Regulations on auction and transfer of digital store and internet domains

On March, 30, 2021, Prime Minister issued Decision No. 16/2021/QD-TTg on auction and transfer of use right of digital store and internet domains.

According to Decision No. 16/2021/QD-TTg, the subjects of application are telecommunication businesses, telecommunication application service providers, organizations licensed to use telecommunication number storages, organizations and individuals involved in auction activities and transfer of the right to use telecommunication number storages, domestic organizations and individuals and foreign organizations and individuals involved in auction activities and transfer of the right to use internet domains.

Regarding telecommunication number storages to be auctioned for use rights including telecommunication codes and numbers with special structure in the planning of telecommunication number storage and having criteria as prescribed in Decision 16/2021/QD-TTg on telecommunication number storages to be auctioned for use rights are considered and selected from telecommunication number storages that have not yet been allocated to agencies, organizations or enterprises. Ministry of Information and Communications shall publish the list of telecommunication number storages to be auctioned from time to time based on the telecommunication number storage planning and the actual situation of the Vietnamese telecommunication market.

As for internet domains, it is not allowed to transfer the domains that are prioritized for protection including those names of organizations of CPV, the State, political-social entities and others related to benefits and national territories as regulated by Ministry of Information and Communication, domains under sanction or in the process of dispute resolutions or postponements.

Internet domains allowed to be auctioned include those of Vietnam by ‘.vn’ in plain text with secondary private use of 1 character (secondary subdomain of ‘.vn’ named by one of 26 letters of English alphabet and numbers from 0-9), of ‘.vn’ in plain text with secondary private use of 2 characters (secondary subdomain of ‘.vn’ named by one of 26 letters of English alphabet and numbers from 0-9).

Besides, Decision 16/2021/QD-TTg also regulates on transfer of use right of telecommunication number store, internet domains and responsibilities of transferring parties, the transferred, and regulations on conditions for auctions of codes and telecommunication numbers.

The decision is valid from June 1, 2021 and replaces Decision No. 38/2014/QD-TTg dated July 1, 2014 of Prime Minister.

Reported by Department of Justice – Translated by Vi Bao