Photo courtesy of Viet Nam News HANOI: Vietnam's Ministry of Public Security has proposed expanding the country's administrative penalty system to cover foreign individuals and organisations who break the law inside Vietnam even if they are never physically present there. The change is set out in a draft law amendment now open for feedback from other government agencies. The proposal would close a gap in the current Law on Handling Administrative Violations. At present, foreign nationals and companies operating within Vietnam can be sanctioned, but the law does not clearly cover foreign entities with no registered presence or assets in the country whose actions still cause harm inside Vietnam's borders. Aimed at offshore platforms, not tourists or residentsThe proposal is aimed squarely at businesses rather than individual travellers or expats living in Vietnam. Ministries flagged difficulties enforcing rules against cross-border e-commerce sites, streaming services and other online platforms that reach Vietnamese users without ever setting up a local office. The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism pointed to foreign film-streaming platforms serving Vietnamese audiences without a commercial presence, some of which have skipped film classification, age ratings, content warnings or age-verification checks required of domestic services. The Ministry of Industry and Trade separately raised concerns about overseas e-commerce operators, noting that normal penalties such as fines or licence suspensions are hard to apply when a company has no local footprint. It proposed tools such as blocking platform access, suspending transaction functions, removing offending content, or suspending accounts outright. Enforcement remains an open questionThe Ministry of Finance questioned how realistic enforcement would actually be, asking authorities to assess whether penalty decisions could be delivered to, or collected from, entities with no physical presence or assets in Vietnam if they simply refuse to pay. The Ministry of Public Security acknowledged the concern, saying that alongside the legal amendment, Vietnam would likely need bilateral and multilateral treaties with other countries to give enforcement teeth internationally. It added that the draft provision covering entities "present or not present" in Vietnam already extends to violations committed in cyberspace. For foreigners living in or visiting Vietnam, the immediate impact of this proposal is limited: it targets unregistered offshore companies and platforms, not foreign residents or tourists going about ordinary daily life. But it signals that Vietnam is tightening its reach over cross-border online commerce, streaming content and digital transactions - services many expats use every day through banking apps, shopping sites and streaming subscriptions. 21 July 2026
