Chương 4 Nghị định 174/2013/NĐ-CP: Hành vi vi phạm hành chính trong lĩnh vực công nghệ thông tin, hình thức xử phạt và biện pháp khắc phục hậu quả

Chapter 4.

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

SECTION 1. VIOLATIONS AGAINST MEASURES TO ENSURE INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY APPLICATION AND DEVELOPMENT

Article 51. Violations against regulations on information technology development

1. A fine ranging from VND 5,000,000 to VND 10,000,000 shall be imposed for failure to publish or insufficiently publishing required information when engaging in production and/or provision of complete digital content products.

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

a) Failing to adopt software valuation methods promulgated by competent state authorities in course of implementation of IT application and development projects with funding from state budget;

b) Carrying out transfer of technologies and/or solutions for developing important IT products with State investment without obtaining the approval from competent authorities or inconsistently with regulations.

Article 52. Violations against regulations on infrastructure serving information technology application and development

1. A fine ranging from VND 20,000,000 to VND 30,000,000 shall be imposed for re-production, distribution, promotion, transmission and/or provision of component contents of databases resulting in obstructing owners in using such databases.

2. A fine ranging from VND 50,000,000 to VND 70,000,000 shall be imposed for destroying, blocking and/or deforming databases, software functions or IT infrastructure of an entity or person.

3. A fine ranging from VND 70,000,000 to VND 100,000,000 shall be imposed for delaying, refusing or committing other acts to shirk enforcing competent state agencies' decisions on mobilization of a part or the whole of information infrastructure to prioritize IT application in emergency cases as defined in Clause 1 Article 14 of the Law on Information Technology.

4. Remedial measures:

Enforced restoration of the initial state which has been altered due to administrative violations prescribed in Clauses 1 and 2 of this Article.

Article 53. Violations against regulations on investment and purchase in IT sector

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

a) Using state funding and other funding sources to perform investment, construction and operation, maintenance of IT infrastructure to serve operation of state authorities in contravention of law;

b) Using the State investment capital and/or financial supports for construction and use of public information infrastructure and narrowing digital divide in contravention of law.

2. A fine ranging from VND 70,000,000 to VND 100,000,000 shall be imposed for making frauds or forgeries in order to enjoy investment or financial incentives and other incentives for entities involved in IT application and development in remote areas, ethnic minority-inhabited areas, social-economically disadvantaged or extremely disadvantaged regions.

3. Remedial measures:

a) Enforced recovery of improperly spent amount if any of the violations prescribed in Clause 1 of this Article is committed;

b) Enforced return of received financial supports if the violation prescribed in Clause 2 of this Article is committed.

Article 54. Violations against regulations on protection of legal rights and benefits and support for users of IT products or services

1. A fine ranging from VND 5,000,000 to VND 10,000,000 shall be imposed for concealing one's own name or misusing names of other entities when sending information about IT products/ services on the network environment.

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

a) Providing IT services but failing to implement or devise measures to prevent children from access to the information network environment which is harmful to them as regulated by law;

b) Producing or supplying IT services or products with contents harmful to children without warning signs.

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

a) Creating and installing harmful computer viruses or software programs or harmful scripts in order to commit one of the violations defined in Article 71 of the Law on Information Technology;

b) Producing or supplying IT products or services with contents contrary to the nation's ethics, fine traditions and customs.

4. A fine ranging from VND 40,000,000 to VND 50,000,000 shall be imposed for spreading harmful computer viruses or software programs or harmful scripts in order to commit one of the violations defined in Article 71 of the Law on Information Technology.

5. Additional penalties:

Expel foreigners who commit any of the violations prescribed in Point b Clause 3 and Clause 4 of this Article from Vietnam.

6. Remedial measures:

a) Enforced destruction of IT products or services if the violation prescribed in Point b Clause 3 of this Article is committed;

b) Enforced restoration of the initial state which has been altered due to the act of violation prescribed in Clause 4 of this Article.

SECTION 2. VIOLATIONS AGAINST REGULATIONS ON E-TRANSACTIONS

Article 55. Violations against regulations on eligibility requirements for operation

1. A fine ranging from VND 5,000,000 to VND 10,000,000 shall be imposed for failure to apply for re-issuance of one of the following documents in case of loss or damage:

a) License to provide public digital signature authentication services;

b) Certificate of eligibility for guarantee of special digital signature safety;

c) Certificate of foreign digital signature authentication service provider or license to use foreign digital certificates accepted in Vietnam.

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

a) Failing to carry out procedures for renewal of license to provide public digital signature authentication services within the prescribed time limit;

b) Failing to submit an application for renewal of license to provide public digital signature authentication services within the prescribed time limit from the receipt of notification from Ministry of Information and Communications;

c) Failing to satisfy eligibility requirements for providing special digital signature authentication services.

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

a) Erasure or correction of contents of certificate of eligibility for guarantee of special digital signature safety;

b) Trading, transferring, renting or borrowing certificate of eligibility for guarantee of special digital signature safety;

c) Providing false information or documents when carrying out the operation registration or application for certificate of eligibility for guarantee of special digital signature safety.

