In the 2001-2010 decade, essential technology infrastructures for e-commerce, such as information and communication technologies, in particular the Internet, and the legal environment such as civil law, commerce, intellectual property, electronic transactions, etc. have created a solid foundation for the establishment of e-commerce in our country.
Given such foundation, the 5 year period 2011-2015 has witnessed an all-round and stable development of e-commerce. On the basis of summarizing the activities set out in the Direction of Activities of the Term II and the trend of e-commerce development in the coming period, the Executive Committee of Term II proposed the direction of activities of the Association for the period 2016- 2020, which was approved by the 3rd National Congress as follows:
A. PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES
I. Consulting and reviewing policies and legislation on e-commerce
According to the Association’s Charter, consultancy activities, policy reviews and legislation on e-commerce are key tasks of the Association in order to create a favourable macro environment that fosters strong and sustainable development of this field across the country.
In the third term, the Association continues to focus on the implementation of activities related to this task.
1. Consulting and reviewing legal documents related to e-commerce
The rapid development of e-commerce requires a legal framework to support online businesses and facilitate businesses while protecting consumers.
The Association should actively monitor and have consultancy activities to review policies and laws related to the following areas:
– eCommerce on mobile platforms;
– Business on social networks;
– E-commerce related to the Internet of Things;
– Digital currency;
– Online Advertising;
– Protection of personal information;
– Issues related to consumer protection and healthy competition;
– Settlement of disputes, including settlement of disputes arising from cross-border e-commerce transactions;
2. Law enforcement related to e-commerce
The Association should actively monitor and supervise the compliance of e-commerce law by member enterprises.
On the one hand, the Association should support members to comply with legal regulations and create conditions for members to work more effectively. On the other hand, the Association should detect violations of law among enterprises inside and outside the Association and propose to competent agencies to take appropriate measures to protect legitimate interests of its members while ensuring rule of law.
With the development of e-commerce, the number of disputes and legal violations can increase rapidly, together with the level of complexity and variety. The association should closely coordinate with market management agencies, competition management and consumer protection, information and communication technology inspection, science and technology inspection, the Association of Consumers Protection as well as other arbitration and law enforcement agencies to detect and handle violations of e-commerce parties in time.
II. Disseminating and popularizing e-commerce
1 On the media of VECOM
i) Web portal www.vecom.vn
In the third term, the website of the Association not only becomes an important channel for information dissemination on the activities of the Association but also needs to be upgraded to provide diverse information on e-commerce in the country as well as around the world, including information on policies, regulations, market forecasts, technology trends, success stories, etc.
At the same time, the Association will continue to upgrade the bi-weekly e-newsletters in both Vietnamese and English versions to a large number of audience who are interested in e-commerce. The Association will mobilize to have at least 5 resource partners for this newsletter.
ii) Social Network
Social network is an effective communication channel and this trend continues throughout the third term. The Association must take advantage of this trend. In addition to Facebook, the Association will attempt to provide information on some other social networks.
iii) Trade and Market Magazine
Despite efforts, the number of publications published in the magazine is still low, while online journal is still at early stage and content related to e-commerce is modest.
In the third term, the magazine should improve its quality and truly become the official organ of the Association.
2. On other media
The close cooperation with other media to disseminate and propagate about e-commerce play pivotal role in enhancing trust in online shopping, introducing secure and effective online business models and enterprises.
Mass media such as television, newspapers, and electronic newspapers still have a great impact on the masses across the country. The Association needs to work out annual plans with a number of large media units on specific topics, focusing on small and medium enterprises in mountainous, remote and isolated provinces.
III. Training on e-commerce
1.Training at universities and colleges
The Association will actively coordinate and support universities and colleges in e-commerce training. In order to have the human resources to meet the needs of dealing with disputes and violations of law relating to e-commerce in the medium and long term, the Association will cooperate more closely with some universities such as University of Economics and Law of Vietnam National University Ho Chi Minh City and law universities or other universities that have law and economic-commerce faculty.
The cooperation includes exchange of training programs, support for trainees, introducing lecturers, organizing exchanges, connecting with e-commerce businesses to implement the policy of connecting training with societal demand. In addition, the Association will organize exchange programs between students and successful entrepreneurs in the field of e-commerce or other programs to motivate students to study and venture in this field.
