Vietnam e-commerce law 2026: new rules for livestreaming, KOLs, KOCs and affiliates

On November 19, 2025, the People’s Court of Ho Chi Minh City sentenced beauty queen Nguyen Thuc Thuy Tien, Hang Du Muc and Quang Linh Vlogs to 2 years in prison each for advertising Kera vegetable candy. Forensic testing found that the product did not contain the 10 vegetable powders listed on its label. The case was tried under the Penal Code. From 2026, the lapses that led to it, such as agreeing to promote a product without checking its paperwork or without ever using it, are covered by specific provisions in the new Vietnam e-commerce law and the amended advertising law.

Vietnam’s Law on E-commerce No. 122/2025/QH15, in force since July 1, 2026, together with Decree 248/2026/ND-CP, splits responsibility for a livestream selling session among three parties. The platform verifies the identity of the livestreamer and keeps recordings for at least 1 year. The seller must give the livestreamer the product’s documents before going on air. The livestreamer must refuse to work with a seller whose documents are missing. Affiliates must be verified before they receive a link. Electronic identity verification of sellers and livestreamers applies from January 1, 2027. KOLs (key opinion leaders) and KOCs (key opinion consumers) are also bound by the amended Law on Advertising, with fines of up to VND 100 million.

Which laws and decrees govern livestreaming and KOLs in Vietnam?

Many news articles say “livestreamer verification is mandatory from July 1, 2026”. The implementation clause of Decree 248 pushes electronic identity verification of sellers and livestreamers back to January 1, 2027. The other obligations, such as providing product documents and refusing to work with a seller whose documents are missing, have applied since July 1, 2026. The months until the end of the year are when the marketplaces finish building their verification process. That is also when brands should standardize their product files instead of waiting for a marketplace to remind them.

Who is responsible for what in a livestream session?

The biggest change is in the third row. Until now, a brand would send the product along with a few key points over Zalo (Vietnam’s most widely used messaging app), and the KOC would present it in their own way. Now the livestreamer has a duty to refuse when documents are missing, so the product file becomes a condition for the session to happen at all. Experienced KOCs will start asking for paperwork before they quote a fee, because the person in front of the camera is also the person who gets fined.

The 1-year recording rule also changes how risk adds up. Some articles cite a 3-year period, but that figure comes from the draft, not the law as passed. Whether it is 1 year or 3, every statement a KOC makes about price, benefits or promotions can be pulled up again when a customer complains. A line like “50% off, today only” that does not match the listed price in the store counts as false price information, with the evidence already sitting on the marketplace’s servers.

What product documents should a brand prepare before a livestream?

The Law on E-commerce only refers to “documents on product quality” and “written confirmation of the advertising content where the law requires it”. The specific documents depend on the sector law for each product group. Some common examples:

Documents only solve half the problem. The other half is what the KOC says during 2 hours of live broadcasting. The file Adtek recommends sending to livestreamers has 6 parts:

1. The product’s legal documents from the table above, as legible scans.
2. A table of claims the livestreamer is allowed to make, each with its source: test report, ingredient documentation, the manufacturer’s research.
3. A list of things not to say. For cosmetics, any word like “treats”, “cures” or “gets rid of for good” is out, because cosmetics cannot be advertised as medicine.
4. The listed price, promotional price, promotion period and voucher conditions, with every number matching the store.
5. Warranty and return policy, and the channel for complaints.
6. A confirmation from the livestreamer: that they received the file, and the date they started using the product.

Most of this work is done once per SKU and then reused for every KOC and every session.

What extra obligations do KOLs and KOCs have under the Law on Advertising?

The amended Law on Advertising No. 75/2025/QH15, in force since January 1, 2026, adds Article 15a on people who deliver advertising products. Influencers, the term the law uses for KOLs, KOCs and brand ambassadors with large followings, must verify how trustworthy the advertiser is, check the product documentation, not promote products they have not used or do not fully understand, and state clearly that the content is an ad before and during the advertisement.

Decree 87/2026/ND-CP, in force since May 15, 2026, sets the fines for these violations in Article 51:

On top of the fine, the violator can be forced to remove the content. For brands, the “must use before advertising” rule changes the booking schedule. KOCs need to receive the product earlier, typically 2 to 3 weeks ahead for cosmetics so they can have a real experience with it, instead of the 2 to 3 days many campaigns allow today.

