Chapter V

ADMINISTRATIVE VIOLATIONS AGAINST REGULATIONS ON INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (IT), PENALTIES AND REMEDIAL MEASURES

Section 1. VIOLATIONS AGAINST REGULATIONS ON INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY APPLICATION AND DEVELOPMENT MEASURES

Article 74. Violations against regulations on IT development

1. A fine ranging from VND 5,000,000 to VND 7.000.000 shall be imposed for insufficiently publishing digital contents on products or their packaging as prescribed when manufacturing or providing complete digital content products.

2. A fine ranging from VND 7,000,000 to VND 10,000,000 shall be imposed for failing to publish digital contents on products or their packaging as prescribed when manufacturing or providing complete digital content products.

3. A fine ranging from VND 20,000,000 to VND 30,000,000 shall be imposed for the commission of one of the following violations:

a) Failing to obtain an approval from a competent authority when assigning, selling or transferring technologies/solutions for developing key IT products funded by the State;

b) Providing false information about domestically manufactured IT products/services with the aims of getting priority in investment/procurement using funding from state budget;

c) Providing false information to be eligible to engage in key IT product development programs funded by the State;

d) Performing fraudulent acts in organization of examinations and issuance of certificates of completion of training in IT application by foreign institutions for using in Vietnam.

4. A fine ranging from VND 100,000,000 to VND 140,000,000 shall be imposed for failing to finish the construction of infrastructure facilities of a concentrated IT park on schedule.

5. A fine ranging from VND 170,000,000 to VND 200,000,000 shall be imposed for the commission of one of the following violations:

a) Failing to properly operate the concentrated IT park according to its objectives, functions and duties;

b) Failing to satisfy or to maintain the satisfaction of all criteria for a concentrated IT park during its operation.

6. Additional penalties:

The decision on accreditation of certificates of completion of training in IT application issued by foreign institutions for using in Vietnam shall be confiscated in case of commission of the violation in Point d Clause 3 of this Article.

7. Remedial measures:

Enforced return of benefits illegally obtained from the commission of any of the violations in Points a and d Clause 3, Points a and c Clause 5 of this Article.

Article 75. Violations against regulations on infrastructure facilities serving IT application and development

1. A fine ranging from VND 100,000,000 to VND 140,000,000 shall be imposed for infringing on legitimate rights and interests of database owners or obstructing owners in using their database when re-manufacturing, distributing, promoting, transmitting and/or providing component contents of database.

2. A fine ranging from VND 140,000,000 to VND 170,000,000 shall be imposed for sabotaging information infrastructure or cyberinformation.

3. Remedial measures:

a) Enforced return of benefits illegally obtained from the commission of the administrative violation in Clause 1 of this Article;

b) Enforced restoration of initial state which has been changed due to the commission of the violation in Clause 2 of this Article.

Article 76. Violations against regulations on import, recycling and repair of used IT products in the List of goods banned from import

1. A fine ranging from VND 100,000,000 to VND 140,000,000 shall be imposed for the commission of one of the following violations:

a) Misusing used IT products which are included in the List of goods banned from import and imported for scientific research purposes;

b) Importing used IT products which are included in the List of goods banned from import;

c) Improperly implementing the plan or measures for waste and scrap disposal or failing to adopt a plan or measures for disposal of waste and scrap generated from the recycling/repair of used IT products which are included in the List of goods banned from import for foreign traders;

d) Recycling/repairing used IT products which are included in the List of goods banned from import for foreign traders without permission from the Ministry of Information and Communications.

2. A fine ranging from VND 140,000,000 to VND 170,000,000 shall be imposed for failing to implement or failing to formulate a plan or measures for disposal of waste and scrap generated from the recycling/repair of used IT products which are included in the List of goods banned from import for foreign traders.

3. Remedial measures:

a) Enforced destruction or re-export of IT products in case of commission of any of the violations in Clause 1 and Clause 2 of this Article;

b) Enforced return of the written permission for recycling/repair of used IT products which are included in the List of goods banned from import for foreign traders in case of commission of the violation in Clause 2 of this Article.

Article 77. Violations against regulations on protection of legitimate rights and interests of and support for users of IT products and services

1. A fine ranging from VND 5,000,000 to VND 10,000,000 shall be imposed for using a false name or name of another entity when sending information in cyberspace.

2. A fine ranging from VND 20,000,000 to VND 30,000,000 shall be imposed for the commission of one of the following violations:

a) Failing to adopt measures for protecting children from harmful contents in cyberspace when rendering IT services;

b) Failing to give warning statements on IT products/services which have contents harmful to children.

3. A fine ranging from VND 30,000,000 to VND 50,000,000 shall be imposed for the commission of one of the following violations:

a) Creating, installing or spreading computer viruses or other software programs that can damage digital devices of others;

b) Producing or supplying IT products/services that have pornographic or criminal contents, entice social evils or superstitions, or damage national good traditions and customs.

4. Additional penalties:

a) The exhibits and instrumentalities used for committing the administrative violation in Clause 3 of this Article shall be confiscated;

b) Foreigners who commit the violation in Clause 3 of this Article shall be deported from the territory of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.

5. Remedial measures:

a) Enforced destruction of IT products/services in case of commission of the violation in Point b Clause 3 of this Article;

b) Enforced restoration of initial state which has been changed due to the commission of the violation in Point a Clause 3 of this Article.

Section 2. VIOLATIONS AGAINST REGULATIONS ON CYBERINFORMATION SECURITY

Article 78. Violations against regulations on assurance of cyberinformation security and response to cyberinformation security incidents

1. A fine ranging from VND 10,000,000 to VND 20,000,000 shall be imposed for the commission of one of the following violations:

a) Failing to publish addresses for receiving incident notifications on websites or web portals;

b) Failing to provide documents/information about managed contact points for incident response, and human resources for cyberinformation security and incident response to the National coordination center;

c) Failing to provide updated information about contact points for incident response by the prescribed deadline;

d) Violating operational regulations of the national cyberinformation security incident response network or failing to comply with coordination orders given by the coordination center;

dd) Failing to submit cyberinformation security incident reports to the managing body of the compromised information system, specialized incident response units of the same level and the National coordination center by the prescribed deadline upon detection of an incident.

2. A fine ranging from VND 20,000,000 to VND 30,000,000 shall be imposed for the commission of one of the following violations:

a) Failing to submit reports to the National coordination center upon the detection or reception of notification of an incident on a managed information system;

b) Failing to respond to the sender of an incident notification or an incident initial report;

c) Failing to immediately perform incident response actions and submit reports thereof as prescribed;

d) Failing to carry out analysis, verification, preliminary assessment and classification of the incident, and then immediately perform incident response actions and submit reports thereof as prescribed;

dd) Failing to send reports on the incident and incident response process and/or request for assistance in responding to the incident or re-assessment of the severity of the incident to the managing body of the compromised information system, the National coordination center and specialized incident response units of the same level.

3. A fine ranging from VND 30,000,000 to VND 40,000,000 shall be imposed for the commission of one of the following violations:

a) Failing to send consolidated reports on incident response actions at the request of the National coordination center;

b) Failing to establish or assign a specialized incident response unit or failing to establish an incident response team as prescribed;

c) Failing to record or receive notifications or reports on cyberinformation security incidents in according to adopted procedures;

d) Failing to formulate a cyberinformation security incident response plan;

dd) Failing to provide adequate information while the incident is still not yet handled thoroughly;

e) Failing to prepare and submit 06-month and annual reports;

g) Improperly complying with coordination orders for incident response of the National coordination center.