2. Seminars and workshops on e-commerce
During the third term, the Association will chair or coordinate with other Central and local agencies, organizations, and enterprises to organize seminars and workshops on e-commerce.
The preferred coordinating agencies are the Department of E-commerce and Information Technology under the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MOIT) and the Departments under the Ministry such as the Vietnam Competition Authority, Market Surveillance Department, and Vietnam Trade Promotion Agency. The Association also coordinates with other units under the Ministry of Information and Communications, the Ministry of Science and Technology, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism to organize seminars and trainings on relevant functions and tasks.
The Association also chairs or cooperates with professional associations such as Informatics Association, Internet Association, Information Security Association, Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry to organize seminars and trainings on topics of mutual interest
In order to support local businesses to effectively utilize e-commerce, apart from organizing activities in the leading e-commerce cities such as Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Hai Phong, and Da Nang, the association will strengthen coordination with other local Departments of Industry and Trade to organize training courses.
When organizing seminars and training, the Association both encourages and supportes member businesses to present their products and services to promote the image and products of members.
IV. Protection of personal information
Protecting personal information is important for the development of online transactions in general, including e-commerce. The protection of personal information is regulated by the Vietnamese law on e-transactions and information technology. In the field of e-commerce, Decree No. 52/2013 / ND-CP on E-commerce promulgated in 2013 has many specific provisions detailing the protection of personal information.
Building trust in online shopping, including the protection of personal information, is important for the sustainable development of e-commerce and is a long-term activity. The association will cooperate with agencies, organizations and member enterprises to carry out specific activities to raise the awareness of protecting the personal information of the business community and consumers.
V. Development of e-commerce on the mobile platform
Forecasts show that e-commerce on the mobile platform (called mobile commerce) will grow rapidly over the period 2016-2020 and create tremendous opportunities for enterprises as well as to meet the rich, diverse demand of consumers. While technology and infrastructure factors in Vietnam are relatively decent for this type of transaction, the level of implementation in enterprises is not high.
The association will implement activities to support the business application of such business model to increase the proportion of enterprises that have websites compatible with mobile devices, and support them to develop mobile applications, mobile marketing, etc.
VI. Promote the application of information technology in corporate governance
Vietnam E-business Index report shows that by 2015, the adoption of advanced technology solutions such as Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), Supply Chain Management (SCM), and Customer Relationship Management (CRM) in the enterprise is very low.
In order to develop a solid e-commerce platform based on exploiting the achievements of cloud computing, mobile technology and large data, the Association will promote some activities to promote the deployment of these solution in enterprises, creating the quality changes in e-commerce in each enterprise.
VII. Improve the quality of delivery services and order fulfilment services
In the period 2011-2015, the number of enterprises providing postal services has increased rapidly, however, according to the E-commerce Index Report, delivery services have not met the strong development of e-commerce trade. In the period 2016-2020, the tendency to outsource delivery services and order fulfilment service in the world as well as in Vietnam will increase rapidly.
The development of information and communication technologies, especially mobile and data technologies, will help e-commerce businesses and better fulfil orders more effectively, increasing online customer satisfaction.
In the third term, the Association will continue to coordinate with other stakeholders to implement activities to improve the quality of delivery services as well as to promote the establishment and development of direct order fulfilment services, focusing on supporting delivery companies and completing orders with advanced technology solutions.
VIII. eBusiness Index
EBI (eBusiness Index) allows quick assess of the level of e-commerce application and comparison of the progress throughout the years across the country and in each locality, It also supports the evaluation and comparison between localities based on a system of indicators.
In the context of the lack of reliable statistics on e-commerce, including the statistics of each province and centrally-run city, during the second tenure, the Association has determined that constructing the E-commerce index annually be one of the high priority tasks.
In the period 2016 – 2020, the Association continues to consider building the E-commerce Index as the top priority. Along with the mobilization of resources from its members, the Association should closely follow the support from the National E-commerce Development Program 2014-2020 and the Department of Industry and Trade in order to improve the quality of the index each year.
IX. Online shopping day
The Association continues to coordinate with Vietnam E-commerce and Digital Economy Agency and other organizations and enterprises to launch the Online Shopping Day on the first Friday of December each year. By 2020, this event expects to attract genuine interest of millions of consumers.