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

a) Erasure or correction of contents of license to provide public digital signature authentication services;

b) Erasure or correction of contents of certificate of foreign digital signature authentication service provider or license to use foreign digital certificates accepted in Vietnam;

c) Trading, transferring, renting or borrowing types of documents mentioned in Points a, b Clause 1 of this Article;

d) Providing false information or documents when carrying out application for issuance, modification or renewal of license to provide public digital signature authentication services;

dd) Providing false information or documents when carrying out application for certificate of foreign digital signature authentication service provider or license to use foreign digital certificates accepted in Vietnam;

e) Failing to satisfy personnel requirements when providing digital signature authentication services;

g) Retaining the duplication of secret key without written request by the applicant for digital certificate.

5. A fine ranging from VND 40,000,000 to VND 60,000,000 shall be imposed for any of the following violations:

a) Providing digital signature authentication services to the public but failing to obtain a license to provide public digital signature authentication services issued by Ministry of Information and Communications or digital certificate issued by the national digital signature authentication service provider;

b) Providing digital signature authentication services to the public when processing an expired digital certificate issued by the national digital signature authentication service provider or an expired license to provide public digital signature authentication services.

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

a) Public digital signature authentication service provider fails to purchase insurance in cases where no deposit or guarantee is made as regulated by law;

b) Failing to maintain the satisfaction of statutory financial requirements in course of provision of public digital signature authentication services;

c) Failing to sufficiently and accurately retain and update information of subscribers serving the grant of digital certificates during the validity of such digital certificates.

7. Additional penalties:

Suspend the license to provide public digital signature authentication services, certificate of eligibility for guarantee of special digital signature safety, certificate of foreign digital signature authentication service provider or license to use foreign digital certificates accepted in Vietnam for 01 – 03 months if any of the violations prescribed in Points a, b Clause 3, Points a, b, c, e and g Clause 4, Point b Clause 5 and Clause 6 of this Article is committed.

Article 56. Violations against regulations on mandatory technical regulations and standards

1. A fine ranging from VND 20,000,000 to VND 30,000,000 shall be imposed for on special digital signature authentication service providers for failing to maintain their registered standards.

2. A fine ranging from VND 30,000,000 to VND 40,000,000 shall be imposed on public digital signature authentication service providers for failing to maintain their registered standards.

3. A fine ranging from VND 40,000,000 to VND 60,000,000 shall be imposed for any of the following violations:

a) Developing technical plans inconsistently with technical regulations in course of operations;

b) Failing to comply with mandatory technical regulations or standards in course of provision of digital signature authentication services.

Article 57. Violations against regulations on provision of digital signature and digital certificate services

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

a) Failing to give instructions or improperly or insufficiently giving instructions in writing to applicants for digital certificates before concluding contracts for provision of digital certificates;

b) Failing to extend digital certificates upon request of subscribers under regulations of law;

c) Failing to maintain the availability of 24/7 information channel to receive requests for revocation or suspension of digital certificates;

d) Failing to retain digital certificate-related information for the period of no less than five years from the date on which such digital certificate is revoked;

dd) A public digital signature authentication service provider create public key pair for an applicant for digital certificate without receiving written request from such applicant.

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

a) Failing to give notification to the subscriber in case there are signs denoting that the secret key of such subscriber is revealed or damaged, or there are other errors that may cause adversely impacts on rights and benefits of such subscriber;

b) The public digital signature authentication service provider fails to notify subscribers of revocation of its license to provide public digital signature authentication services and information about the authority receiving its database;

c) Failing to give notification to subscribers of suspension of authentication services for a prescribed period;

d) Failing to give notification to subscriber of suspension of digital certificate, time of commencement and termination of such suspension when having reasonable grounds for suspending digital certificate of such subscriber;

dd) Failing to publish a notice of suspension of issuing new digital certificates on its website;

e) Refusing to issue new digital certificate without stating legitimate reasons;

g) The disclosed authentication regulation fails to comply with the template adopted by Ministry of Information and Communications or comprises of contents inconsistently with law;

h) Failing to publish the authentication regulation using the template adopted by Ministry of Information and Communications;

i) Failing to give notification to the subscriber of revocation of such subscriber’s digital certificate;

k) A special digital signature authentication service provider fails to carry out the statutory registration of operation with Ministry of Information and Communications;

l) Failing to formulate the template of standard form contract for provision of digital certificates;

m) Providing time-stamp services but failing to comply with mandatory technical regulations or standards;

n) Failing to give a notification of suspension of issuance of new digital certificates to the competent state authorities.

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

a) Publish the digital certificate granted to a subscriber on database before obtaining such subscriber’s confirmation of information included in digital certificate;

b) Failing to publish digital certificates issued, suspended or revoked, and time of commencement and termination of digital certificate suspension on the website;

c) Failing to restore the validity of digital certificate upon the end of suspension period;

d) Failing to sufficiently retain information concerning suspension or revocation of digital certificates for the period of no less than five years;

dd) Failing to reach an agreement on transfer of database on provision of public digital signature authentication services when having the license to provide public digital signature authentication services revoked;

e) Failing to report Ministry of Information and Communications on failure to reach an amicable agreement on transfer of database on provision of public digital signature authentication services when having the license to provide public digital signature authentication services revoked;

g) Changing key pair without request from the subscriber;

h) Failing to retain information relating the applicants for digital certificates.

