 transactions per year from Việt Nam must register their operations with the Ministry of Industry and Trade.

Late last week, a representative from Việt Nam E-commerce and Digital Economy said that it had received a document from Temu regarding its market entry. Accordingly, Temu is conducting procedures to register its operation in Việt Nam.

Temu, which sells products directly from manufacturers to consumers at super low prices, has prompted concerns about its negative impact on domestic production.