4. A fine ranging from VND 50,000,000 to VND 70,000,000 shall be imposed for the commission of one of the following violations:

a) Failing to appoint a contact point to engage in incident response cooperation or failing to participate in the national cyberinformation security incident response network;

b) Failing to comply with coordination orders for incident response of the National coordination center;

c) Failing to provide premises, gateways and other necessary technical conditions at the request of the Ministry of Information and Communications and/or the Ministry of Public Security;

d) Failing to organize incident response activities in/within managed sectors/areas;

dd) Failing to cooperate with the National coordination center, relevant service providers and regulatory authorities to recover the most necessary functions, data or connections to minimize damage to the information system or adverse influence on society;

e) Refusing cooperation orders while the incident is still not yet handled thoroughly;

g) Failing to handle negative impacts of the incident on the community, other authorities and organizations;

h) Failing to store or provide information on managed subscriber IP addresses, servers, IOT devices, log files and domain name system (DNS) logs;

i) Failing to provide space for installing monitoring/sampling devices and providing data flows;

k) Failing to arrange 24/7 standing unit or failing to arrange personnel and material resources to cooperate and develop solutions for responding to and remedying consequences of incidents in case a cyberattack is determined to be originated from managed subscribers or at the request of the National coordination center.

Article 79. Violations against regulations on safety and security of e-transactions using digital signature or digital certificate

1. A fine ranging from VND 10,000,000 to VND 20,000,000 shall be imposed for the commission of one of the following violations:

a) Illegally obstructing provision and use of digital signature certification services;

b) Failing to keep confidentiality and security of retained identification information of applicants for digital certificates.

2. A fine ranging from VND 20,000,000 to VND 30,000,000 shall be imposed for the commission of one of the following violations:

a) Stealing, cheating, impersonating, appropriating or illegally using secret keys of others;

b) Failing to ensure security during creation and transfer of digital certificates to subscribers or failing to keep confidentiality of creation of key pairs for applicants for digital certificates;

c) Creating key pairs by devices which fail to meet relevant technical regulations and compulsory standards;

d) Failing to secretly retain information on identity and private keys of subscribers whose digital certificates are suspended;

dd) Failing to keep confidentiality of private keys of subscribers upon their authorization.

3. A fine ranging from VND 30,000,000 to VND 50,000,000 shall be imposed for the commission of one of the following violations:

a) Forging or instructing others to forge digital certificates;

b) Failing to meet conditions to ensure security for digital certificates as prescribed;

c) Using technical equipment and systems incapable of detecting and warning of illegal access and cyberattacks;

d) Using a key distribution system which fails to ensure the integrity and security of key pairs;

dd) Failing to adopt measures for controlling entrance to the headquarters or the place where the equipment serving the provision of digital signature certification services is located;

e) Failing to adopt measures for controlling access to the digital signature certification system.

4. A fine ranging from VND 70,000,000 to VND 100,000,000 shall be imposed for the commission of one of the following violations:

a) Failing to implement contingency plans for maintaining continuous and safe operation of the system and handling incidents when they occur;

b) Stealing private keys of Vietnam National Root Certification Authority;

c) Illegally revealing or providing private keys of Vietnam National Root Certification Authority;

d) Illegally using private keys of Vietnam National Root Certification Authority;

dd) Failing to obey or improperly executing the orders given by competent authorities according to law regulations on emergency or for ensuring national security.

Article 80. Violations against regulations on illegal provision or use of information in cyberspace

1. A fine ranging from VND 10,000,000 to VND 20,000,000 shall be imposed for decrypting, stealing and/or using passwords, cryptographic keys and information of other organizations/individuals in cyberspace.

2. A fine ranging from VND 30,000,000 to VND 50,000,000 shall be imposed for the commission of one of the following violations:

a) Illegally accessing networks or digital devices of others to override such devices or change/delete information stored on such devices or change setting parameters or collect information of others;

b) Infiltrating, altering or deleting information of other organizations/individuals in cyberspace;

c) Obstructing the information system’s provision of services;

d) Preventing the access to information of other organizations/individuals in cyberspace, unless such prevention is permitted by law;

dd) Causing insecurity or breaking confidentiality of information exchanged, transmitted or stored in cyberspace of other organizations/individuals.

3. Additional penalties:

Foreigners who commit the violation in Clause 1 or 2 of this Article shall be deported from the territory of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.

Article 81. Violations against regulations on appropriation of property using networks

1. A fine ranging from VND 30,000,000 to VND 50,000,000 shall be imposed for using means of online communication on the Internet or telecommunications networks to appropriate property worth less than VND 2,000,000.

2. A fine ranging from VND 70,000,000 to VND 100,000,000 shall be imposed for the commission of one of the following violations:

a) Illegally accessing the account of an organization or individual to appropriate their property which is worth less than VND 2,000,000;

b) Establishing systems or providing services of diverting international calls into local calls in order to cheat and appropriate property which is worth less than VND 2,000,000;

c) Stealing or illegally using information about another organization’s or individual’s bank account or card to appropriate or damage the account holder's or card holder's property or illegally pay for goods or services worth less than VND 2,000,000.

3. Additional penalties:

The exhibits and instrumentalities used for committing the administrative violation in Clause 2 of this Article shall be confiscated.

4. Remedial measures:

Enforced return of benefits illegally obtained from the commission of the violation in Clause 1 or 2 of this Article.

Article 82. Violations against regulations on management of sending of information in cyberspace

1. A fine ranging from VND 10,000,000 to VND 20,000,000 shall be imposed for the commission of one of the following violations:

a) Sending commercial information to electronic addresses of recipients without their consent or when they have refused to receive such information;

b) Failing to provide recipients with measures for refusing to receive information.

2. A fine ranging from VND 20,000,000 to VND 30,000,000 shall be imposed for the commission of one of the following violations:

a) Forging the information sender source;

b) Failing to provide necessary technical and professional conditions at the request of a competent authority.

3. A fine ranging from VND 30,000,000 to VND 50,000,000 shall be imposed for failing to implement blocking or handling measures upon receiving notices that the sending of information violates law regulations.

Article 83. Violations against regulations on prevention, detection, blocking and handling of malware

1. A fine ranging from VND 10,000,000 to VND 20,000,000 shall be imposed for the commission of one of the following violations:

a) Failing to take measures for managing, preventing, detecting and stopping the spread of malware;

b) Failing to submit reports to competent authorities on the enterprise’s malware filtering system in the course of sending, receiving and storing information on its system as prescribed by law.

2. A fine ranging from VND 20,000,000 to VND 30,000,000 shall be imposed for the commission of one of the following violations:

a) Failing to establish a malware filtering system in the course of sending, receiving and storing information on the system of the enterprise providing email services or transmitting and storing information;

dd) Failing to prevent or block or handle the spread of malware as instructed or requested by a competent authority;

c) Failing to operate a technical and professional system for preventing, detecting, blocking and promptly handling malware.

Article 84. Violations against regulations on collection and use of personal information

1. A fine ranging from VND 10,000,000 to VND 20,000,000 shall be imposed for the commission of one of the following violations:

a) Collecting personal information without obtaining the consent of its owner regarding the scope and purpose of collection and use of such information;

b) Failing to refrain from providing personal information to a third party at the request of its owner.

2. A fine ranging from VND 20,000,000 to VND 30,000,000 shall be imposed for the commission of one of the following violations:

a) Failing to use the collected personal information for the agreed purposes or using it for the purposes other than the agreed ones without its owner’s consent;

b) Providing or sharing or spreading the collected, accessed or controlled personal information to a third party without its owner's consent;

c) Illegally collecting, using, spreading or trading in personal information of others.

3. Remedial measures:

Enforced removal of personal information in case of commission of the violation in Point b Clause 1, or Point b or c Clause 2 of this Article.

Article 85. Violations against regulations on updating, alteration and removal of personal information

1. A fine ranging from VND 10,000,000 to VND 20,000,000 shall be imposed for failing to notify the owner of personal information of removal of stored information or failure to take appropriate measures for protecting their information for technical reasons.