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

a) Failing to suspend the digital certificate upon request of the subscriber or a competent state authority;

b) Failing to revoke the digital certificate upon request of the subscriber or a competent state authority;

c) Publish false information about digital certificate on its database;

d) Digital certificate does not contain all of required contents;

dd) Providing digital certificate inconsistently with position of subscriber of a state authority as regulated;

e) Failing to allow Internet users to access the list of existing digital certificates and the list of expired digital certificates;

g) A public digital signature authentication service provider fails to comply with decision on suspension or revocation of its license as regulated by law;

h) Failing to publish the digital certificate granted to a subscriber on the provider’s database within a prescribed period;

i) A public digital signature authentication service provider provides time-stamps inconsistently with regulations;

k) Failing to suspend the issuance of new digital certificates upon the detection of errors in the system providing digital signature authentication services.

5. A fine ranging from VND 40,000,000 to VND 60,000,000 shall be imposed for any of the following violations:

a) A public digital signature authentication service provider fails to transfer documents and database as regulated;

b) Failing to request Ministry of Information and Communications to consider change of contents, revoke or issue new license as regulated when the public digital signature authentication service provider carries out merger, joint venture, association and similar changes;

c) Developing or providing digital signature authentication services inconsistently with contents of the license to provide public digital signature authentication services;

d) Failing to suspend the issuance of new digital certificates upon request of a competent state authority;

dd) Failing to maintain database system relating issued digital certificates during the suspension period of issuance of new digital certificates.

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

a) Failing to maintain the 24/7 online availability of the list of existing digital certificates and the list of expired digital certificates;

b) Failing to sufficiently and accurately retain or update the list of existing digital certificates or the list of expired digital certificates for the period of no less than five years;

c) The organization that is granted the license to provide public digital signature authentication services or certificate of eligibility for guarantee of special digital signature safety by Ministry of Information and Communications fails to establish systems and equipment in Vietnam to provide digital signature authentication services;

d) A public digital signature authentication service provider fails to maintain the 24/7 availability of required information on its website.

Article 58. Violations against regulations on use of digital signature and digital certificate services

1. A fine ranging from VND 30,000,000 to VND 40,000,000 shall be imposed for failure to provide secret keys or necessary information to legal proceeding agencies or security agencies as regulated.

2. A fine ranging from VND 40,000,000 to VND 60,000,000 shall be imposed for any of the following violations:

a) Providing false information in course of application for issuance or modification of digital certificate;

b) Using digital signature and the corresponding digital certificate of an agency or organization when failing to hold the position in corresponding with such digital certificate.

Article 59. Violations against regulations on use of license to use foreign digital certificates accepted in Vietnam

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

a) Failure to present the license to use foreign digital certificates accepted in Vietnam;

b) Erasure or correction of the license to use foreign digital certificates accepted in Vietnam.

2. A fine ranging from VND 20,000,000 to VND 30,000,000 shall be imposed for use of a foreign digital certificate accepted in Vietnam inconsistently with provisions in the license.

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

a) Using a foreign digital certificate which is not licensed to use in Vietnam to conduct transactions with state agencies;

b) Accepting a foreign digital certificate which is not licensed to use in Vietnam in transactions of state agencies.

4. A fine ranging from VND 40,000,000 to VND 60,000,000 shall be imposed for use of a foreign digital certificate which is accepted in Vietnam with unexpired license but such foreign digital certificate expired and the user fails to obtain an approval for modification of license from Ministry of Information and Communications.

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

a) Providing false information in course of application for issuance, re-issuance or modification of the license to use foreign digital certificate accepted in Vietnam;

b) Trading, renting or borrowing the license to use foreign digital certificate accepted in Vietnam.

6. Additional penalties:

Suspend the license to use foreign digital certificate accepted in Vietnam for 01 - 03 months if any of the violations prescribed in Point b Clause 1 and Point b Clause 5 of this Article is committed.

Article 60. Violations against regulations on emails and messages providing product/ service-related information

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

a) Improperly or insufficiently adding labels to emails/ messages providing product/ service-related information;

b) Failing to store information registered for receipt, refusal or confirmation of refusal to receive emails/ messages;

c) Sending emails/ messages providing product/ service-related information or sending messages through the Internet network with management code other than that granted by Ministry of Information and Communications.

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

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

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

c) Failing to cooperate with Internet service provider or mobile enterprise in limiting or preventing spam;

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

dd) Failing to adopt measures to limit the messaging quantity, speed and frequency, or failing to prevent messages prone to cause information unsafe or damaged under regulations by Ministry of Information and Communications;

e) Sending emails/ messages with the aim of providing product/ service-related information but failing to send copies thereof to technical system of Ministry of Information and Communications;

g) Hiding email name and address when sending emails/ messages;

h) Failing to stop sending emails/ messages or failing to stop supplying SMS gateway services upon the recipient’s request for refusal to receive emails/ messages;

i) Failing to cooperate with domestic and foreign messaging service providers in preventing spam;

k) Failing to provide information to serve anti-spam tasks upon the request of a competent state authority;

l) Failing to prevent spam using forged sender addresses before sending it to end service users.

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

a)Failure to implement or improperly implementing guidelines for coordinating, preventing and handling spam messages;

b) Failure to prevent or recall subscriber numbers which are used to send spam messages;

c) Failure to implement measures to assess the status of spam over mobile networks under instructions of Ministry of Information and Communications.

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

a) Providing product/ service-related information via emails or messages but failing to properly adopt methods for receiving and handling refusing requests as regulated;

b) Sending or spreading spam messages;

c) Providing prediction of lottery numbers;

d) Creating series of missed calls to entice users to make calls or send messages to subscriber numbers providing services.

