E-commerce development: Applying international practices to avoid mistakes

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Mr. Nguyen Anh Duong, Head of Macroeconomic Policy Department (Central Institute for Economic Management)

Sir, the consumer protection is one of the issues that are of interest in e-commerce development. What do you think about this issue?

- First of all, protecting consumers is a very important requirement. If this is not done well, it will lead to a lack of confidence among buyers and sellers in the e-commerce environment. In particular, building the trust in e-commerce takes a lot of time and is very difficult, but an incident - related to unsafe e-commerce or insecurity of information consumers, or poor quality of good - will spread quickly and affect greatly.

The protection of quality of goods and consumers consists of two stages. One is before the transaction, how to ensure the information system of e-commerce to be smooth, especially information on goods, the seller should provide sufficient information for consumers to choose. In addition, additional third-party information such as forums, information pages, and credit institutions assess how past transactions were performed. But the most important is not only the problem of transactions, but also how to solve, overcome, respond to consumers when the problem occurs.

After the transaction, how to have a warranty mechanism, especially the mechanism of payment. In some foreign exchanges, they have a mechanism to protect the buyers, once there is a problem in transaction, the money will be collected from the seller and returned to the consumer. Finally, on the development of mechanisms for resolving disputes in lawsuits, how to have a mechanism on arbitration, courts to handle disputes between buyers and sellers in an e-commerce environment when dealing, the quality of the goods have problems. So that consumers can claim or have quality compensation for transactions.

From a management view, how does e-commerce management change in the context of Vietnam is participating in 17 FTAs including CPTPP?

- I think that in the context of Vietnam's deep integration into the international economy, the e-commerce management must be ensured in accordance with international practices as much as possible. Because the Fourth industrial revolution is constantly changing. If the management task begins by thinking about what the risks are, it will lead to over-regulation, not conducive to the development of science and technology and innovation. And if it can grow, it is not fully developed, because in the future, it can be blocked. So, I think that, except for big issues related to national interests, the rest of e-commerce management should be open minded. Only when, we only manage when there is sufficient evidence of a problem. If not, we should make it easy.

There are a lot of good international experiences and practices in e-commerce development. E-commerce content is also emerging in a newer generation of FTAs. As a result, developing countries like Vietnam can actively learn good practices and experiences to minimize mistakes and inadequacies in the development of e-commerce. A positive attitude towards international cooperation and the harmonization of the legal framework for e-commerce will help the Government to quickly perfect the domestic legal framework, facilitate e-commerce, especially cross-border e-commerce.

You said that the development of e-commerce after completing the legal framework, payment infrastructure is not the most optimal solution. Could you share more about this issue?

- The Fourth Industrial Revolution is still happening fast, not dependent on the subjective will of Vietnam on the progress and scope of efforts to catch up with this revolution. In this context, Vietnamese businesses and e-commercial activities still have many opportunities to take advantage of new technologies. The degree to take new technologies and attached economic opportunities depends not only on the existing legal framework, infrastructure and policies, but also on the perceptions, approaches and real positives of Vietnam to the 4.0 revolution in general and e-commerce in particular.

Waiting to see clearly all opportunities and challenges from the Fourth Industrial Revolution and the new e-commerce trend is not an effective approach if Vietnam wants to catch up and surpass other countries quickly. Similarly, placing e-commerce development behind the legal framework and payment infrastructure is not an optimal solution, as China's own experience suggests that underdevelopment of credit cards may be an opportunity for new payment methods, more friendly with e-commerce. Finally, concerns about issues of national interest, strategic interests are needed, but it is necessary to avoid staying away from the best international practices on e-commerce.

I think e-commerce should be developed naturally, and the legal framework will be gradually improved in a friendly way with the development of this type rather than to prevent it. Therefore, it is necessary to legitimize the conditions for people and businesses to develop e-commerce, not to set up legal framework to see their activities are not legal. If that, it is too risky in e-commerce development.

Sir, building the institution for e-commerce development is very important. So, how should e-commerce institutions be built and perfected?

- In order to develop e-commerce, it is necessary to develop and implement a Project on e-commerce and digital economy, the project on digital transformation consists of total solutions to promote and support the digital transformation process of enterprises, enhance e-commerce solutions and application of e-commerce and e-business, aiming to establish a favorable ecosystem for the digital economy of the people and enterprises.

In addition, it is necessary to complete the legal framework for e-commerce with a system of legal documents that regulate comprehensively, with a view of avoiding restricting the free and healthy development of e-commerce models and activities, e-business. For example, it is necessary to revise the 2005 Commercial Law by supplementing some basic regulatory framework of e-commerce into the Law and formulate a new decree to replace the Decree No. 52/2013/ND-CP to remove obstacles, inadequacies.

Besides, it is necessary to perfect the tax policy for e-commerce in particular and the economy in general, in line with the best practices. In addition, it is necessary to regularly review the legal framework, policy and performance for e-commerce in the country compared to commitments in FTAs, especially new FTAs such as the CPTPP and the EVFTA. Regularly holding open dialogue, in essence with businesses, investors and potential investor in the field of e-commerce, information technology... to catch up with the issues to solve.

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Along with advantages, there are many difficulties in developing e-commerce. So, in your point of view, what the Government should do to promote e-commerce to keep up with the trend?

- For developing countries, the support and direction of the Government is very important for the development of e-commerce. This role is reflected in the establishment of a set of guiding principles and perspectives on the establishment of technology, legal, socio-economic infrastructure for the deployment and application of e-commerce, particularly taking consideration of interdisciplinary aspects of e-commerce, which relates to various policy areas. In addition, the role of the Government is clearly expressed in terms of: raising awareness and creating an environment to encourage enterprises, the private sector and the people to participate in e-commerce, developing a comprehensive e-commerce program in order to carry out synchronously and systematically. In particular, in cases where the legal regulations are not timely updated, the role and positive sense of the Government in directing and coordinating in solving problems that affect the development of e-commerce is very important.

Thank you, Sir!