Issue of November 2024 – New regulations on the management, provision, and use of internet services and online information

Dear Valued Clients,

On November 9, 2024, the Government issued Decree No. 147/2024/ND-CP on the management, provision, and use of internet services and online information (“Decree 147”), replacing Decree No. 72/2013/ND-CP on the management, provision, and use of internet services and online information and Decree No. 27/2018/ND-CP amending and supplementing several articles of Decree No. 72/2013/ND-CP on the management, provision, and use of internet services and online information. Decree 147 officially takes effect from December 25, 2024, contributing to the creation of a legal framework for managing the activities of Internet agents, public Internet access points, and establishing a national domain name management mechanism, aiming to protect cybersecurity and ensure transparency in cyberspace.

In this Legal Update, we would like to summarize and clarify the new regulations on the management, provision, and use of internet services and online information that enterprises need to pay attention to in the near future.

1. Conditions of Operation of Public Internet Access Points[1]

According to Article 5.1 of Decree 147, an Internet agent[2] is allowed to operate when the following conditions are met:

1. Register as an Internet agent business;
2. Sign an Internet agent contract with an Internet service provider;

• If providing electronic game services, obtain a Certificate of eligibility to operate a public electronic game service point.

Decree 147 also specifies that the owner of a public internet access point of an enterprise does not need to register as an Internet agent business or sign an Internet agent contract. However, if providing electronic game services, they must obtain a Certificate of eligibility to operate a public electronic game service point.

Especially, for owners of public internet access points at hotels, restaurants, airports, train stations, bus stations, cafes, and other public places when providing Internet access services to users within these locations:

• Do not need to register as an Internet agent business or sign an Internet agent contract if they do not charge fees; and
• Must register as an Internet agent business and sign an Internet agent contract if they charge fees.

2. Conditions of operation and responsibilities of public electronic game service providers

According to Article 62.1 of Decree 147, organizations, enterprises, and individuals are only allowed to establish public electronic game service points[3] if they have a Certificate of Eligibility for Operating Public Electronic Game Service Points. To be granted this certificate, organizations, enterprises, and individuals must meet the following conditions:

1. Have a business registration for providing public electronic game services;
2. Have a signboard stating “Public Electronic Game Service Point” with the name, address, contact phone number, and business registration number. If the service point is also an Internet agent, it should include “Internet Agent”. If the service point is also a public Internet access point of the enterprise, it should include “Public Internet Access Point”;

• Have equipment and fire prevention and fighting regulations in accordance with the Ministry of Public Security’s regulations on fire and explosion prevention and control.

To operate a public electronic game service point, in addition to meeting all the operational conditions mentioned above, the owner of the public electronic game service point must also pay attention to their responsibilities as stipulated in Article 68 of Decree 147 as follows:

1. Establish a system of equipment to provide electronic game services at the location specified in the Certificate of Eligibility for Operating Public Electronic Game Service Points.
2. Provide Internet access services after signing an Internet agent contract with an Internet service provider.

• Request the enterprise that signed the Internet agent contract with them to guide, provide information about Internet access services, and be subject to inspection and supervision by that enterprise.

1. Participate in training programs on the Internet and electronic games organized by state management agencies in the area.
2. Publicly post the rules for using electronic game services in a place where everyone can easily see, including the prohibitions specified in Clause 1, Article 8 of the Law on Cybersecurity; Article 7, Article 69 of Decree 147.
3. Publicly post an updated list of online electronic games that have been licensed for release by the competent authority at the service point, along with age classification (information updated from the website of the Ministry of Information and Communications (Department of Broadcasting, Television, and Electronic Information) or the local Department of Information and Communications.
4. Not organize or allow Internet users to use the features of computers at their business location to perform prohibited acts specified in Article 8 of the Law on Cybersecurity.

• Not operate from 10 PM to 8 AM the next day.

1. Comply with regulations on information safety and security.
2. Be subject to inspection, examination, and handling of violations by competent authorities.