5. A fine ranging from VND 50,000,000 to VND 70,000,000 shall be imposed for providing product/ service-related information via emails or messages or Internet network but failing to set up systems for receiving and handling refusing requests from recipients.

6. Additional penalties:

a) Suspend the service provision for 01 - 03 months if any of the violations prescribed in points c, d, e and h Clause 2, Clause 4 and Clause 5 of this Article is committed;

b) Enforced revocation of prefixes/ telecommunications number storage if any of the violations prescribed in Point h Clause 2, Points b, c Clause 3 and Clause 4 of this Article is committed;

c) Suspend the right to use management code/ identification name for 01 - 03 months if any of the violations prescribed in Clauses 2 and 4 of this Article is committed.

7. Remedial measures:

Enforced transfer of illegal benefits obtained from the violations prescribed in Point a Clause 2 and Point d Clause 4 of this Article to state budget.

Article 61. Violations against regulations on provision of email, messaging and SMS gateway services

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

a) Failure to use the “.vn” Vietnam country-code domain name when providing email or messaging services to provide product/ service-related information, or Internet-based messaging services or SMS gateway services;

b) Failure to sufficiently and clearly provide service-related information on the website before providing such services to users, consisting of: name of service, corresponding order code, description of service, using method, corresponding service charge, instructions for service termination, telephone number of customer care service and commitments to use service.

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

a) Providing service/ product related information via emails or messages before obtaining a management code;

b) Providing Internet-based messaging services or SMS gateway services before obtaining a management code;

c) Using identification name before obtaining the certificate of identification name;

d) Providing information about SMS gateway services, award-winning messaging, rating programs or donation or contribution programs by messaging on printed newspapers, talking newspapers, photo newspapers, online newspapers, websites, Internet, messages, emails but failing to provide or providing insufficient information about prices, rates and methods of suspending services, or failing to do voice-over about prices, rates and methods of suspending services;

dd) Providing information about SMS gateway services, award-winning messaging, rating programs or donation or contribution programs by messaging on printed newspapers, talking newspapers, photo newspapers, online newspapers, websites, Internet, messages, emails but information about prices/ rates are not matched with order codes, are far from order codes or have a size smaller than 2/3 of order code's size;

e) Failing to provide information about service charges before calculating service charges when the user makes call to the telephone exchange to order provision of SMS gateway services;

g) Collecting service charges of error messages, unreplied messages or messages with replied contents different from order codes announced by the enterprise; or mobile terminated messages do not show that mobile originated messages are incorrect or have error;

h) Failing to instruct subscribers to send spam messages and feedbacks about received spam messages;

i) Failing to store or insufficiently storing data as regulated.

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

a) Providing service/ product related information via emails sent from a server which is not located in Vietnam;

b) Providing Internet-based messaging services but servers used to send messages are not located in Vietnam;

c) Providing service/ product related information via messages without using the messaging numbers granted as regulated;

d) Failing to provide tools with functions to receive spam messages or register for receipt or refusal to receive message as regulated by Ministry of Information and Communications;

dd) Failing to develop spam prevention systems capable of preventing spam messages according to sending sources or key words shown in messages;

e) Failing to provide message sending and receiving services or message sending and receiving services with identification names to service providers holding management codes;

g) Failing to allow enterprises that are issued with management codes to connect with technical systems for supplying services;

h) Providing tools, websites and software to attach script to video, images, software, or games for automatically messaging or making calls to prefixes.

4. A fine ranging from VND 100,000,000 to VND 140,000,000 shall be imposed on SMS gateway service providers for cooperating with other entities or individuals but failing to implement preventive measures resulting in:

a) Providing information concerning SMS gateway services on websites with obscene, debauchery, gambling, superstition, social evils, or offence against public decency-related contents;

b) Websites with obscene, debauchery, gambling, superstition, social evils, or offence against public decency contents allow downloading software or games with functions to message or make calls to prefixes or deduct money from mobile account balance.

5. Additional penalties:

a) Suspend provision of services for 01- 03 months if any of the violations prescribed in Points e and g Clause 2, Points g and h Clause 3, and Clause 4 of this Article is committed;

b) Suspend the right to use management code/ identification name for 01 - 03 months if any of the violations prescribed in Points d, e, g and I Clauses 2, Clauses 3 and 4 of this Article is committed.

6. Remedial measures:

a) Enforced transfer to state budget or confiscation of illegal benefits obtained from the violations prescribed in Point g Clause 2, Point h Clause 3 and Point b Clause 4 of this Article;

b) Enforced revocation of prefixes/ telecommunications number storage if any of the violations prescribed in Point e Clause 2, Point h Clause 3 and Clause 4 of this Article is committed.

Article 62. Violations against regulations on collection of service charges

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

a) Collecting charges from recipients when performing requests for refusal to receive messages, use or register to use services or cancel SMS gateway services;

b) Collecting service charges without giving a notification to users.

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

a) Failing to send requests for refund of service charges to the telecommunications enterprise with respect of services which are free of charges as regulated by law;

b) Failing to refund service charges according to request of SMS gateway service provider or failing to give notification to users of refund of service charges;

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

d) Providing applications, games or websites with charge collection but failing to provide functions to allow users confirming or refusing to use services with corresponding charges;

dd) Failing to give notification to users of deduction of charges of applications, games or websites with periodic deduction of charges;

e) Selling articles or exchanging actual money for virtual coins which are used in applications and games but failing to give notification of service charges or allow users to confirm or refuse to buy articles or exchange money with corresponding charges.

