Art. 31 of the Law on Investment stipulates that the Prime Minister shall grant approval for projects initiated by foreign investors in the provision of telecommunication services involving network infrastructure. The approval entails the endorsement by a competent state authority of the objectives, location, scope, implementation timeline and duration of the investment project, the investor or method of investor selection, and any special mechanisms or policies (if applicable) for the project's implementation.

Art. 37.4 of Decree No. 147/2024/ND-CP requires the establishment of a commercial presence for the provision of cross-border online game services. It stipulates that foreign organisations and individuals providing online video game services to users in Vietnam, including through cross-border delivery, must establish an enterprise in accordance with Vietnamese law in order to provide such services, in compliance with this Decree and the regulations governing outward investment. Consequently, the cross-border provision of online games, in the absence of such establishment, is effectively prohibited.

Pursuant to the provisions of Art. 61.1 of Decree No. 52/2013/ND-CP on e-commerce, one of the conditions for conducting credit rating of e-commerce websites is being a trader or an organisation established under Vietnamese law.

Patent applications by non-Vietnamese residents must be filed via recognised Vietnamese patent agents. According to Art. 89 of Law No. 50/2005/QH11 on Intellectual Property Rights, and Art. 4 of Circular 23/2023/Vietnam on Industrial property, non-Vietnamese residents, organisations or companies without business entities in Vietnam must apply for industrial property rights via legal representatives in Vietnam. Legal representatives must meet the criteria as regulated in Article 154 of the Law. The Parliament of Vietnam amended certain parts of Law No. 50/2005/QH11 with Law No. 36/2009/QH12, and such regulation remains.

Vietnam is a party to the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT).

Vietnam’s copyright regime is governed by Law No. 50/2005/QH11 on Intellectual Property Rights and supplemented by Decree 17/2023 on Copyright. However, the exceptions outlined in this framework do not adhere to the fair use or fair dealing models, thereby restricting the lawful use of copyrighted works by others. Art. 25 of Law No. 50/2005/QH11 enumerates these exceptions, with Decree 17/2023 providing further clarification on their application. Notable exceptions include the recitation of works without distorting the author's views in articles for newspapers or periodicals, radio or television broadcasts, or documentaries, as well as the use of works in schools for teaching purposes, provided it does not misrepresent the author’s views and is not for commercial gain, among others.

According to Art. 11 of Law No. 22/2023/QH15 on Bidding, international bidding may be organised under specific conditions. These include
(i) instances where international bidding is mandated by a donor funding the project or package under an international convention or loan agreement;
(ii) where domestic bidders fail to meet the requirements of consulting, non-consulting, or construction service packages, or where prequalification or competitive bidding procedures yield no satisfactory results.
(iii) for consulting service packages when deemed necessary by the competent authority to enhance quality, provided the authority assumes responsibility for the decision.
However, international bidding is not applicable for projects involving business lines prohibited to foreign investors, projects requiring domestic bidding for reasons of national defence, security, or public order, projects located in areas restricted to foreign entities under the Law on Land, or projects with a total investment below VND 800 billion (approximately USD 33.33 million). In cases where international expressions of interest are invited but fail to receive responses from foreign bidders, such projects are also excluded from international bidding.

Law No. 64/2020/QH14 on Public Private Partnership was issued in June 2020 and has been effective since January 2021. Art. 58.5 of the Law states that Public Private Partnership projects only use foreign labourers if domestic labourers do not meet the demand.

Vietnam’s Law No. 22/2023/QH15 on Bidding, which came into effect in June 2023, Law No. 43/2013/QH13 on Bidding. While the Law generally maintains similar provisions for scenarios where international bidding is permitted, it continues to require international bidders to collaborate with domestic contractors. This collaboration can take the form of a consortium or subcontracting arrangement, except in cases where no domestic contractors are qualified to execute any portion of the procurement package (Art. 5.1).

According to Art. 10 of Law No. 22/2023/QH15 on Bidding, incentives are integrated into the contractor and investor selection processes to prioritise eligible entities. For contractor selection, these incentives include suppliers of goods originating in Vietnam, domestic bidders producing Vietnam-origin goods, domestic bidders participating independently or in consortiums in international bidding, microenterprises, small enterprises, and startups. Incentives for contractors involve higher rankings for eligible bidders in cases of equal evaluation, extra points under fixed-price, technical-based, or combined technical and price evaluation methods, adjustments to bid prices for ineligible bidders under lowest-price methods, and prioritisation of capacity, experience, and other criteria during evaluations. Additionally, employers may require the inclusion of domestic goods in bids if at least three domestic manufacturers meet the specified standards. For investor selection, incentives apply to those implementing technological solutions to reduce environmental pollution in high-risk projects. Eligible investors receive higher rankings in cases of equal evaluation and extra points during bid evaluations.

Vietnam is a signatory of the World Trade Organization (WTO) Information Technology Agreement (ITA) of 1996 but is not a signatory of its 2015 expansion (ITA II).

The local preference directive for government procurement (Directive No. 494/CT-TTg) limits foreign firms from bidding on government-issued procurement tenders to instances where domestic bidders cannot meet the required services or supplies. Consequently, foreign suppliers or contractors are selected only when domestic companies are unable to provide the necessary goods or services or when financing agreements between the Vietnamese government and donors mandate international bidding. However, it should be noted that this directive is not a binding measure or regulation. Instead, it is an instruction from the Prime Minister aimed at achieving specific strategic targets in economic development.

Russia has not adopted national legislation based on or influenced by the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) Model Law on Electronic Signatures.

Art. 4 of the Law about Consumer Protection introduces local content requirements for certain categories of technically complex goods sold with pre‑installed computer software. In particular, these goods must include software whose country of origin is the Russian Federation or another Member State of the Eurasian Economic Union. Where pre‑installed software is used to access information on websites, it must, by default and without the need for additional configuration, enable the use of a search engine originating in the Russian Federation or another Member State of the Eurasian Economic Union.
It is reported that the mandatory pre‑installation of Russian software encompasses search engines, the Yandex browser, mapping and navigation applications, antivirus software, software providing access to electronic government infrastructure, instant messaging and social networking services, and national payment systems. These requirements apply to consumer electronic products sold in Russia, including smartphones, computers, tablets and smart televisions. Furthermore, it is reported that in August 2023, the Russian Government approved an updated list of domestic software to be pre‑installed on smart televisions from 2024, introducing several video streaming services. In 2025, the list was further expanded, and an additional requirement was introduced mandating that smartphones and other smart devices sold in Russia be pre‑installed with Russia’s proprietary digital messaging platform, MAX.