3. Conditions for issuing licenses for G1, G2, G3, and G4 online game services

Enterprises are granted licenses to provide online electronic game services G1, G2, G3, and G4 when they meet the following conditions[4]:

1. The enterprise is established in accordance with Vietnamese law, has the business of providing online electronic game services listed on the National Business Registration Portal; has a clear and contactable headquarters address and phone number;
2. The domain name used to provide the service has been registered;

• The enterprise has sufficient financial capacity, organization, and personnel to manage electronic games appropriate to the scale of the enterprise’s operations;

1. The enterprise has a technical equipment system to connect payments with payment service providers and intermediary payment service providers as prescribed by law, ensuring accurate, complete updates and storage, and allowing players to look up detailed information about their payment accounts on the game application system (game account);
2. The enterprise has a technical equipment system that ensures the storage and complete update of player information in Vietnam, including full name; date of birth; mobile phone number in Vietnam. The enterprise must verify player accounts using a mobile phone number in Vietnam, ensuring that only verified accounts can participate in games; for players under 16 years old, parents or legal guardians must register the account with their information and are responsible for supervising and managing the playing time and game content accessed by players under 16 years old; the enterprise must delete player information after the storage period expires as prescribed;
3. There is a technical equipment system ensuring the management of playing time within a day (from 00:00 to 24:00) for players under 18 years old, not exceeding 60 minutes per game and not exceeding 180 minutes per day for all games provided by the enterprise for players under 18 years old;

• There is a technical equipment system ensuring the continuous display of game classification results by age for all games provided by the enterprise when introducing, advertising, and releasing; there is a warning message with the content “Playing more than 180 minutes a day will negatively affect health” at a recognizable position on the game’s forum (if any) and on the player’s device screen at a frequency of 30 minutes/time during the game;
• There is a technical equipment system ensuring the management of content exchange and sharing in the game and on the game’s forum (if any) according to the provisions of Clause 2, Article 28 of Decree 147;

1. There are measures to manage the content and information of player accounts, ensuring full storage, continuous updating, and accurate information about the player’s service usage process, including: Account name, service usage time, information related to the ownership of virtual items, virtual units, and player rewards;
2. There is a plan to ensure network information security, information security, service quality, and legitimate rights of players;
3. There is a backup plan for equipment and connections, a data backup plan to ensure system safety in case of incidents.

Therefore, from December 25, 2024, each game account for users under 18 years old is only allowed to play one game for a maximum of 60 minutes per day, and the total playing time for all games must not exceed 180 minutes. Users who want to play games must verify their game accounts using a mobile phone number in Vietnam. For users under 16 years old, parents or legal guardians must register the account with their information and are responsible for supervising and managing the playing time and game content accessed by users under 16 years old.

Additionally, enterprises should note the requirements for obtaining a Decision to release G1 online electronic games as stipulated in Article 43.1(b) of Decree 147. Accordingly, the content of the enterprise’s electronic game script must not violate the provisions of Article 8 of the Law on Cybersecurity and intellectual property regulations; must not simulate reward games in casino businesses, games using card images; and must not contain images, sounds, or language that specifically describe the following actions: terrorism, murder, torture, abuse, trafficking of women and children; incitement to suicide, violence; pornography, vulgarity contrary to the nation’s traditional ethics, culture, and customs; distortion, destruction of historical traditions; violation of sovereignty and territorial integrity; use of drugs, alcohol, smoking; gambling and other illegal acts.

4. Regulations on virtual items, virtual units, and reward points

From the effective date of Decree 147, enterprises providing online gaming services are only allowed to create virtual items[5], virtual units[6], and reward points[7] in online games according to the content reported in the application dossier for the Decision to issue G1 online games, and the Certificate of Notification for the issuance of G2, G3, G4 online games.

Players can use reward points or virtual units in their game accounts to purchase or exchange for virtual items created by the online gaming service provider within the same game.

Enterprises providing online gaming services are obligated to manage virtual items, virtual units, and reward points in online games according to the published game rules and in line with the approved game content and issued Decision. Promotional programs with rewards (in cash or real-world items outside the game) are not allowed to be attached to the interface or features of online games.

Virtual items, virtual units, and reward points are only to be used within the scope of online games and for the purposes reported by the enterprise. They cannot be converted back into money, prepaid mobile service cards, bank cards, shopping cards, game cards, gift cards, or any items of value outside the online game. Trading of virtual items, virtual units, and reward points between players is not allowed[8].

5. Cross-border information provision

 Decree 147 has introduced notable new regulations on managing the provision of cross-border information for organizations, businesses, and individuals abroad that provide cross-border information into Vietnam. This applies to those using data storage rental services in Vietnam or having a total number of visits from Vietnam (total visits) regularly within one-month (average statistics over a continuous six-month period) of 100,000 (one hundred thousand) visits or more or using data storage services in Vietnam.