2. A fine ranging from VND 20,000,000 to VND 30,000,000 shall be imposed for the commission of one of the following violations:

a) Failing to update, alter or remove stored personal information at the request of its owner or failing to grant the owners of personal information the right to access and update, alter or remove their personal information;

b) Failing to remove stored personal information when having accomplished their use purposes or the storage period has expired.

3. A fine ranging from VND 30,000,000 to VND 50,000,000 shall be imposed for failing to implement managerial or technical measures for protecting personal information as prescribed.

Article 86. Violations against regulations on assurance of security of personal information in cyberspace

1. A fine ranging from VND 10,000,000 to VND 20,000,000 shall be imposed for insufficiently implementing standards and technical regulations on assurance of cyberinformation security.

2. A fine ranging from VND 20,000,000 to VND 30,000,000 shall be imposed for failing to implement standards and technical regulations on assurance of cyberinformation security.

3. A fine ranging from VND 30,000,000 to VND 50,000,000 shall be imposed for failing to promptly take remedial and preventive measures when a cyberinformation security incident might occur.

4. A fine ranging from VND 50,000,000 to VND 70,000,000 shall be imposed for failing to promptly take remedial and preventive measures when a cyberinformation security incident has occurred.

Article 87. Violations against regulations on measures for security supervision and protection of information systems

1. A fine ranging from VND 10,000,000 to VND 20,000,000 shall be imposed for failing to promulgate regulations on cyberinformation security assurance in designing, developing, managing, operating, using, updating or abolishing information systems.

2. A fine ranging from VND 20,000,000 to VND 30,000,000 shall be imposed for the commission of one of the following violations:

a) Failing to examine and supervise the compliance with regulations on cyberinformation security assurance or failing o assess the effectiveness of applied managerial and technical measures;

b) Failing to cooperate with managing bodies of information systems in supervising the security of information systems at the request of competent authorities;

c) Failing to execute, urge, examine and supervise the security assurance for information systems.

3. A fine ranging from VND 50,000,000 to VND 70,000,000 shall be imposed for failing to adopt managerial or technical measures according to standards or technical regulations on cyberinformation security for preventing and combating risks of and remedying cyberinformation security incidents.

Article 88. Violations against regulations on security assurance for information systems by classification

1. A fine ranging from VND 10,000,000 to VND 20,000,000 shall be imposed for failing to make proposal for classification or failing to conduct appraisal and approval for proposals for classification as prescribed.

2. A fine ranging from VND 20,000,000 to VND 30,000,000 shall be imposed for failing to have a plan for ensuring cyberinformation security appraised by a competent authority when establishing, expanding or upgrading the information system.

3. A fine ranging from VND 30,000,000 to VND 50,000,000 shall be imposed for failing to carry out inspection of information security when establishing, expanding or upgrading a national important information system before this system is put into operation.

Article 89. Violations against regulations on cyberinformation security assurance for national important information systems

1. A fine ranging from VND 10,000,000 to VND 20,000,000 shall be imposed for the commission of one of the following violations:

a) Failing to carry out periodical assessment of cyberinformation security risks;

b) Failing to take standby measures for information systems;

c) Failing to employ an appropriate professional organization to carry out inspection and assessment of information security and information security risks over the information system of class 3 or higher;

d) Failing to carry out information security drills during the operation of the authority or organization as prescribed.

2. A fine ranging from VND 20,000,000 to VND 30,000,000 shall be imposed for failing to develop and conduct drills in plans or measures for protection of national important information systems.

3. A fine ranging from VND 30,000,000 to VND 50,000,000 shall be imposed for the commission of one of the following violations:

a) Failing to participate in national or international drills organized by the Ministry of Information and Communications;

b) Failing to cooperate in deploying equipment, connecting technical processor systems, minimizing network attacks, supporting the supervision of information security for the information systems providing online public services and developing e-government.

Article 90. Violations against regulations on prevention of online information conflicts

1. A fine ranging from VND 10,000,000 to VND 20,000,000 shall be imposed for the commission of one of the following violations:

a) Failing to notify and provide adequate information when detecting signs or acts of inflicting online information conflicts or when detecting damage to information or information system;

b) Failing to receive or process notifications of online information conflicts for responding to incidents and preventing online information conflicts;

c) Failing to cooperate with specialized agencies in tracing the precise source(s) of online information conflicts;

d) Failing to cooperate with specialized agencies in eliminating online information conflicts.

2. A fine ranging from VND 20,000,000 to VND 30,000,000 shall be imposed for the commission of one of the following violations:

a) Failing to filter information at the request of a specialized agency or a reasonable request of the entities involved in online information conflicts;

b) Failing to block sabotaging information originating from the information system or failing to cooperate in determining sources, repulsing and remedying consequences of cyber-attacks carried out via the information systems of domestic and foreign organizations and individuals;

c) Failing to develop plans for settling conflicts in managed online information;

d) Failing to submit consolidated reports on settlement of online information conflicts to specialized agencies;

dd) Failing to cooperate in settling online information conflicts.

3. A fine ranging from VND 30,000,000 to VND 40,000,000 shall be imposed for failing to settle conflicts in managed online information.

4. A fine ranging from VND 40,000,000 to VND 60,000,000 shall be imposed for failing to provide timely and adequate information, evidences and proofs for tracing of online information conflicts.

5. A fine ranging from VND 60,000,000 to VND 80,000,000 shall be imposed for the commission of one of the following violations:

a) Failing to cooperate in tracing online information conflicts or failing to rectify consequences thereof;

b) Failing to provide information, evidences and proofs for tracing of online information conflicts.

Article 91. Violations against regulations on security assurance for telecommunications resources

1. A fine ranging from VND 20,000,000 to VND 30,000,000 shall be imposed for the commission of one of the following violations:

a) Improperly or insufficiently applying managerial and technical measures for preventing cyberinformation insecurity arising from managed frequencies, telecommunications numbers, domain names and Internet addresses;

b) Failing to provide information concerning telecommunications resource security at the request of a competent state authority;

c) Failing to provide adequate information at the request of a competent state authority or failing to cooperate in connection and routing to ensure the secure and stable operation of the national DNS of Vietnam.

2. A fine ranging from VND 30,000,000 to VND 40,000,000 shall be imposed for the commission of one of the following violations:

a) Failing to apply managerial and technical measures for preventing cyberinformation insecurity arising from managed frequencies, telecommunications numbers, domain names and Internet addresses;

b) Failing to cooperate in preventing cyberinformation insecurity arising from Internet resources or clients or failing to provide information at the request of a competent state authority or failing to cooperate in connection and routing to ensure the secure and stable operation of the national DNS of Vietnam.

Article 92. Violations against regulations on trading in cyberinformation security sector

1. A fine ranging from VND 20,000,000 to VND 30,000,000 shall be imposed for the commission of one of the following violations:

a) Failing to manage documents on technical solutions and technologies of cyberinformation security products;

b) Failing to establish, store and keep confidentiality of information about users of cyberinformation security products/services;

c) Failing to submit reports to the Ministry of Information and Communications on trading, import and export of cyberinformation security products/services as prescribed.

2. A fine ranging from VND 30,000,000 to VND 40,000,000 shall be imposed for the commission of one of the following violations:

a) Failing to carry out procedures for modification or amendment of the license to trade/provide cyberinformation security products/services in case the enterprise holding the license is renamed, replaces its legal representative or changes or adds its cyberinformation security products/services;

b) Failing to carry out procedures for re-issuance of the license to trade/provide cyberinformation security products/services in case the license is lost or otherwise damaged;

c) Failing to refuse to provide cyberinformation security products/services when detecting users’ breach of agreed commitments on use of cyberinformation security products/services;

d) Failing to suspend or terminate the provision of cyberinformation security products/services at the request of a competent state authority;

dd) Failing to carry out procedures for certification or declaration of conformity and place conformity marks on cyberinformation security products before selling them on the market as prescribed;

e) Providing cyberinformation security services against the license.

