The Ministry of Planning and Investment (MPI) said it would submit a plan for the sharing economy model to the Government in the fourth quarter this year.

The ministry said the draft plan was completed and opinions were being collected from ministries, sectors and localities. The plan aims to propose solutions to complete the State management on the sharing economy model to enhance the positive effects and minimise negative effects for relevant parties in Viet Nam’s economy.

The sharing economy is different from the traditional model as all transactions are implemented online by a third party. In Viet Nam, there are three sharing economy models, namely car-hailing, room sharing and peer-to-peer lending, that have seen strong development. In addition, many other services such as co-working spaces and parking have been formed.

Up to now, there are no regulations relating to the sharing economy in the country to ensure healthy competition among industry insiders taking part in the sharing economy, and ensure product quality management to protect customers.

On the other hand, the policies of taxes, cross-border online transaction management, jobs, social security and information security in the new economy model have not been established.

The sharing economy is said to help save natural resources, protect the environment, provide more choices to customers with cheaper prices as well as foster the development of a start-up ecosystem. However, it also has potential challenges, such as creating intense competition for traditional business models and deprive labours of manual jobs. — VNS