The Association exchanges with the state management agency on e-commerce and related organizations to promote the Online Shopping Day to E-commerce Day. On this day, in addition to the excitement of online shopping, there will be other big events such as national seminars, technology exhibitions, products, online services, connecting business opportunities between businesses, etc.
X. Other professional activities
1. Other new trends
In the period 2016 – 2020, e-commerce related to social networks, Internet of Things (IoT), and Economy on Demand tend to explode.
The association should recognize these business trends as well as other new trends and implement appropriate actions.
2. Contests related to e-commerce
The association should preside over competitions that are closely tied to e-commerce, such as search engine optimization (SEO).
On the other hand, the Association continues to participate, in collaboration with other agencies and organizations, to conduct contests related to information and communication technology.
B. COOPERATION ACTIVITIES
I. Cooperation with localities
The Association should strengthen cooperation with state management agencies on e-commerce in order to develop e-commerce more evenly, thus contributing to the narrowing of the digital divide among regions.
II. Cooperate with media
The Association continues to cooperate with the media in disseminating and propagating on e-commerce and can decide a major theme each year in the cooperation with the media.
III. Cooperate with state management agencies and professional associations
The Association cannot complete the tasks without the help of the state management agency on e-commerce, which is Vietnam E-commerce and Digital Economy Agency, and many other units under the Ministry of Industry and Commerce, Ministry of Information and Communications and other ministries.
At the same time, the Association should maintain close relationship with professional associations, including information society and media associations such as the Association for Information Technology, the Internet Association, the Information Security Association, the Software Association and IT services, as well as associations related to logistics, payment, etc.
IV. International cooperation
Cross-border e-commerce is growing, and the trend of foreign investment in the field of e-commerce in the country has been increasing. The Association should promote international cooperation activities, especially those with large trade and economic relations with our country and have advanced e-commerce.
C. MEMBERS
I. Growing Association’s membership
The strength of the Association lies in the membership. It should be clearly defined that growing membership activity is not only the task of the Board of Directors and the Association’s Office, but also the duties of all members of the Executive Committee as well as its members.
In the third term, association’s membership must grow at least 20% over the second term.
II. Membership support
One advantage of the Association is the diverse business of its members and the low proportion of its members competing directly with each other. The Association should organize regular exchanges of members on a quarterly basis. Each exchange leads to a specific topic and provide opportunities for exchanging and connecting business opportunities among members as well as with relevant businesses and organizations.
Representing members of the Association should support the settlement of disputes and complaints in e-business according to the requests of members.
Members have privilege to attend and introduce enterprises and products and services at the events or workshops organized or coordinated by the Association.
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OPERATION ORIENTATION TERM II (2011 – 2015)
E-commerce in Vietnam has developed relatively strong and comprehensive in the period 2006-2010. Although newly established, the Vietnam E-commerce Association (VECOM) has had some practical activities and effectively contributing to the overall development of e-commerce.
Based on the current status of e-commerce, the master plan for e-commerce development in 2011-2015 was approved by the Prime Minister in Decision No. 1073 / QD-TTg on July 12, 2010 and VECOM, Vietnam E-commerce Association has unanimously adopted the direction of activities of the Association during the period 2011-2015 as follows:
I. PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES
1. Propagation and dissemination of e-commerce
Communication and dissemination information on e-commerce continue to play an important role in the development of e-commerce. In the Master Plan for E-commerce Development in the 2011-2015 period, the Prime Minister assigned the Ministry of Industry and Trade to chair and coordinate with the E-commerce Association and other organizations to implement transmission and dissemination of e-commerce, to study and develop e-commerce models, and to encourage enterprises to participate.
Besides coordinating with the Ministry of Industry and Trade and other organizations to carry out these activities, VECOME should actively disseminate e-commerce through the Trade and Market Magazine, web portal www.vecom.vn, and other events.
a. Trade and Market Magazine:
In March 2009 VECOM published its first issue of the Trade and Market Magazine. The magazine has been distributed to many people throughout the country and contributes to the dissemination of many aspects related to e-commerce.
