Copyright is not adequately enforced online in Vietnam. While there are laws in place for intellectual property rights (IPR) violations, Vietnam has yet to draft the implementing guidelines to the 2009 amendments to the 1999 Criminal Code, which would allow law enforcement agencies and courts to levy deterrent criminal penalties against IPR violators. In addition, it is reported that while Vietnamese agencies have engaged in public awareness campaigns, foreign companies continue to face various impediments to selling legitimate products in Vietnam. Counterfeit goods, including counterfeits of high quality, remain widely available in physical markets, and while still limited, domestic manufacturing of counterfeit goods is emerging as a concern. In addition, book piracy and cable and satellite signal theft persist, while both private and public sector software piracy remains a concern. Moreover, it is reported that the rate of unlicensed software installation in the country was 74% in 2017 (below the 57% rate of the Asian Pacific countries), for an estimated commercial value of USD 492 million.

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

Vietnam has a copyright regime under Law No. 50/2005/QH11 on Intellectual Property Rights. However, the exceptions do not follow the fair use or fair dealing model, therefore limiting the lawful use of copyrighted work by others. Art. 25 lists the exceptions, which include recitation of works without misrepresenting the author's views in articles published in newspapers or periodicals, in radio or television broadcasts, or in documentaries; recitation of works in schools for lecturing purposes without misrepresenting the authors" views and not for commercial purposes; among others.

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 organization 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, non-Vietnamese residents or organization 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. Parliament of Vietnam amended certain parts of Law No. 50/2005/QH11 with Law No. 36/2009/QH12 and such regulation remains.

Decree No. 72 establishes the management of Internet service and online network in Vietnam. Chapter 4 of the Decree regulating online games categorizes online games into four groups (G1 to G4). All companies providing online games are requested to establish legal entities in Vietnam, according to the Corporate Law of Vietnam. In March 2018, Vietnamese government issued Decree No. 27/2018/ND-CP to partially amend and extend Decree 72 and such requirement remains.

Decree No. 72 establishes the management of Internet service and online network in Vietnam. In March 2018, Vietnamese government issued Decree No.27/2018/ND-CP to partially amend and extend Decree 72, and it requires Internet information network (or website as defined in Art. 3.21) established in Vietnam to have at least one person of Vietnamese citizenship, or foreigner to reside in Vietnam to manage the operation of the website. Line 8 of Decree 27 to amend Art. 23(a) of Decree 72 regulates on operation and human resources of website require "having at least one personnel responsible for information content management who is a Vietnamese national or for a foreigner who has a temporary residence card issued by a competent authority with at least six months of validity in Vietnam".

According to Art. 5 of the Decree 25/2011/ND-CP on the implementation of telecommunications law, foreign investment projects providing telecommunications services without network infrastructure with an investment capital of VND 300 billion (approx. 12.3 Million USD) above must (i) carry out investment verification procedures at state investment management agencies; (ii) carry out the procedures for investment evaluation at the provincial state agencies managing the investments to be granted an investment certificate; (iii) implement procedures for evaluation and approval of investment policy at the provincial state agency managing investment to be granted an investment certificate.

Art. 17 of the Law on Telecommunications regulates that the State holds dominant shares (51%) in telecommunication service of which infrastructure are particularly important to the operation of the entire national telecommunications infrastructure. Therefore, foreign investors can only own 49% of shares in government controlled firms.

Art. 11 of Decree No. 25/2011/ND-CP regulates cross-border supply of telecommunications service to Vietnamese market. The provision of telecommunications services across the border to users of telecommunications services in Vietnam must be through a commercial agreement with a Vietnamese telecommunications enterprise that has been licensed to provide international telecommunication services.

Vietnam is not a party to the World Trade Organization (WTO) Agreement on Government Procurement (GPA). However, the country has been an observer of the WTO GPA since 2012.

Vietnam’s Law No. 43/2013/QH13 on Tendering came into force in July 2014, repealing Law No. 61/2005/QH11 on Tendering. Law No. 43 maintains, in general terms, similar scenarios where international bidding is permitted. There remains the obligation to associate with domestic contractors in international bidding, either through a consortium or through subcontracting, except when there are no domestic contractors capable of executing any portion of the procurement package (Art. 5.1(h)). Domestic preferential treatment in international bidding is maintained and applicable to foreign bidders where: (i) in the case of supply of goods, costs for domestic production of such goods amount to 25% or more of the value of the bidding package; or (ii) in the case of provision of consulting services, non-consulting services and civil works for capital investment projects, domestic bidders (who are in consortium with the foreign bidders) take over 25% of the value of the bidding package (Art. 14). The thresholds for preferential treatment entitlement under Law No. 61 were 30 and 50% for (i) and (ii) respectively (Art. 14).

The Circular No. 40 aims to complete the legal framework on the policy of prioritizing investment, hiring, and procurement of domestically produced information technology products and services according to the tasks assigned in Art. 4 of Decree No. 73/2019/ND-CP. The Circular creates favorable conditions for state agencies to consult and learn information about products and services prioritized when investing, hiring, and purchasing IT products and services. Accordingly, enterprises with IT products and services that meet the criteria of priority for investment, leasing, and procurement specified in the Circular (respectively in Arts. 5-9) are eligible for State agencies to give priority to investment, leasing, and procurement.

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

The local preference directive for government procurement (Directive No. 494/CT-TTg) restricts bidding by foreign firms on government-issued procurement tenders to those cases where domestic bidders cannot provide the necessary services or supplies. Accordingly, foreign suppliers/contractors are only selected when domestic companies cannot provide goods/services or when financing agreements between the government of Vietnam and donors require international biddings. However, it should be noted that Directive is not binding measure or regulation. It is considered as instruction of Prime Minister to achieve certain strategic targets in economic development.