3. Additional penalties:

Suspend the provision of services for 01 - 03 months if any of the violations prescribed in points c, d, dd and e Clause 2 of this Article is committed.

4. Remedial measures:

a) Enforced refund or confiscation of illegal benefits obtained from the violations prescribed in Clause 1 and Clause 2 of this Article;

b) Enforced revocation of prefixes/ telecommunications number storage if any of the violations prescribed in Points c, d, dd and e Clause 2 of this Article is committed.

SECTION 3. VIOLATIONS AGAINST REGULATIONS ON CYBERINFORMATION

Article 63. Violations against regulations on license to establish news websites and social networks

1. A fine ranging from VND 3,000,000 to VND 5,000,000 shall be imposed for failure to apply for re-issuance of license to establish news website or social network when it is lost or damaged.

2. A fine ranging from VND 10,000,000 to VND 20,000,000 shall be imposed for establishing a news website without obtaining the license or with an expired license.

3. A fine ranging from VND 20,000,000 to VND 30,000,000 shall be imposed for establishing a social network without obtaining the license or with an expired license.

4. Additional penalties:

Confiscate the exhibits and instrumentalities of administrative violations prescribed in Clause 2 and Clause 3 of this Article.

Article 64. Violations against regulations on websites/ news websites

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

a) Failing to comply with provisions of the license to establish news websites;

b) Providing paths/links to the website with contents in violation of laws;

c) Failing to establish procedure for public information management;

d) Failing to retain news for a period of at least 90 days from the date on which such news are post on the news website;

dd) Violating one of the regulations on cyberinformation management with respect of license-exempt websites.

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

a) Failing to publish news on the website according to the licensed contents; failing to provide verbatim or accurate sources of news as regulated by law;

b) Disclosing privacy or confidentiality of entities or individuals without obtaining their consent, except for cases prescribed by law;

c) Using images of Vietnam map but failing to indicate or improperly indicating the national sovereignty;

d) Meticulously describing lewd acts, horrible killings or accidents in news, articles, films or images;

dd) Providing information about superstition or information which does not match the habits and customs of Vietnam.

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

a) Providing false information, distorting, slandering or hurting the prestige of organizations, agencies, honor and dignity of individuals;

b) Providing information which does not match the national interests;

c) Posting or releasing the Vietnam map which fails to duly indicate or improperly indicates the national sovereignty;

d) Posting or releasing works which are banned from circulation or confiscated;

dd) Forging the websites of other entities or individuals;

e) Failing to establish server system in Vietnam to serve the inspection, retention and provision of information upon request of a competent state authority or resolution of complaints made by clients against provided services in accordance with regulations of Ministry of Information and Communications.

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

a) Propagating information against the Socialist Republic of Vietnam; sabotaging the bloc of great national unity at a degree of severity which is still not liable to criminal prosecutions;

b) Propagating information with the aims of inciting war of aggression, causing hatred between ethnic groups or people of countries, inciting violence or propagating reactionary thought at a degree of severity which is still not liable to criminal prosecutions;

c) Distorting history, denying the revolutionary achievements or offending the nation, people or national heroes at a degree of severity which is still not liable to criminal prosecutions.

5. Additional penalties:

a) Confiscate the exhibits and instrumentalities of administrative violations prescribed in Clause 3 and Clause 4 of this Article;

b) Suspend the license for 01 - 03 months if any of the violations prescribed in Clause 3 and Clause 4 of this Article is committed.

Article 65. Violations against regulations on responsibility of social networking service providers

1. A fine ranging from VND 5,000,000 to VND 10,000,000 shall be imposed for using personal information of service users without obtaining their consent.

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

a) Failing to disclose the agreement on provision and use of social networking services;

b) Deliberately providing paths/links to websites with contents in violation of laws;

c) Failing to adopt measures to protect the privacy or personal information of service users;

d) Failing to give notification to service users of their rights, responsibility and risks when exchanging or sharing information on the network;

dd) Failing to respect for the users’ decision to allow or refuse to allow the organization or enterprise establishing the social network to use their personal information;

e) Failing to comply with provisions of the license to establish social network.

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

a) Failing to provide particulars or personal information of service users who get involved in terror acts, crimes or other violations against law upon the request of a competent state authority;

b) Disclosing privacy or confidentiality of entities or individuals without obtaining their consent, except for cases prescribed by law;

c) Deliberately using images of Vietnam map but failing to indicate or improperly indicating the national sovereignty;

d) Deliberately providing detailed portrayals of lewd acts, horrible killings or accidents in news, articles, films or images which do not match the habits and customs of Vietnam;

dd) Deliberately providing information about superstition;

e) Failing to establish server system in Vietnam to serve the inspection, retention and provision of information upon request of a competent state authority or resolution of complaints made by clients against provided services in accordance with regulations of Ministry of Information and Communications.

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

a) Deliberately providing false information in order to distort, slander or hurt the prestige of organizations, agencies, honor and dignity of individuals;

b) Deliberately providing information which does not match the national interests;

c) Deliberately posting or releasing the Vietnam map which fails to duly indicate or improperly indicates the national sovereignty;

d) Deliberately posting or releasing works which are banned from circulation or confiscated;

dd) Failing to prevent and remove information in violation of law upon the request of a competent state authority.

