The year 2022 witnessed a dynamic environment in the development of information and communications technology (ICT) policy in Vietnam. The following are some highlights of remarkable legislative developments in the ICT space from the past year, and some notes on key draft laws and regulations that are in the pipeline for 2023. 1. Telecommunications Although it has helped Vietnam develop modern telecommunications network infrastructure and a diversified and competitive telecom market with a variety of services, Vietnam’s Telecom Law, which has been in effect since 2010, has posed problems and inadequacies in meeting today’s more complex evolution of new service types and new business models as well as the trend of convergence of telecom, information technology, and automation. Accordingly, the Ministry of Information and Communications (MIC) has been working to replace the existing Telecom Law, with a Draft Telecom Law made available for public consultation from October 27 to December 27, 2022 (the Vietnamese version can be accessed here). The primary amendment of the Telecom Law focuses on widening the scope of application to regulate data center and cloud computing services. Data center services include data center space rental services, server rental services, and data storage space rental services. Cloud computing services include services providing server resources, storage capacity, and networks (IaaS services); services that provide the ability to create, develop, manage, and operate software, including applications (PaaS services); and software delivery services, including applications (SaaS services). According to the Draft Telecom Law, it could be interpreted that all providers of data center services and IaaS cloud computing services, whether onshore or offshore, must obtain a permit to provide the services by registration with the MIC via its online portal; while PaaS and SaaS cloud computing services are exempted from this requirement. In addition, the Draft Telecom Law adds

The National Assembly of Vietnam promulgated a new Law on Cinema in June 2022 with an effective date of January 1, 2023. To guide the implementation of the new law and the sanctioning of administrative violations thereof, the government of Vietnam issued two related decrees in the final days of 2022. Cinema Decree On December 31, 2022, the government issued Decree No. 131/2022/ND-CP elaborating a number of articles of the Cinema Law (“Cinema Decree”), which took effect with the new law on January 1, 2023. Among the many issues under the Cinema Law guided by the Cinema Decree, one that is critical to over-the-top (OTT) media service providers is the set of conditions for performing the mandatory self-rating of films to be disseminated in cyberspace. According to the Cinema Law, meeting the film self-rating conditions is one of the prerequisites for online dissemination of films. If a film disseminator does not meet these conditions, it would be required to request the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism (MOCST) to perform the rating. The conditions for online disseminators to self-rate their films have now been set out under Article 12 of the Cinema Decree. Accordingly, these conditions include: Having a film rating council or technical software or a mechanism to rate the films according to Vietnamese regulations on film rating and taking responsibility for the results of film rating. Having a plan to amend and update film rating results at the request of the cinematography authority (for most providers, this is the Cinematography Department under the MOCST). Having an administrative tool to support the rating of films according to each of the rating criteria and to flexibly display the updated rating immediately after the rating is changed. Having a technical plan and process for suspending and removing films at the

On January 9, 2023, Vietnam’s National Assembly voted to approve a draft resolution on the continued implementation of policies for the prevention and control of the Covid-19 pandemic. Under this resolution, marketing authorizations (MAs) for the following drugs and medicinal ingredients will be extended to December 31, 2024, allowing continued use in Vietnam: Drugs and medicinal ingredients whose MAs expire from January 1, 2023, to December 12, 2024, and whose extension dossiers have been submitted but have not yet been approved in accordance with the Law on Pharmacy; and Drugs and medicinal ingredients whose MAs have been extended as per Resolution No. 12/2021/UBTVQH15 and have not been extended in accordance with the Law on Pharmacy. The extension does not apply to the following cases: Drugs and medicinal ingredients that have been recalled by the Law on Pharmacy; Drugs with signs of being unsafe for users that have been suspended from circulation/use and sealed for preservation in accordance with the Law on Pharmacy; and Drugs with MAs having a validity term of three years in accordance with the Law on Pharmacy. The Ministry of Health will announce the list of drugs and medicinal ingredients whose MAs are subject to be extended as described above.

Data protection in Vietnam has been an ever-changing area of law in the last few years, with many legislative and practical developments. From its initiative to build the very first comprehensive Personal Data Protection Decree to meet international standards, to its actions to tackle widespread illegal data processing and trading, the Vietnamese government has shown its determination to strengthen the protection of data, which it has recognized as one of the national key tasks in the Prime Minister’s Strategy for Development of E-Government. The year 2023 is expected to be another year of many important changes made to the law and practices in this area. This article discusses what we anticipate to be the key upcoming developments in Vietnam’s data protection regime that businesses may wish to keep a close eye on to ensure compliance. Tightened Rules on Data Collection and Data Transfer The conditions for personal data processing under the current law are rather sketchily outlined. In general, the data subject’s consent to the scope and purposes of the data processing may be considered sufficient for any collection, use, retention, or sharing of personal data. Explicit consent is not clearly required, except when the data is collected in e-commerce, used for direct marketing purposes, or for other strictly controlled activities. This leads to the practice where data controllers usually do not treat consent as a serious matter. In addition, once consent has been obtained, data controllers tend to comfortably collect whatever data they want, since the law does not require the collection to be “proportionate.” This situation is expected to change in 2023 with more stringent regulations on personal data processing underway. The first and most influential set of rules on data protection to come out early this year will likely be the much talked-about Personal Data Protection