3. A fine ranging from VND 40,000,000 to VND 50,000,000 shall be imposed for the commission of one of the following violations:

a) Failing to maintain the satisfaction of eligibility requirements for the license to trade/provide cyberinformation security products/services;

b) Failing to cooperate and facilitate competent authorities' performance of professional measures upon their requests.

4. A fine ranging from VND 50,000,000 to VND 60,000,000 shall be imposed for the commission of one of the following violations:

a) Trading/providing cyberinformation security products/services without a valid license;

b) Trading/providing cyberinformation security products/services which cause harm to national defense and security or social order and safety.

5. Additional penalties:

The license to trade/provide cyberinformation security products/services shall be suspended for a fixed period of 01 – 03 months in case of commission of the violation in Point c, d or e Clause 2, Point b Clause 3 or Point b Clause 4 of this Article.

6. Remedial measures:

Enforced return of benefits illegally obtained from the commission of the violation in Point c, d, dd or e Clause 2 or Clause 4 of this Article.

Article 93. Violations against regulations on import of cyberinformation security products

1. A fine ranging from VND 30,000,000 to VND 40,000,000 shall be imposed for the commission of one of the following violations:

a) Failing to obtain a valid license when importing cyberinformation security products which are included in the list of goods requiring import license;

b) Providing inaccurate or false information when applying for the license to import cyberinformation security products.

2. Additional penalties:

The license to import cyberinformation security products shall be confiscated in case of commission of the violation in Point b Clause 1 of this Article.

3. Remedial measures:

a) Enforced return of benefits illegally obtained from the commission of any of the violations in Clause 1 of this Article;

b) Enforced re-export of imported cyberinformation security products in case of commission of any of the violations in Clause 1 of this Article;

c) Enforced recall of cyberinformation security products in case of commission of any of the violations in Clause 1 of this Article.

Section 3. VIOLATIONS AGAINST REGULATIONS ON ANTI-SPAM AND PROVISION OF CONTENT SERVICES

Article 94. Violations against regulations on emails and messages providing product/service-related information

1. A fine ranging from VND 1,000,000 to VND 2,000,000 shall be imposed for providing contact telephone numbers on advertising boards hung, placed or glued, or drawing advertising products on utility poles, traffic signal poles, walls, trees or in public places.

2. A fine ranging from VND 5,000,000 to VND 10,000,000 shall be imposed for the commission of one of the following violations:

a) Sending promotional emails/messages to recipients without their content;

b) Improperly or insufficiently labeling promotional emails/messages as prescribed.

3. A fine ranging from VND 10,000,000 to VND 20,000,000 shall be imposed for the commission of one of the following violations:

a) Failing to label promotional emails/messages as prescribed;

b) Failing to retain information on registration of receipt of promotional emails/messages, refusals to receive promotional emails/messages and confirmations thereof;

c) Sending promotional emails/messages or online messages before obtaining a management code or using a management code other than the one granted by the Ministry of Information and Communications.

4. A fine ranging from VND 20,000,000 to VND 30,000,000 shall be imposed for the commission of one of the following violations:

a) Failing to provide free of charge mechanism for receiving and handling notifications of spam emails;

b) Failing to adopt measures to prevent loss and wrong blocking of emails of service users;

c) Failing to cooperate with domestic and foreign Internet service providers/domestic and foreign messaging service providers in mitigating and preventing spam emails;

d) Failing to immediately reply to or failing to comply with statutory requirements for replying to refusals to receive emails/messages;

dd) Failing to adopt measures for limiting the messaging quantity, speed and frequency;

e) Failing to limit the messaging frequency from each source or failing to prevent messages prone to cause information insecurity as prescribed;

g) Failing to send copies of contents of promotional emails or messages which have been sent to clients to the technical system of Ministry of Information and Communications;

h) Hiding email name/address when sending emails/messages;

i) Failing to stop sending promotional emails/messages to recipients immediately after receiving their requests for refusal to receive such promotional emails/messages;

k) Failing to cooperate with domestic and foreign mobile telecommunications service providers in preventing spam messages;

l) Failing to implement measures for preventing spam messages at the request of a competent authority;

m) Failing to prevent spam messages with forged sender addresses before sending them to end service users;

n) Failing to stop providing message-based content services at the request of clients;

o) Failing to fully implement requests for coordination, prevention and handling of spam messages.

5. A fine ranging from VND 30,000,000 to VND 40,000,000 shall be imposed for the commission of one of the following violations:

a) Failing to comply with requests for coordination, prevention and handling of spam messages;

b) Failing to comply with requests for handling of notifications/reports on spam messages given by the Ministry of Information and Communications;

c) Failing to implement measures for reducing spam emails at the request of a competent authority;

d) Failing to provide information on and block sources of spam emails or malware at the request of a state authority;

dd) A messaging service provider’s failure to implement measures for evaluating the state of spam messages over mobile telecommunications networks according to guidelines given by the Ministry of Information and Communications.

6. A fine ranging from VND 60,000,000 to VND 80,000,000 shall be imposed for the commission of one of the following violations:

a) Failing to provide adequate methods for refusal to receive promotional emails or messages;

b) Sending or spreading spam emails, spam messages and/or malware;

c) Creating a series of missed calls to entice users to make calls or send messages to numbers providing content services for personal gains or providing promotional information;

d) Operating or using service numbers or subscriber numbers for wrong purposes;

dd) Opening the function to dial, send/receive messages of toll-free service numbers/premium-rate service numbers.

7. A fine ranging from VND 80,000,000 to VND 100,000,000 shall be imposed for failing to establish a system for receiving and handling refusal requests of recipients when sending promotional emails or messages or providing Internet-based messaging services.

8. A fine ranging from VND 180,000,000 to VND 200,000,000 shall be imposed for failing to blocking or taking back subscriber numbers which are used to send spam messages.

9. Additional penalties:

a) The provision of services shall be suspended for a fixed period of 01 – 03 months in case of commission of any of the violations in Points c, d, e and h Clause 4, Clause 6 and Clause 7 of this Article;

b) The rights to use management codes/names shall be revoked for a fixed period of 01 – 03 months in case of commission of any of the violations in Points a and b Clause 3, Points d, g, h, I and o Clause 4, Points a and b Clause 6 of this Article.

10. Remedial measures:

a) Enforced return or transfer of benefits illegally obtained from the commission of the violation in Point d or dd Clause 6 of this Article;

b) Enforced revocation of prefixes/telecommunications numbers in case of commission of the violation in Point h Clause 4, Point b or c Clause 5, or Clause 6 of this Article.

Article 95. Violations against regulations on provision of promotional email/message services and message-based content services

1. A fine ranging from VND 10,000,000 to VND 20,000,000 shall be imposed for the commission of one of the following violations:

a) Failing to establish a website using “.vn” domain name of Vietnam when providing promotional email services, or Internet-based messaging services, or message-based content services;

b) Failing to provide adequate and clear service-related information on the website before such services are provided for users, consisting of: name of service, corresponding order code, description of service, using method, corresponding service charge, instructions for service termination, customer service numbers, and commitments to use service.