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

a) Propagating information against the Socialist Republic of Vietnam; sabotaging the bloc of great national unity which is still not liable to criminal prosecutions;

b) Propagating information with the aims of inciting war of aggression, causing hatred between ethnic groups or people of countries, inciting violence or propagating reactionary thought which is still not liable to criminal prosecutions;

c) Distorting history, denying the revolutionary achievements or offending the nation, people or national heroes at a degree of severity which is still not liable to criminal prosecutions.

6. Additional penalties:

a) Confiscate the exhibits and instrumentalities of administrative violations prescribed in Clause 4 and Clause 5 of this Article;

b) Suspend the license for 01 - 03 months if any of the violations prescribed in Clause 4 and Clause 5 of this Article is committed.

Article 66. Violations against regulations on information retention, leasing, transmission, provision, access, collection, processing, exchange and utilization

1. A fine ranging from VND 2,000,000 to VND 5,000,000 shall be imposed for retention of users’ personal information which is collected from the network environment 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 any of the following violations:

a) Failing to stop leasing information storage space in case information is stored in violation of law upon detection by the lessor of information storage space or notice granted by a competent state authority;

b) Failing to stop providing tools for finding sources of digital information to entities or individuals in case such sources of digital information are found in violation of law upon detection by the service provider or notice granted by a competent state authority;

c) Failing to review and correct or remove personal information stored on the network environment in course of information collection, processing and utilization upon request of the owner of such information;

d) Providing or using personal information which is not yet corrected upon 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;

e) Failing to retain digital information recording activities on the network environment as regulated by a competent state authority.

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

a) Illegally accessing database or network system;

b) Failing to adopt necessary measures to prevent illegal access to information or to remove information in violation of law upon the request of a competent state authority in course of transmission or leasing of space for storing digital information;

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

d) Failing to ensure security of information of lessees of space for storage of digital information;

dd) Failing to adopt necessary management or technical measures to protect personal information from loss, steal, disclosure, change or removal while collecting, processing and using personal information of other persons on the network environment;

e) Collecting, processing and using information of other entities or individuals without obtaining their consent or for illegal purposes;

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

h) Providing, exchanging, transmitting or storing and using digital information for advertising or promotion of banned products and services;

i) Illegally obstructing the lawful transmission, access or search for information or data on the network environment;

k) Failing to restore information or access to lawful sources of information upon the request of the owner of such information;

l) Failing to monitor or supervise digital information of an entity or individual upon the request of a competent state authority;

m) Failing to cooperate in investigation of violations against the law in course of transmission or storage of digital information of entities or individuals upon the request of a competent state authority.

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

a) Revealing information about business secret on the network environment or illegally revealing private information of users of telecommunications services;

b) Providing, exchanging, transmitting, storing or using information or services related to gambling/ lottery or serving gambling/lottery activities, or obscene, debauchery, superstition or those which do not match with the national habits and customs.

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

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

b) Forging email names or addresses of other entities or individuals 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 to disseminate wrong facts about the sovereignty of Vietnam.

7. Additional penalties:

a) Suspend the provision of SMS gateway services for 01 - 03 months if the violation prescribed in point b Clause 4 of this Article is committed;

b) Confiscate the exhibits and instrumentalities of the administrative violation prescribed in Point a Clause 4 of this Article.

8. Remedial measures:

a) Enforced refund or collection of illegal benefits obtained from the violation prescribed in Point b Clause 4 of this Article;

b) Enforced revocation of prefixes/ telecommunications number storage if any of the violation prescribed in Point b Clause 4 of this Article is committed.

Article 67. Violations against regulations on license, registration certificate, decision to approve electronic game contents

1. A fine ranging from VND 5,000,000 to VND 10,000,000 shall be imposed for failure to apply for re-issuance of one of the following documents in case of loss or damage:

a) License to provide electronic gaming services;

b) Decision to approve electronic game contents/scripts.

2. A fine ranging from VND 10,000,000 to VND 20,000,000 shall be imposed for correction or erasure of contents of or provision of false information in the application for one of the following documents:

a) License to provide electronic gaming services;

b) Decision to approve electronic game contents/scripts;

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

d) Certificate of completion of procedures for notification of provision of electronic gaming services.

3. A fine ranging from VND 30,000,000 to VND 50,000,000 shall be imposed for providing G2, G3 or G4 electronic games without obtaining a certificate of completion of procedures for provision of electronic gaming services from a competent state authority.

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

a) Establishing equipment systems to provide G2 or G3 or G4 electronic games but failing to obtain a certificate of registration of provision of electronic gaming services or using un expired one;

b) Providing G1 games but failing to obtain a decision to approve electronic game contents/scripts.

5. A fine ranging from VND 70,000,000 to VND 100,000,000 shall be imposed for establishing equipment systems to provide G1 electronic games but failing to obtain a license as required or using an expired one.

6. Additional penalties:

Enforced revocation of license, certificate of registration of provision of electronic gaming services if any of the violations prescribed in Clause 2 of this Article is committed.

Article 68. Violations against regulations on provision of electronic gaming services

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

a) Failing to provide sufficient information as regulated on the website on which electronic gaming services are available;

b) Suspending electronic gaming services within the period of 90 days from the date on which the notification of electronic gaming service suspension is published on the website or within the period of 15 days from the date on which the report on electronic gaming service suspension is sent to the competent state authority.