The ad disclosure should be written into the script word for word, not left for the KOC to improvise. A short template for the opening: “Today’s live session is a paid advertising partnership with [brand]. I’ve been using this product since [date], and today I’m sharing my honest experience.” The line should be repeated when new viewers join the room, and clips cut from the session need an ad label on the platform.

Affiliates: links and referral codes tied to identity

The law defines affiliate marketing services as advertising goods and services through links, referral codes or similar methods tied to an e-commerce platform. Under Article 25, affiliate service providers must verify an affiliate’s identity before issuing a link or code, and must refuse to work with goods on the list of banned business lines. Under Article 26, affiliates must provide information for verification and remove links themselves when the goods violate the rules or when a state authority requests it. These obligations also apply to people doing affiliate work for foreign platforms operating in Vietnam.

On TikTok Shop, affiliate commission is one of the largest order-generating costs, as our TikTok Shop vs Shopee comparison shows. A brand’s network of a few hundred nano KOCs will have to go through verification before receiving new links. Brands should keep a list of affiliates with contact details and verification status, so that if a batch of goods has a problem they can ask for links to be removed the same day.

Tax: marketplaces withhold, KOC commissions follow the contract

From July 1, 2025, under Decree 117/2025/ND-CP, marketplaces with ordering and payment functions withhold and pay tax on behalf of household businesses and individual sellers on every transaction: VAT of 1% on goods and 5% on services, and personal income tax of 0.5% on goods and 2% on services. From 2026, household businesses with revenue of no more than VND 500 million a year do not pay VAT or personal income tax, under Decree 68/2026/ND-CP.

There is no specific rule yet on withholding tax for commissions that brands pay KOLs and KOCs directly, outside the marketplace. These payments still follow current personal income tax rules, so the contract should state clearly which party declares and withholds the tax.

Example: a serum livestream with 3 KOCs

This is a hypothetical example based on common practice among cosmetics brands selling on TikTok Shop: a serum brand with a Mall store runs a 2-hour livestream every Friday night with 3 KOCs.

The first three rows take the most effort in the first month. From the second month on, the file and claims table can be reused, and the extra work is mostly sending products out earlier.

Vietnam e-commerce law checklist for brands before January 1, 2027

• Build a legal file for every SKU sold through livestreams and affiliates.
• Write a table of approved claims and a list of banned phrases for each product group.
• Update KOL and KOC contracts: trial period, ad disclosure line, compliance with the claims table, content removal on request, which party declares tax.
• Review your affiliate list and remind anyone who is not yet verified to complete the process on the marketplace.
• Read the livestream rules each marketplace publishes under Decree 248.
• Keep briefs, documents and session recordings for at least 1 year.
• If a session collects viewers’ phone numbers or other information, also apply the rules in our article on Vietnam’s personal data protection law for marketing.

The year-end sale season is when KOC schedules are fullest. If you are working from an 11.11 sale plan, add a KOC document check in the D-14 week, before locking the livestream schedule. Brands that rely heavily on KOLs should also build direct sales channels in parallel, following a D2C strategy, so that a problem with one influencer does not take all of their sales down with it.

This article summarizes regulations for reference and is not legal advice. Businesses should check the original texts and consult a lawyer about their specific situation.

Adtek runs ads on Shopee, TikTok Shop and Lazada for brands that sell on these marketplaces. If you need your product files, KOC contracts or livestream scripts reviewed against the new rules, contact the Adtek team.

References

• Official Gazette of the Government (December 2025). Law on E-commerce No. 122/2025/QH15 (in Vietnamese).
• Thu Vien Phap Luat (December 2025). Law on E-commerce 2025, No. 122/2025/QH15 (in Vietnamese).
• Ministry of Industry and Trade (July 2026). Ministry of Industry and Trade explains the Law on E-commerce and Decree 248/2026/ND-CP (in Vietnamese).
• Official Gazette of the Government (June 2025). Law No. 75/2025/QH15 amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Law on Advertising (in Vietnamese).
• VnExpress (November 2025). Miss Thuy Tien, Hang Du Muc and Quang Linh Vlogs sentenced to 2 years in prison (in Vietnamese).