Local Communist Party-run newspaper Sai Gon Giai Phong (Liberation) has run a story questioning the legality of Yahoo!'s operational presence in Vietnam saying the internet search portal must have a license from the Vietnam culture ministry.
Excerpts With nearly 20 million Intenet users, mainly youngsters, Vietnam is a huge potential market for Yahoo or Google to develop online advertising or digital content services.
A Yahoo representative office was established in HCM City last August and in late April 2008, Yahoo appointed Vu Minh Tri as the general director of Yahoo Vietnam.
Yahoo Vietnam has launched many new services in a short period of time the Vietnamese page of Yahoo and some accompanying services, cooperating with some newspapers to provide news in Vietnamese on www.yahoo.com.vn, combining with MobiFone to provide OneSearch, a search service on mobile phone.
Yahoo Vietnam recently announced four Vietnamese companies, Admax, FPT Online Advertising Company, GapIT and Golden, as its authorised advertising agents in Vietnam. These agents will advertise and sell Yahoo online advertising products to Vietnamese firms.
The above moves show Yahoo's determination to conquer the Vietnamese market. But there is a question Yahoo is operating under the laws of which country
Is Yahoo operating under Singaporean laws
Yahoo was granted a licence to open its representative office in Vietnam by the HCM City Department of Trade on August 13, 2007 and adjusted on May 23, 2008.
According to the licence, the Singaporean-based Yahoo Southeast Asia Ltd is allowed to have a representative office and liaison office in HCM City and offer the following services conducting market research activities, promoting and building cooperation projects of Yahoo in Vietnam, promoting the implementation of agreements and contracts on trade, service and IT products signed by Yahoo and Vietnamese partners.
The licence also says that the representative office is not allowed to conduct business, service activities or direct, profitable activities in Vietnam. Therefore, all announcements about Yahoo's cooperation with Vietnamese partners and its appointment of Vietnamese authorised advertising agents have the name of Yahoo, not Yahoo Vietnam.
However, these advertisements are being exploited in Vietnam and a question about Yahoo's tax duties should be raised.
According to Decree 55, dated August 23, 2011, of the Vietnamese government about the management, use and provision of internet services, to provide chat, email services in Vietnam, the providers must have an OSP licence granted by the Ministry of Information and Communications.
Yahoo is not among the 14 companies with OSP licences but it is providing Yahoo Messenger and Yahoo Mail as well as Yahoo Music Vietnamese version at yahoo.com.vn.
In addition, Yahoo has launched Yahoo music page in the Vietnamese language (Yahoo.com.vnmusic) with an unclear policy on intellectual property. On yahoo.com.vnmusic, Yahoo confirms We obey all current laws and regulations. Specifically, we observe regulations of the Singaporean Copyright Act and regulations on copyright (network service provider) that apply to us.
Yahoo only mentions Singaporean laws but this product is in Vietnam.
Many foreign firms will enter Vietnam to provide internet-based services after Yahoo so a clear and strict legal system is needed.
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