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

a) Failing to provide information about licensed games or classify electronic games based on age groups; failing to give warning about negative effects on players in advertising programs or in each game;

b) Failing to ensure rights and interests of players in accordance with electronic gaming rules or failing to resolve relevant disputes;

c) Failing to give notification on the enterprise’s website or failing to send a written report to the competent state authority before suspending electronic gaming services;

d) Failing to ensure or failing to adopt measures to ensure rights and interests of users when suspending electronic gaming services;

dd) Providing G2, G3, G4 electronic games inconsistently with certificate of completion of procedures for notification of provision of electronic gaming services;

e) Advertising G2, G3, G4 electronic games without obtaining the certificate of completion of procedures for notification of provision of electronic gaming services.

3. A fine ranging from VND 20,000,000 to VND 30,000,000 shall be imposed for provision of G1 electronic game whose script contains images or sounds causing horror or frightful feeling, inciting violence or lust; stirring or exciting obscene, debauchery or immorality inconsistently with traditions, culture, customs and habits of Vietnam; distorting traditions and history; distorting, slandering or hurting the prestige of an entity or the honor and dignity of an individual; meticulously describing acts of suicide, use of drug, drinking, smoking or terror acts; child abuse, child trafficking, gambling and other harmful or prohibited acts.

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

a) Failing to have server systems established in Vietnam to serve the inspection, retention or provision of information upon the request of a competent state authority or resolution of clients’ complaints against provided services in accordance with regulations of Ministry of Information and Communications;

b) Acting as an agent providing electronic gaming services for a foreign entity or enterprise that is not yet licensed to run business in Vietnam.

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

a) Providing G1 electronic games but failing to satisfy requirements for technical operations as regulated by a competent state authority;

b) Advertising G1 games without obtaining the decision to approve electronic game contents/scripts;

c) Failing to implement or improperly implementing technical and operational measures for registration of players' personal information when providing G1 games.

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

a) Exchanging virtual articles or reward points into cash or other objects under any form;

b) Correcting information or data resulting in change of value of virtual articles owned in an electronic game;

c) Failing to adopt measures or solutions for limiting G1 game playing time of children or players aged under 18 as regulated by law;

d) Providing G1 games inconsistently with the approved game contents/scripts.

7. A fine ranging from VND 70,000,000 to VND 100,000,000 shall be imposed for providing G1 electronic game whose script is against the Government of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam; harms the national security or sabotages the bloc of great national unity; disseminates information with the aims of inciting war of aggression or terrorism; causes hatred or conflicts between ethnic groups or religions; reveals the state secrets; offends the nation, famous man or national heroes.

8. Penalties for violations against regulations on social network herein shall be also imposed on violations against regulations on establishment of Internet forums or talks between players.

9. Additional penalties:

a) Confiscate the exhibits and instrumentalities of the administrative violations prescribed in Clause 7 of this Article;

b) Suspend operation for 01 – 03 months if any of the violations prescribed in Point b Clause 4 and Clause 7 of this Article is committed;

c) Suspend the validity of decision to approve game contents/scripts for 01 - 03 months if any of the violations prescribed in Points a, b and d Clause 6 of this Article is committed.

Article 69. 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 the internal regulations on use of public electronic gaming services inconsistently with regulations.

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

a) Establishing points of public electronic gaming services in less than 200 meters away from gates of primary schools, lower secondary schools or upper secondary schools;

b) Failing to specify all of required information in the signboard.

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

a) Establishing points of public electronic gaming services without obtaining the certificate of eligibility to provide public electronic gaming services;

b) Establishing points of public electronic gaming services but failing to conclude the contract for Internet service agency or failing to obtain the Internet service provider's certification as its points of public Internet access services;

c) Establishing points of public electronic gaming services but failing to satisfy eligibility requirements for provision of public electronic gaming services;

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

dd) Providing false information to obtain the certificate of eligibility to provide public electronic gaming services;

e) Failing to post internal regulations on use of public electronic gaming services;

g) Providing services out of the prescribed period of time that is from 8:00 AM to 22:00 PM every day;

h) Failing to comply with other regulations on responsibility of points of public electronic gaming services.

4. Additional penalties:

Suspend operation for 01 – 03 months if any of the violations prescribed in Points b, d, e, g and h Clause 3 of this Article is committed.

Article 70. Violations against regulations on players

1. A warning or a fine ranging from VND 200,000 to VND 500,000 shall be imposed for any of the following violations:

a) Providing inaccurate personal information when playing G1 games;

b) Failing to comply with regulations on playing time management at points of public electronic gaming services.

2. A fine ranging from VND 2,000,000 to VND 5,000,000 shall be imposed for misuse of electronic games to perform acts in violation of law or disturb public order and security or national security.

SECTION 4. VIOLATIONS AGAINST REGULATIONS ON CYBERINFORMATION SECURITY

Article 71. Violations against regulations on cyberinformation security and incident response

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

a) Failure to give instructions to Internet users or Internet subscribers to give incident notification and adopt measures to ensure cyberinformation security and safety;

b) Failure to publish or update recipient addresses of incident notifications.

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

a) Failure to deal with incidents upon the receipt of incident notification or detection of incidents;

b) Failure to give response to an incident notification.