2. A fine ranging from VND 20,000,000 to VND 30,000,000 shall be imposed for the commission of one of the following violations:

a) Providing promotional email or message services or message-content services or Internet-based messaging services before obtaining a management code as prescribed;

b) Failing to provide readable information in Vietnamese on prices/charges and suitable equipment or providing information on the charges which does not match or close the order code or whose size is smaller than 2/3 of the order code’s size when giving advertisements or providing information about message-based content services, award-winning messaging, rating programs or donation or contribution programs by messaging on printed newspapers, television newspapers, online newspapers, websites, Internet, messages and/or emails;

c) Failing to provide information on charge rates before charging calls to premium-rate service numbers or enquiry service numbers;

d) Failing to instruct subscribers to notify spam messages and reply to received notifications of spam messages;

dd) Insufficiently retaining data on provided message-based content services as prescribed.

3. A fine ranging from VND 50,000,000 to VND 70,000,000 shall be imposed for the commission of one of the following violations:

a) Failing to use a server located in Vietnam when providing service/product-related information via emails;

b) Failing to use servers located in Vietnam when providing Internet-based messaging services;

c) Failing to use the granted messaging numbers as prescribed when providing service/product-related information via messages;

d) Providing promotional email/message services but failing to establish a system for receiving and handling requests for refusal to receive promotional emails/messages;

dd) Failing to provide free of charge the function to receive notifications of spam messages or emails from users;

e) Failing to operate a spam prevention system capable of preventing spam messages by sender source or key words shown in messages;

g) Failing to provide message sending and receiving services or message sending and receiving services with identification names to service providers that have been issued with management codes;

h) Failing to allow enterprises that are issued with management codes to make connections with technical systems for providing services;

i) Failing to retain data on provided message-based content services as prescribed;

k) Failing to provide information on charge rates when users make calls to premium-rate service numbers or enquiry service numbers.

4. A fine ranging from VND 140,000,000 to VND 170,000,000 shall be imposed for charging error messages, unreplied messages or messages with replied contents which do not match order codes announced by the enterprise or messages of cheated users.

5. Additional penalties:

a) The provision of services shall be suspended for a fixed period of 01 – 03 months in case of commission of the violation in Point h Clause 3 or Clause 4 of this Article;

b) The rights to use management codes shall be revoked for a fixed period of 01 – 03 months in case of commission of any of the violations in Point a Clause 1, Point dd Clause 2, Clause 3 and Clause 4 of this Article.

6. Remedial measures:

a) Enforced return or transfer of benefits illegally obtained from the commission of the violation in Point c Clause 2, Point k Clause 3 or Clause 4 of this Article;

b) Enforced revocation of management codes/identification names in case of commission of any of the violations in Point a Clause 1, Point dd Clause 2, Points a, b, c and d Clause 3 and Clause 4 of this Article.

Article 96. Violations against regulations on provision of content services on mobile telecommunications networks

1. A fine ranging from VND 20,000,000 to VND 30,000,000 shall be imposed for the commission of one of the following violations:

a) Failing to carry out procedures for re-issuance of the Certificate of registration of provision of content services on mobile telecommunications networks when the issued Certificate has been lost, damaged or otherwise destroyed;

b) Failing to provide customer care services;

c) Failing to notify or giving a notification to a competent authority after the prescribed deadline in case of changes in the organization or enterprise’s headquarters or legal representative;

d) Failing to submit reports on provision of content services on mobile telecommunications networks by prescribed deadlines.

2. A fine ranging from VND 30,000,000 to VND 50,000,000 shall be imposed for the commission of one of the following violations:

a) Failing to carry out procedures for modification or amendment of the issued Certificate of registration of provision of content services on mobile telecommunications networks as prescribed;

b) Failing to formulate and publish the agreement on provision of content services before providing services to users;

b) Failing to give notification or giving a notification of the use of management code/code for providing content services on mobile telecommunications networks to the Ministry of Information and Communications after the prescribed deadline from the date of issue, return, revocation or change of management code/service-providing code;

d) Failing to submit periodical and ad hoc reports on provision of content services on mobile telecommunications networks as prescribed.

3. A fine ranging from VND 50,000,000 to VND 70,000,000 shall be imposed for the commission of one of the following violations:

a) Insufficiently retaining provided information or processing data of requests for registration/termination of services, information on service charges, complaints and settlement thereof;

b) Failing to retain provided information or processing data of requests for registration/termination of services, information on service charges, complaints and settlement thereof for a prescribed period;

c) Failing to stop or suspend connections with content service providers that have performed prohibited acts for a prescribed period as requested by a competent authority;

d) Providing services against the Certificate of registration of provision of content services on mobile telecommunications networks.

4. A fine ranging from VND 70,000,000 to VND 100,000,000 shall be imposed for the commission of one of the following violations:

a) Failing to retain provided information or processing data of requests for registration/termination of services, information on service charges, complaints and settlement thereof;

b) Failing to refuse to make connections with organizations or enterprises that do not carry out procedures for registration of provision of content services on mobile telecommunications networks;

c) Failing to stop or suspend connections with content service providers that have committed violations at the request of a competent authority;

d) Providing services without obtaining a valid Certificate of registration of provision of content services on mobile telecommunications networks;

dd) Failing to give notification or giving a notification of changes in service provision methods to competent authorities after the prescribed deadline.

5. A fine ranging from VND 140,000,000 to VND 170,000,000 shall be imposed for the commission of one of the following violations:

a) Failing to control service provision procedures/systems of content service providers as prescribed or failing to ensure registration, verification, refusal, renewal and termination of services, charging and notifications given to service users as prescribed;

b) Failing to notify one of the following contents when carrying out advertisements for content services, including name of service, service-providing code/number, methods of registration, charging frequency, service charges, methods of refusal and customer service number;

c) Failing to provide one of the following contents, including name of service, management code, service-providing code, date of registration, charging frequency, service charges, methods of service termination, to service users who retrieve information on their content services;

d) Failing to provide consistent code/prefix to service users to serve their retrieval of information on their content services;

dd) Providing regular services but having sent SMS notification which lacks one of the following contents, including “Successful registration", "name of registered service", "management code/service-providing code, charging frequency, charge rate, method of service termination, and customer service number", to service users;

e) Sending SMS notification of service renewal which lacks one of the following contents, including name of service, management code/service-providing code, charging frequency, charge rate, method of service termination, and customer service number, to subscribers that have registered for regular services;

g) Failing to send SMS notification of service renewal with correct messaging frequency or at prescribed times to subscribers that have registered for regular services;

h) Failing to provide content services correctly as registered by users or failing to provide information as announced by the content service provider;

i) Failing to return service charges collected against regulations to service users by prescribed deadlines.

6. A fine ranging from VND 170,000,000 to VND 200,000,000 shall be imposed for the commission of one of the following violations:

a) Providing content services containing prohibited contents on mobile telecommunications networks;

b) Failing to ensure service users’ rights to refuse, terminate or search for their registered or used content services;

c) Providing regular services but failing to send SMS notification which contains the following contents, including “Successful registration", "name of registered service", "management code/service-providing code, charging frequency, charge rate, method of service termination, and customer service number", to service users;

d) Providing regular content services on mobile telecommunications networks without the consent via SMS sent from service users;

dd) Collecting service charges when service users have refused to use or terminate service or search for registered content services by messaging, making calls to customer service number, accessing the website of the content service provider or by other forms;

e) Charging content services from which users do not receive any information or receive inadequate or incomplete information as registered;

g) Failing to send SMS notification of automatic renewal of services to subscribers that have registered for regular services;

h) Failing to send SMS notification of handling results of subscribers’ requests for termination of content services;

i) Failing to return service charges collected against regulations to service users.

7. Additional penalties:

a) The Certificate of provision of content services on mobile telecommunications services shall be suspended for a fixed period of 3 – 5 months in case of commission of any of the violations in Points a and dd Clause 4, Clause 5 and Clause 6 of this Article;

b) The exhibits and instrumentalities used for committing the violation in Point d Clause 4 of this Article shall be confiscated.