According to Article 23.3(e) of Decree 147, from December 25, 2024, the implementation of user account verification for social network services using mobile phone numbers in Vietnam will officially take effect. Decree 147 also specifies that only in cases where users confirm they do not have a mobile phone number in Vietnam, foreign organizations, businesses, and individuals providing social network services will verify accounts using personal identification numbers as per the regulations on electronic identification and authentication.

I cases where social network service users use the livestream feature for commercial purposes, foreign organizations, businesses, and individuals providing social network services will verify accounts using personal identification numbers as per the regulations on electronic identification and authentication. Additionally, it ensures that only verified accounts are allowed to post information (write articles, comment, livestream) and share information on social networks.

Additionally, these entities must store the information of users from Vietnam when registering social network accounts, including full name, date of birth, mobile phone number in Vietnam (or personal identification number). In cases where the social network service user is a child (under 16 years old), the child’s parent or legal guardian must register the account using the parent’s or guardian’s information and is responsible for supervising and managing the content the child accesses, posts, and shares on social networks.

For content that violates the law, service providers must block or remove the violating content within 24 hours of receiving a written or electronic request from the Ministry of Information and Communications, the Ministry of Public Security, or a competent authority as prescribed by specialized law.

For social network accounts, community pages, community groups, and content channels that frequently provide illegal content (at least 5 instances of providing illegal content within 30 days or at least 10 instances within 90 days as requested by the Ministry of Information and Communications or the Ministry of Public Security), foreign organizations, businesses, and individuals providing social network services must temporarily lock these accounts, community pages, community groups, and content channels to prevent access by users in Vietnam within 24 hours of receiving a written or electronic request from the Ministry of Information and Communications, the Ministry of Public Security, or a competent authority as prescribed by specialized law. The temporary lock period ranges from 7 to 30 days, depending on the number and severity of violations.

Especially, in the event that an account, page, group, or channel is temporarily locked three times or posts content that violates national security, the social network will have to permanently block access from Vietnam.

Decree 147 shall officially take effect from December 25, 2024, and within 90 days from the effective date of the decree, foreign organizations, enterprises, and individuals providing cross-border information to Vietnam and domestic organizations and enterprises providing social network services must authenticate active accounts of social network service users according to regulations[9].

As usual, we hope you find this Legal Update helpful and look forward to working with you in the upcoming time.

Kind regards,

ENT Law LLC

The full version of this Legal Update can be found here.

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[1] Article 3.5 of Decree 147: “Public Internet Access Points include:

1. a) Locations where an Internet agent is legally authorized to provide services;
2. b) Public Internet access points of enterprises, which are locations managed directly by a member unit or individual representing the enterprise to provide Internet access services to telecommunications service users;
3. c) Public Internet access points at hotels, restaurants, airports, train stations, bus stations, cafes, and other public places, which are locations where organizations or individuals are legally authorized to provide Internet access services to telecommunications service users.”

[2] Article 3.4 of Decree 147: “Internet agents are organizations or individuals that provide Internet access services to telecommunications service users through agency contracts signed with Internet service providers.”

[3] Article 3.36 of Decree 147: “A public electronic game service point is a location established by organizations or individuals in accordance with the law to provide public electronic game services, including: public Internet access points that provide online electronic game services and public electronic game service points through a computer network without Internet access.”

[4] Article 39.1 of Decree 147.

[5] Article 3.39 of Decree 147: “Virtual items in online video games are graphical representations of non-physical objects in the game such as items, characters, tools, equipment, etc., according to specific rules established and created by the online video game service provider.”

[6] Article 3.38 of Decree 147: “Virtual units in online games are a type of unit created, defined, and issued by the enterprise providing online game services for players to use, exchange, buy, and sell virtual items, reward points, skills, and features in the enterprise’s online games.”

[7] Article 3.40 of Decree 147: “Reward points in online games are point-based rewards that players receive during gameplay, as defined and established by the enterprise providing online game services. Reward points do not include cash prizes, promotional money, or other forms that can be converted and have value outside the game.”

[8] Article 57 of Decree 147.

[9] Article 82.10 of Decree 147.