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

a) Failure to provide or providing insufficient information concerning security incidents upon the request of a competent state authority;

b) Failure to comply with regulations on information storage and report on incident response;

c) Failure to adopt measures and/or technological solutions for information security and malware scanning; failure to promulgate and implement internal regulations on information security and safety;

d) Failure to establish or assign a professional division to take charge of incident response;

dd) Failure to cooperate with domestic and international entities or enterprises in incident response as regulated.

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

a) Failure to appoint an entity to participate in the Vietnam Computer Emergency Response Team or such appointed entity fails to comply with applicable regulations;

b) Failure to comply or improperly complying with coordination orders for incident response of a competent state authority;

c) Failure to arrange connection ports or other necessary technical conditions to serve the tasks of ensuring information safety and security upon request of Ministry of Information and Communications and/or Ministry of Public Security.

Article 72. Violations against regulations on safety and security of e-transactions with use of digital signature or digital certificate

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

a) Illegally preventing the use of digital certificate;

b) Illegally storing secret keys of other entities;

c) Storing information relating the applicants for digital certificates without ensuring information confidentiality and security;

d) Failing to guarantee the information security in course of creating or transferring digital certificates to subscribers.

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

a) Stealing, cheating, falsely assuming or appropriating secret keys of other entities;

b) Illegally duplicating, revealing or providing secret keys of subscribers;

c) Failing to guard the secret of entire process for creating key pairs;

d) Using equipment which fails to satisfy mandatory technical regulations and standards to create key pairs;

dd) Adopting unsecured methods to transferring secret keys to applicants for digital certificate;

e) Creating key pairs in contravention of law;

g) Failing to secretly retain information and key pair of subscriber during the suspension of digital certificate of such subscriber;

h) Failing to guard the secret of subscriber’s secret key in case of authorization.

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

a) Using computer software and/or technical equipment to illegally access the system or database of a specific digital signature authentication service provider;

b) Illegally revealing or providing secret keys of a special digital signature authentication service provider;

c) Illegally using secret keys of other entities;

d) Forging or instructing other entities to forge digital certificates;

dd) Failing to satisfy information security requirements when creating digital signatures;

e) Using technical equipment and systems incapable of detecting and warning of illegal access and cyberattack types;

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

h) Failing to adopt methods for controlling the entry into head office or location where the equipment or system serving the provision of digital signature authentication services is located;

i) Failing to adopt methods for controlling access to digital signature authentication system;

k) Illegally using secret keys of a special digital signature authentication service provider;

l) Stealing secret keys of a special digital signature authentication service provider;

m) Committing other violations against regulations on information security and safety.

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

a) Illegally obstructing operation of a digital signature authentication service provider;

b) Illegally using secret keys of a public digital signature authentication service provider;

c) Illegally revealing or providing secret keys of a public digital signature authentication service provider;

d) Stealing secret keys of a public digital signature authentication service provider.

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

a) Failing to adopt or improperly implementing standby measures to maintain secure and continuous operation and deal with incidents;

b) Stealing secret keys of the national digital signature authentication service provider;

c) Illegally revealing or providing secret keys of the national digital signature authentication service provider;

d) Illegally using secret keys of the national digital signature authentication service provider;

dd) Failing to obey or improperly executing the orders of competent state authorities as regulated by law in case of emergency or ensuring national security.

Article 73. 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 any of the following violations:

a) Stealing, appropriating, trading, exchanging, donating, repairing or revealing passwords or access codes to computer or computer programs of another entity;

b) Stealing, appropriating, trading, exchanging, using or revealing accounts, passwords or access rights to value-added tax services or applications in cyberspace.

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

a) Stealing, trading, exchanging, revealing or using information concerning the other’s credit card illegally;

b) Illegally accessing the network or digital equipment of other entities to appropriate control rights, intervene in functions of such digital equipment, steal, change, sabotage, forge data or illegally use related services.

3. Additional penalties:

Expel foreigners who commit any of the violations prescribed in Clause 1 and Clause 2 of this Article from Vietnam.

Article 74. Violations against regulations on appropriation of property using computer network

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

a) Stealing or illegally using information concerning bank accounts or bank cards of other entities to appropriate or cause damage to their property;

b) Committing frauds via online communication on the Internet network or telecommunications network to appropriate property of other entities or individuals.

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

a) Illegally accessing accounts of other entities or individuals to appropriate their property;

b) Setting up or providing services of diverting international calls into domestic calls for the purposes of frauds or appropriation of property.

3. A fine ranging from VND 100,000,000 to VND 140,000,000 shall be imposed for committing frauds in e-commerce, currency trading, capital mobilization, trading and settlement of stocks in cyberspace for the purpose of appropriating property of other entities or individuals.

4. Additional penalties:

a) Confiscate the exhibits and instrumentalities of administrative violations prescribed in Clause 2 and Clause 3 of this Article;

b) Expel foreigners who commit the violation prescribed in Point b Clause 2 of this Article from Vietnam.

5. Remedial measures:

Enforced transfer of illegal benefits obtained from administrative violations prescribed in Clauses 1, 2 and 3 this Article.

Article 75. Violations against regulations on technical standards and regulations on information security

1. A fine ranging from VND 10,000,000 to VND 20,000,000 shall be imposed for failing to make declaration of conformity of a specific information system with technical standards and/ or regulations on information security within the prescribed time limit.

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

a) Failing to apply for certification of conformity of a specific information system with technical standards and/ or regulations on information security as regulated by law;

b) Failing to make declaration of conformity of a specific information system with technical standards and/ or regulations on information security as regulated by law.