8. Remedial measures:

a) Enforced return or transfer of benefits illegally obtained from the commission of any of the violations in Points d and dd Clause 4, Points b, c, dd, e, g and h Clause 5 and Clause 6 of this Article;

b) Enforced revocation of management codes/service-providing codes in case of commission of any of the violations in Points d and dd Clause 4, Clause 5 and Clause 6 of this Article.

Article 97. Violations against regulations on collection of service charges

1. A fine ranging from VND 140,000,000 to VND 170,000,000 shall be imposed for the commission of one of the following violations:

a) Failing to return service charges at the request of message-based content service providers or failing to give notification of return of service charges to users;

b) Failing to provide information about service charges at items with function to deduct charges of applications, games or websites;

c) Providing charged software programs or websites but falling to activate the function allowing users to confirm or refuse to use services with corresponding service charges.

2. Additional penalties:

The provision of services shall be suspended for a fixed period of 01 – 03 months in case of commission of any of the violations in Clause 1 of this Article.

3. Remedial measures:

a) Enforced return or transfer of benefits illegally obtained from the commission of any of the violations in Clause 1 of this Article;

b) Enforced revocation of prefixes/ telecommunications numbers in case of commission of any of the violations in Clause 1 of this Article.

Section 4. VIOLATIONS AGAINST REGULATIONS ON CYBERINFORMATION

Article 98. Violations against regulations on license to establish social networking sites

1. A fine ranging from VND 10,000,000 to VND 20,000,000 shall be imposed for the commission of one of the following violations:

a) Failing to carry out procedures for re-issuance of the license to establish social networking site in case the issued license is lost or otherwise damaged;

b) Failing to give a notification of changes in the owner or headquarters address to the licensing authority.

2. A fine ranging from VND 20,000,000 to VND 30,000,000 shall be imposed for failing to carry out procedures for modification or amendments to the license to establish social networking site in case of change or addition of information to the license.

3. A fine ranging from VND 50,000,000 to VND 70,000,000 shall be imposed for establishing a social networking site without a valid license.

4. Additional penalties:

a) The exhibits and instrumentalities used for committing the violation in Clause 3 of this Article shall be confiscated.

b) All operations shall be suspended for a fixed period of 01- 03 months in case of commission of the violation in Clause 2 of this Article.

5. Remedial measures:

Enforced revocation or return of domain name in case of commission of the violation in Clause 3 of this Article.

Article 99. Violations against regulations on websites

1. A fine ranging from VND 5,000,000 to VND 10,000,000 shall be imposed for providing insufficient or inaccurate information on name of the organization managing the website, name of its supervisory authority (if any), contact address, email address, phone number and name of the person in charge of contents of the website's homepage.

2. A fine ranging from VND 10,000,000 to VND 20,000,000 shall be imposed for the commission of one of the following violations:

a) Providing or sharing paths/links to other websites with contents in violation of laws;

b) Disseminating information on or inciting violence, pornography, debauchery, crimes, social evils, superstitions, or sabotage of national good traditions and customs.

3. A fine ranging from VND 20,000,000 to VND 30,000,000 shall be imposed for the commission of one of the following violations:

a) Providing false information with the aims of distorting, slandering or damaging the prestige, honor and dignity of other organizations or individuals;

b) Posting, delivering or using images of Vietnam’s map which does not indicate the entire and accurate national sovereignty;

c) Advertising, disseminating information on or trading in prohibited goods/services;

d) Forging websites of other organizations or individuals;

dd) Posting/delivering journalistic, literature and arts works and other publications without the consent from holders of intellectual property rights over such works, or which are not allowed to be distributed or subject to a distribution prohibition or confiscation decision.

4. Additional penalties:

The exhibits and instrumentalities used for committing any of the violations in Clause 3 of this Article shall be confiscated.

5. Remedial measures:

a) Enforced removal of paths/links to false, misleading or violating information in case of commission of any of the violations in Clause 2 and Clause 3 of this Article;

b) Enforced revocation or return of domain names in case of commission of any of the violations in Clause 2 and Clause 3 of this Article.

Article 100. Violations against regulations on responsibility of organizations/enterprises establishing social networking sites

1. A fine ranging from VND 20,000,000 to VND 30,000,000 shall be imposed for the commission of one of the following violations:

a) Failing to publish entire contents of the agreement on provision and use of social networking services on the website’s homepage;

b) Failing to adopt measures for protecting the privacy or personal information of service users;

c) Failing to notify service users of their rights, responsibility and risks arising from exchange/sharing of information on the network;

d) Failing to respect users’ rights to decide to allow the organization or enterprise establishing the social network to provide their personal information for a third party;

dd) Failing to carry out registration, retention and management of personal information of persons who establish personal websites and other providers of information on social network as prescribed;

e) Providing insufficient or inaccurate information on the name of the organization managing the social network, name of its supervisory authority (if any), contact address, email address, phone number and name of the person in charge of contents of the social network, number, issue date and issuing authority of the license on the homepage of the social network.

2. A fine ranging from VND 30,000,000 to VND 50,000,000 shall be imposed for the commission of one of the following violations:

a) Using personal information of others on the social network without their consent;

b) Failing to provide private or personal information of service users who get involved in terror acts, crimes or other violations against law at the request of competent authorities;

c) Failing to operate a server in Vietnam to serve the inspection, retention and provision of information at the request of a competent authority or resolution of clients’ complaints about services provided in accordance with regulations of Ministry of Information and Communications;

d) Failing to retain information on accounts, log-in/log-out times, IP addresses of users and logs of handling of published information as prescribed;

dd) Committing a violation involving personnel, domain name, technical requirements or content management;

e) Failing to publish the agreement on provision and use of social networking services on the website’s homepage;

g) Failing to provide information on the name of the organization managing the social network, name of its supervisory authority (if any), contact address, email address, phone number and name of the person in charge of contents of the social network, number, issue date and issuing authority of the license on the homepage of the social network.

3. A fine ranging from VND 50,000,000 to VND 70,000,000 shall be imposed for the commission of one of the following violations:

a) Deliberately storing/delivering fake or false information with the aims of distorting, slandering or damaging the prestige, honor and dignity of other organizations or individuals;

b) Deliberately providing information with the aims of encouraging unsound customs, superstitions or pornography, or which is not conformable with the national good traditions and customs;

c) Deliberately providing information describing in detail acts of cutting off/killing, accidents, horror and frightful acts;

d) Deliberately storing/delivering fictitious information with the aims of causing a panic among the population, inciting violence, crimes, social evils, gambling or serving gambling activities;

dd) Deliberately storing/delivering information which does not match the national interests;

e) Deliberately posting, delivering, transmitting or using images of Vietnam’s map which does not indicate the entire and accurate national sovereignty;

g) Deliberately posting/delivering journalistic, literature and arts works and other publications without the consent from holders of intellectual property rights over such works, or which are not allowed to be distributed or subject to a distribution prohibition or confiscation decision;

h) Deliberately advertising, disseminating information on or trading in prohibited goods/services;

i) Failing to block and remove violating information as prescribed.

4. Additional penalties:

a) The exhibits and instrumentalities used for committing any of the violations in Clause 3 of this Article shall be confiscated;

b) The license to establish social networking site shall be suspended for a fixed period of 8 - 12 months in case of commission of any of the violations in Points b, c, d and dd Clause 2 and Clause 3 of this Article.

5. Remedial measures:

a) Enforced removal of false, misleading or violating information in case of commission of any of the violations in Clause 3 of this Article;

b) Enforced revocation of domain names in case of commission of any of the violations in Clause 3 of this Article.

