The Ministry of Industry and Trade is soliciting comments on the Draft Proposal for the Law on E-commerce (draft). The Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI), based on the opinions of businesses, has made a number of comments, emphasizing the protection of small businesses on e-commerce platforms.

According to VCCI, unlike the traditional market, e-commerce has a more complex relationship with the intertwined interactions of the subjects: sellers of goods and services - e-commerce platforms - consumers - other subjects (shipping parties, payment parties, etc.). Current e-commerce law focuses mainly on regulations to protect consumer rights, corresponding to the responsibilities of sellers and e-commerce platforms. Meanwhile, the law seems to "leave open" the rights and interests of another important subject - sellers of goods and services.

E-commerce platforms have witnessed strong growth in recent times, and have gradually become an important sales channel for businesses and individual businesses. On the consumer side, 61% of internet users said that e-commerce platforms are their preferred online shopping channel. On the seller side, in 2024, there will be 650,000 online stores on e-commerce platforms with orders generated on e-commerce. Sales of 5 popular e-commerce platforms in 2024 will reach 318,900 billion VND.

This development allows platforms to hold many important advantages that can create a significant power imbalance in e-commerce relationships. Accordingly, sellers may have difficulty switching sales channels when there are only a few large platforms and consumer shopping habits are already shaped.

On the other hand, sellers on e-commerce platforms are mostly small businesses and individuals. Unlike the relationship between traders under the Commercial Law - where the parties can freely negotiate and achieve equality in transactions, small sellers on e-commerce are often in a much weaker position than e-commerce platforms. They can easily be subjected to unfavorable policies and lose their bargaining power, such as sudden changes in terms, suspension or ban without clear reasons, limited access to data, etc.

"These behaviors can adversely affect small business individuals, putting them in a passive situation and gradually "eroding" their health and business enthusiasm," VCCI noted.

Research by the European Commission shows that 46% of businesses in the EU market that use online platforms have experienced problems in their commercial relations with the platform, of which 21% said the problems occurred frequently. Businesses that are heavily dependent on platforms (more than 50% of their revenue comes from the platform) are significantly more likely to experience problems (75%) and more frequently (33%). The economic losses are estimated at €2 to €19.5 billion per year.

"Regarding the current legal system, the Competition Law 2020 has created a legal corridor to handle acts of agreements to restrict competition or abuse of dominant market position. This is a very good mechanism and in line with international practice. However, the above-mentioned disadvantageous acts can occur without an agreement or in a dominant position. This is a "gap" between competition law and e-commerce practice," VCCI stated.

In the past, during the market penetration stage, platforms often created favorable conditions and incentives (including financial) for sellers to develop the market, creating network effects that attracted both consumers and sellers to join the platform.

Now, as the market gradually takes shape, policies need to be designed to ensure a balance of interests among the subjects. This will ensure competition in the e-commerce market, encourage small businesses and individuals to continue to join, operate and develop in the digital economy. Only then can the e-commerce market continue to develop healthily and sustainably and ensure that all subjects can benefit from the digital economy.

From the above analysis, VCCI recommends that the drafting agency consider adding a policy on protecting the rights of sellers on e-commerce platforms.

This policy should not focus on administrative regulation. Instead, regulations should focus on increasing transparency in e-commerce operations for sellers, ensuring access to business data and the freedom of negotiation for sellers.

In addition, VCCI recommends supplementing policies to ensure equality among e-commerce entities, completely abolishing notification procedures for e-commerce websites, and researching management mechanisms to reduce procedures for small e-commerce platforms...