In the coming period, the Association needs to improve the quality of the magazine, and will consider the actual situation to decide publishing magazines either in both paper and digital format, or only in digital format. Board members and members should increase responsibility and be more engaged in writing and promoting the magazine of the Association.
b. Web portal of the Association
Right after the establishment, the Association has released the official website with domain name www.vecom.vn and assigned to Operation Office. Over the past three years, the website has provided timely information on the activities of the Association and its members as well as information related to e-commerce.
In the coming period, it is necessary to improve the quality of this website in terms of content and form, to better promote the activities of its members and the Association itself.
c. Organize seminars, events, forums
In addition to these two main channels above, Vecom should, in the period 2011 – 2015, take the prime responsibility or coordinate with other units in organizing various and attractive activities to raise social awareness of e-commerce. It is possible to organize seminars, events, and forums online or offline to introduce and exchange hot topics associated with e-commerce.
2. Consulting and criticizing policies and laws related to e-commerce
One important mission of VECOM is to advise and counter the issues related to e-commerce policy and law, to act as a bridge that allows members to join the legislative and policy-making bodies, making the system of policies and legislation most supportive to the development of e-commerce in Vietnam.
The system of legal documents on e-commerce has been formed and has initially facilitated the development of e-commerce. However, in the 2011-2015 period, it is expected that state agencies will draft and promulgate many legal documents related to e-commerce, such as recognizing the legal validity of e-documents, consumer protection, website management, information security, dispute resolution and law violation, etc.
Vecom should actively participate in reviewing the drafts and consider such activity as an important way to support the development of e-commerce in general and protect the interests of members in particular.
3. Enhance consumer confidence in online shopping
The fact that consumers do not trust the safety of online shopping is one of the major obstacles to the development of e-commerce everywhere in the world. Boosting consumer confidence will contribute to promoting e-commerce development, thereby supporting e-commerce businesses in general and members in particular. The Ministry of Industry and Trade has paid attention to this activity but VECOM needs to be more active in raising consumer confidence in online trading.
Specifically, Vecom should actively cooperate with the Ministry of Industry and Trade to achieve the objectives set out in the Master Plan for E-commerce Development 2011-2015: by 2015 at least 5% of e-commerce websites will be certified as trusted e-commerce website; popularize the benefits of this activity for businesses and consumers.
4. Develop e-commerce indexes by enterprises and localities and e-commerce websites ranking
Every year, the Ministry of Industry and Trade has investigated, surveyed and developed the Vietnam E-commerce Report. The ministry also chairs and coordinates with relevant agencies and departments of industry and commerce to carry out e-commerce statistics. Ecommerce statistics will contribute to the enhancement of corporate policies, laws, and business strategies.
In addition, Decision No. 1073 / QD-TTg promulgated the Master Plan for e-commerce development in the period of 2011 – 2015. The Prime Minister assigned E-Commerce Association to prepare the readiness to apply e-commerce – ecommerce index by business and locality, ranking e-commerce website.
Over the past few years, the provincial competitiveness index and information technology readiness index of ministries, localities and some enterprises by the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) and the Information Society It has had a positive impact on improving the business environment as well as the application of information technology in localities and other organizations.
Following the instruction of the Prime Minister, VECOM should immediately coordinate with the Ministry of Industry and Trade and relevant organizations to develop e-commerce readiness indicators for localities and enterprises under some economic sectors in 2011 (Vietnam Ecom Index).
VECOM should also actively coordinate with relevant organizations to rank e-commerce websites. This helps both e-commerce businesses and consumers to make purchases online.
5. Launch the national prize on e-commerce, incorporate criteria for e-commerce development into provincial-level criteria for evaluation of provincial competitiveness.
On the basis of complying with legal provisions on prizes, VECOM can propose to state agencies to preside over the development of national awards on e-commerce, or coordinate with relevant agencies to build this award.
The Association can coordinate with VCCI and relevant agencies to include criteria for e-commerce development in the criteria for assessing provincial competitiveness.
6. International cooperation on e-commerce
In the first term, VECOM has cooperated with APEC Digital Opportunity Center (ADOC) and E-Commerce and Information Technology Agency (Ministry of Industry and Trade) to build and operate APEC – Vietnam E-Commerce Training Center. VECOM also organized some surveys and learning experiences in deploying e-commerce in foreign countries.