Article 101. Violations against regulations on responsibility of social networking service users

1. A fine ranging from VND 10,000,000 to VND 20,000,000 shall be imposed for the commission of one of the following violations:

a) Providing/sharing fake or false information with the aims of distorting, slandering or damaging the prestige, honor and dignity of other organizations, authorities or individuals;

b) Providing/sharing information with the aims of encouraging unsound customs, superstitions or pornography, or which is not conformable with the national good traditions and customs;

c) Providing/sharing information describing in detail acts of cutting off/killing, accidents, horror and frightful acts;

d) Providing/sharing fictitious information with the aims of causing a panic among the population, inciting violence, crimes, social evils, gambling or serving gambling activities;

dd) Providing/sharing journalistic, literature and arts works and other publications without the consent from holders of intellectual property rights over such works, or which are not allowed to be distributed or subject to a distribution prohibition or confiscation decision;

e) Advertising, disseminating or sharing information on prohibited goods/services;

g) Providing/sharing images of Vietnam’s map which does not indicate the entire and accurate national sovereignty;

h) Providing/sharing paths/links to prohibited information on networks.

2. A fine ranging from VND 20,000,000 to VND 30,000,000 shall be imposed for disclosing information classified as state secret, an individual’s privacy or other secrets if not liable to criminal prosecution.

3. Remedial measures:

Enforced removal of false, misleading or violating information in case of commission of any of the violations in Clause 1 and Clause 2 of this Article.

Article 102. Violations against regulations on retention, leasing, transmission, provision, access, collection, processing, exchange and utilization of information

1. A fine ranging from VND 2,000,000 to VND 5,000,000 shall be imposed for storing personal information of others collected in cyberspace for a period exceeding the retention period prescribed by law or agreed upon by two parties.

2. A fine ranging from VND 5,000,000 to VND 10,000,000 shall be imposed for the commission of one of the following violations:

a) Failing to terminate the leasing of digital information storage space in case information is stored in violation of law upon detection by the lessor or notification by a competent authority;

b) Failing to terminate the provision of tools for finding sources of digital information to organizations/individuals in case such sources of digital information are found to violate the law upon detection by the service provider or notification by a competent authority;

c) Failing to review and correct or remove the others’ personal information stored in cyberspace in course of information collection, processing and utilization upon request of owners of such information;

d) Providing or using personal information which is not yet corrected at the request for information correction of the owner of such information;

dd) Providing or using personal information when the owner of such information has sent request for removal of such information.

3. A fine ranging from VND 10,000,000 to VND 20,000,000 shall be imposed for the commission of one of the following violations:

a) Illegally accessing, using, disclosing, interrupting, altering or destroying information/information systems;

b) Failing to implement necessary measures for preventing the access to or removing violating information at the request of a competent authority when transmitting or leasing of space for storing digital information;

c) Failing to comply with the request of a competent authority for determination of the list of owners who lease space for storage of digital information;

d) Failing to keep confidentiality of information of organizations/individuals leasing space for storing digital information, unless the information must be provided at the request of a competent authority;

dd) Failing to implement necessary managerial/technical measures for protecting personal information from loss, theft, disclosure, change or removal when collecting, processing and using personal information of other persons in cyberspace;

e) Collecting, processing and using information of other organizations/individuals without their consent or for serving purposes other the prescribed ones;

g) Providing, exchanging, transmitting or storing and using digital information in order to threaten, disturb, distort, slander or damage the prestige, honor and dignity of other organizations or individuals;

h) Providing, exchanging, transmitting or storing and using digital information for advertising or promotion of prohibited goods/services;

i) Illegally obstructing the transmission of information online, intervening, accessing, damaging, removing, altering, duplicating and falsifying information in cyberspace;

k) Failing to monitor or supervise digital information of other organizations/individuals at the request of a competent authority;

l) Failing to cooperate in investigation of violations against the law in course of transmission or storage of digital information of other organizations/individuals at the request of a competent authority;

m) Disclosing information classified as state secrets, personal and family secrets if not liable to criminal prosecution;

n) Impersonating other organizations/individuals and disseminating fake or false information which infringes upon legitimate rights and benefits of other organizations/individuals;

o) Appropriating another person’s mails, telegraphs, telex, faxes or other documents which are transmitted in cyberspace in any forms;

p) Deliberately obtaining information/contents of another person’s mails, telegraphs, telex, faxes or other documents which are transmitted in cyberspace;

q) Listening or recording conversations against the law;

r) Confiscating mails or telegraphs against the law.

4. A fine ranging from VND 30,000,000 to VND 50,000,000 shall be imposed for the commission of one of the following violations:

a) Failing to keep confidentiality of private information transmitted on public telecommunications network or disclosing private information relating to telecommunications service users;

b) Providing, exchanging, transmitting, storing or using information/services related to gambling or serving gambling activities, or pornography, debauchery, superstitions, or which are contrary to national good traditions and customs.

5. A fine ranging from VND 50,000,000 to VND 70,000,000 shall be imposed for the commission of one of the following violations:

a) Illegally trading or exchanging private information of telecommunications service users;

b) Hiding name or electronic address or forging another person’s name or electronic address when sending emails/messages.

6. A fine ranging from VND 70,000,000 to VND 100,000,000 shall be imposed for providing, exchanging, transmitting or storing and using digital information disseminating wrong facts about the sovereignty of Vietnam.

7. A fine ranging from VND 50,000,000 to VND 70,000,000 shall be imposed for the commission of one of the following violations:

a) Disseminating/inciting violence; disseminating reactionary information if not liable to criminal prosecution;

b) Providing information/images infringing upon the national sovereignty; distorting history, denying the revolutionary achievements; offending the nation, famous persons or national heroes if not liable to criminal prosecutions.

8. Additional penalties:

a) The license to establish social networking site shall be suspended for a fixed period of 22 - 24 months in case of commission of any of the violations in Clauses 5, 6 and 7 of this Article;

b) The exhibits and instrumentalities used for committing any of the violations in Points b, g, h and q Clause 3, Point a Clause 4 and Clause 7 of this Article shall be confiscated.

9. Remedial measures:

a) Enforced return of benefits illegally obtained from the commission of the violation in Point b Clause 4 or Point a Clause 5 of this Article;

b) Enforced revocation of prefixes/ telecommunications numbers in case of commission of the violation in Point b Clause 4 of this Article;

c) Enforced revocation of domain names in case of commission of the violation in Point b Clause 3 of this Article;

Article 103. Violations against regulations on license, registration certificate, decision on approval of online game scripts

1. A fine ranging from VND 10,000,000 to VND 20,000,000 shall be imposed for failing to carry out procedures for re-issuance of one of the following documents:

a) License to provide G1 online games;

b) Decision on approval of G1 game script;

c) Certificate of registration of provision of online gaming services.

2. A fine ranging from VND 20,000,000 to VND 30,000,000 shall be imposed for altering/erasing contents of or providing false information when applying for one of the following documents:

a) License to provide G1 online games;

b) Decision on approval of G1 game script;

c) Certificate of registration of provision of online gaming services;

d) Certificate of notification of provision of online gaming services.

3. A fine ranging from VND 30,000,000 to VND 40,000,000 shall be imposed for failing to carry out procedures for modification of one of the following documents:

a) License to provide G1 online games;

b) Decision on approval of G1 game script;

c) Certificate of registration of provision of online gaming services.

4. A fine ranging from VND 40,000,000 to VND 50,000,000 shall be imposed for the commission of one of the following violations:

a) The G1 gaming service provider fails to give a written notification or gives a written notification of relocation of its headquarters, transaction office or place where its server or leased server is located to the Ministry of Information and Communications/ Provincial Department of Information and Communications after the prescribed deadline;

b) The G1 gaming service provider fails to give a written notification or gives a written notification of changes in its organizational structure or capital contribution resulting in changes in capital contributors (or shareholders) holding at least 30% of charter capital to the Ministry of Information and Communications/ Provincial Department of Information and Communications after the prescribed deadline;

c) The G2, G3 or G4 gaming service provider fails to give a written notification or gives a written notification of changes in domain name, game distribution channels, type of games or headquarters address to the Ministry of Information and Communications/ Provincial Department of Information and Communications after the prescribed deadline.

