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| The largest social networking Facebook must adhere to Vietnamese regulations and laws from September 1.—Photo ictnews.vn |
HA NOI (Biz Hub) — Foreign companies that do not have representative offices in Viet Nam but allow Vietnamese users access, for example Facebook and Google, must adhere to Vietnam's regulations and laws on the management, provision and use of Internet services and electronic information on the Internet.
Any specific regulations will be released by the Ministry of Information and Communications in due course. However, a number of requirements for setting up offices and appointing representatives in Viet Nam have already been removed.
Changes have also been made in the management of online games, classifying it into four categories based on service provision and usage.
G1 includes interactive games between users who have different service providers.
G2 consists of interactive games between users and service providers.
G3 includes interactive games between users but not through the servers of service providers.
G4 includes games downloaded from the Internet where users cannot interact with each other or with service providers.
Companies issuing G1 online games must be licenced to provide online games in Viet Nam and must wait for approval of the contents from the Ministry of Information and Communications.
Businesses that provide any other games must have registration certificates and announce when they will be supplying services for each game.
Foreign firms and individuals that provide online games for Vietnamese users must make themselves known to the relevant Vietnamese agencies.
Online game providers must have at least one server in Viet Nam, for saving documents and are requested to provide information to state management agencies on request.
The new law, which was signed by Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung on July 15, will come into effect from September 1. — VNS