In the second term, VECOM should strengthen its professional activities with non-governmental organizations in e-commerce, especially with regional countries and developed countries in e-commerce. VECOM also needs to find out and attract funding from foreign organizations for some of its professional activities.
The Association should continue to strengthen cooperation with ADOC to receive further support for APEC – Vietnam E-commerce Training Center and professionalize the Association’s activities by better utilize the Training Center
II. INTERNAL ACTIVITIES
1. Professional Departments
In addition to the Inspection Committee, Term I has established four specialized departments: Research and Development, Trade Promotion, International Cooperation, and Communication departments.
In the second term, it is necessary to improve the performance of the above-mentioned departments while considering the establishment of new professional departments. The Association should assign members of the Executive Board to the heads of committees, invite members and active individuals to participate in professional activities. The committees should have a specific plan, reporting annually to the Executive Board
2. The Inspection Department
The activities of the Association in the second term will be more vibrant, more diverse than the first term. The number of members is also higher, therefore, the Board needs to perform better to ensure the rights and responsibilities of members, raising the reputation of the Association.
According to Article 5.8 of the Charter, the Association has the responsibility to help members settle conflicts and disputes through negotiation and conciliation. In the first term, the Association has initially carried out this task. However, the Association has not assigned any organization responsible for this task. The Executive Board of the term II will strengthen the Inspection Committee, promulgate specific functions, duties and powers, including the task of examining the interests and obligations of members as well as assisting the members to resolve conflicts and disputes through negotiation and mediation.
3. The Member Department
During the first term, membership development was mainly carried out by the Office of the Association and the representative office in Ho Chi Minh City.
Pursuant to Article 11 of the Association’s Charter, the Member Department shall be established within the year 2011. The Membership Department shall develop a work plan for the whole term with a view to rapidly developing the number of members in accordance with regulations on membership standards in the Charter.
4. Office of the Association
a. Office of the Association:
During the first term, the Ministry of Industry and Trade (E-commerce and Information Technology) supported the office location of the Association’s office. In addition to many advantages, the establishment of the Association Office at the office of state management also has some limitations to professional activities of the Association.
In the second term, it is necessary to quickly lease independent place for the Association’s Office and full-time officials. Funds for renting office space and full time staff are deducted from membership fees and membership dues as well as other legal sources.
b. Representative office in Ho Chi Minh City
For the first term, the Association has set up a representative office in Ho Chi Minh City. The representative office has a number of specific activities, supporting members in the Ho Chi Minh City area. In the period of 2011 – 2015, it is necessary to continue strengthening the operational capacity of the representative office.
5. Sub-branches and branches
According to Article 11 of the Charter, the association may establish subdivisions and sub-associations.
In the first term, no branch and grassroots branch was established. Based on the specific development situation and the needs of members, in the second term, a number of sub-associations and sub-associations can be established, depending on their area of expertise or localities.
III. OTHER ACTIVITIES
1. Coordinate with the Vietnam Association for Information Processing and associations related to information and communication technologies.
E-commerce has a close relationship with the field of information and communication technology as well as many other areas. In recent years, VECOM has cooperated with Vietnam Association for Information Processing, Software Association, and Information Security Association to implement some activities.
In the period of 2011 – 2015, in addition to continuing to promote cooperation with these associations, VECOM should actively cooperate with other associations related to information and communication technology, consumer protection, exhibitions and shows, etc.
2. Cultural-physical movement
VECOM activities are mainly aimed at supporting its members, on the other hand the active participation of members is the decisive factor for VECOM’s success.
Cultural-physical activities will contribute to attracting, gathering and uniting members. During the first term, VECOM has organized some sports activities that members have welcomed. In the second term, VECOM needs to organize more and more attractive activities of the literary and physical movement.
3. Other social activities
Businesses are increasingly becoming more responsible and more diversified. Through VECOM, members can propose social activities directly or indirectly related to the e-commerce sector, such as activities to assist people with disabilities to run online business.
The Association should continue to improve the quality of the website www.hanoi1000nam.vn. Through this website the Association should improve the understanding of young people about the history of the nation and have practical suggestions, such as naming streets in the capital in particular, and naming cities in Vietnam in general.
VECOM
