After more than a decade of development, e-commerce has become a key sales channel for hundreds of thousands of businesses. However, certain unnecessary administrative procedures with limited regulatory value are still hindering the digital transformation of the economy. The burden of website notification procedures Earlier this year, a group of young entrepreneurs in Danang City launched a startup selling handmade crafts online. They built a website to showcase products, accept orders, and process online payments. Everything seemed to be going smoothly—until they encountered the requirement to notify the Ministry of Industry and Trade under current regulations. “We were quite surprised to find out we had to go through a notification procedure for a website that was simply our own sales channel. Even though it’s an online process, it still takes time and creates hesitation just as we’re starting out,” they said. Their experience is not unique. According to data from the Ministry of Industry and Trade, more than 105,000 e-commerce website notifications were submitted in 2023, showing the significant volume of administrative paperwork businesses are burdened with. Decree 52/2013/ND-CP — the foundational legal document for e-commerce management — was issued at a time when the field was still new and […]