5. A fine ranging from VND 50,000,000 to VND 70,000,000 shall be imposed for the commission of one of the following violations:

a) Providing G2, G3 or G4 gaming services but failing to give a notification or giving a notification of provision of online gaming services to the Ministry of Information and Communications after the prescribed deadline;

b) Providing G1 gaming services with an expired license to provide G1 online games.

6. A fine ranging from VND 70,000,000 to VND 100,000,000 shall be imposed for the commission of one of the following violations:

a) Providing G2, G3 or G4 gaming services without a valid certificate of registration of provision of online gaming services;

b) Providing G1 gaming services without obtaining a Decision on approval of G1 game script.

7. A fine ranging from VND 150,000,000 to VND 170,000,000 shall be imposed for providing G1 gaming services without a valid license to provide online games.

8. Additional penalties:

a) The certificate of registration of provision of online gaming services shall be suspended for a fixed period of 01 - 03 months in case of commission of the violation in Point c Clause 4 of this Article;

b) The license to provide G1 online games shall be suspended for a fixed period of 01 - 03 months in case of commission of the violation in Point b Clause 6 of this Article;

c) The exhibits and instrumentalities used for committing any of the violations in Clause 6 and Clause 7 of this Article shall be confiscated;

d) The license to provide online games/ certificate of registration of provision of online gaming services shall be confiscated in case of commission of any of the violations in Clause 2 of this Article;

dd) The decision on approval of G1 game script shall be confiscated in case of commission of any of the violations in Clauses 1, 2 and 3 of this Article.

9. Remedial measures:

a) Enforced transfer of benefits illegally obtained from the commission of any of the violations in Clause 6 and Clause 7 of this Article;

b) Enforced revocation of domain names in case of commission of any of the violations in Point a Clause 5, Clause 6 and Clause 7 of this Article.

Article 104. Violations against regulations on provision of online gaming services

1. A fine ranging from VND 10,000,000 to VND 20,000,000 shall be imposed for the commission of one of the following violations:

a) Failing to establish a website providing online games (hereinafter referred to as “online game website”) or failing to publish adequate information on that website as prescribed by law;

b) Suspending the provision of online gaming services before having published a notification thereof on the online game website for a full period of 90 days or within 15 days after reporting on such suspension to a competent authority.

2. A fine ranging from VND 20,000,000 to VND 30,000,000 shall be imposed for the commission of one of the following violations:

a) Failing to provide information on online games or carry out age-ratings of online games or failing to give warning about negative effects of online games which players might suffer from in advertising programs, on the website of gaming service provider and in each online game;

b) Failing to protect legitimate rights and benefits of players according to the announced game rules or failing to adopt measures for protecting legitimate rights and benefits of service users when suspending the provision of online games or failing to receive and settle disputes;

c) Suspending the provision of online games but failing to give a notification on the online game website or send a written notification thereof to a competent authority;

d) Advertising G2, G3 or G4 online games before giving a notification of provision of online gaming services;

dd) Providing G2, G3 or G4 gaming services but failing to meet one of technical requirements for providing online gaming services or against the notification sent to a competent authority.

3. A fine ranging from VND 30,000,000 to VND 40,000,000 shall be imposed for providing a G1 online game whose script contains images or sounds causing horror or frightful feeling, inciting violence or lust, stirring or exciting obscene, debauchery or immorality contrary to good traditions, culture, customs and habits of Vietnam; distorting traditions and history; distorting, slandering or hurting the prestige or honor and dignity of another organization or individual; meticulously describing acts of suicide, use of drug, drinking, smoking, terror acts, child abuse, child trafficking, gambling and other harmful or prohibited acts.

4. A fine ranging from VND 40,000,000 to VND 50,000,000 shall be imposed for failing to operate a server located in Vietnam to serve the inspection, retention and provision of information at the request of a competent authority or resolution of clients’ complaints about provided services in accordance with regulations of Ministry of Information and Communications.

5. A fine ranging from VND 50,000,000 to VND 70,000,000 shall be imposed for the commission of one of the following violations:

a) Providing G1 online games but failing to meet one of technical requirements for providing online gaming services;

b) Advertising a G1 online game without obtaining the decision on approval of game script;

c) Providing a G1 online game against its approved game script;

d) Failing to carry out registration of players' personal information when providing G1 online games;

dd) Failing to implement measures/solutions for limiting G1 game playing times of children or players under 18 years old as prescribed.

6. A fine ranging from VND 170,000,000 to VND 200,000,000 shall be imposed for the commission of one of the following violations:

a) Exchanging virtual goods or units or reward points for real money, payment cards, coupons or other tradable items in any forms;

b) Creating in-game virtual goods or units or reward points against the game script;

c) Providing a G1 online game which contains information/images infringing upon the national sovereignty, distorting history, denying the revolutionary achievements; offending the nation, famous persons or national heroes if not liable to criminal prosecutions.

7. Additional penalties:

a) The decision on approval of G1 game script shall be suspended for a fixed period of 01 - 03 months in case of commission of the violation in Point c Clause 5 of this Article;

b) The license to provide G1 online games/certificate of provision of online gaming services shall be suspended for a fixed period of 22 - 24 months in case of commission of any of the violations in Clause 6 of this Article;

c) The exhibits and instrumentalities used for committing any of the violations in Clause 3 and Clause 6 of this Article shall be confiscated;

d) All operations shall be suspended for a fixed period of 01 – 03 months in case of commission of any of the violations in Points b and dd Clause 2, Clauses 3, 4, Points a and d Clause 5 of this Article.

Article 105. Violations against regulations on points of public electronic gaming services

1. A fine ranging from VND 1,000,000 to VND 3,000,000 shall be imposed for posting internal regulations on public electronic gaming services which do not contain adequate information as required.

2. A fine ranging from VND 3,000,000 to VND 5,000,000 shall be imposed for the commission of one of the following violations:

a) Establishing a point of public electronic gaming services in less than 200 m away from a primary school, lower or upper secondary school;

b) Failing to indicate all of required information on the signboard as prescribed;

c) Failing to post internal regulations on public electronic gaming services;

d) Failing to post the updated list of G1 online games with approved scripts, accompanied by the age-ratings of such games, at the point of public electronic gaming services.

3. A fine ranging from VND 5,000,000 to VND 10,000,000 shall be imposed for the commission of one of the following violations:

a) Establishing a point of public electronic gaming services without a valid certificate of eligibility to operate points of public electronic gaming services;

b) Establishing a point of public electronic gaming services but failing to enter into an Internet agency contract or failing to obtain the Internet service provider's certification of its point of public Internet access services;

c) Establishing a point of public electronic gaming services but failing to meet eligibility requirements as prescribed;

d) Failing to comply or improperly complying with regulations on information safety and security;

dd) Providing services out of the prescribed period of time between 08:00 AM and 22:00 PM every day;

e) Failing to strictly comply with other regulations on obligations of a point of public electronic gaming services.

4. Additional penalties:

All operations shall be suspended for a fixed period of 01 – 03 months in case of commission of any of the violations in Points a, b, d and e Clause 3 of this Article.

Article 106. Violations against regulations on players

1. A warning shall be imposed for providing inaccurate personal information when playing G1 games.

2. A fine ranging from VND 600,000 to VND 1,000,000 shall be imposed for failing to comply with regulations on playing hours posted at points of public electronic gaming services.

3. A fine ranging from VND 2,000,000 to VND 3,000,000 shall be imposed for the commission of one of the following violations:

a) Misusing electronic games for performing violations or disturbing public order, social security or national security;