DECREE On management, provision and use of radio and television services ____________________ Pursuant to the December 25, 2001 Law on Organization of the Government; Pursuant to the December 28, 1989 Press Law; the June 12, 1999 Law Amending and Supplementing a Number of Articles of the Press Law; Pursuant to the November 23, 2009 Law on Telecommunications; At the proposal of the Minister of Information and Communications; The Government promulgates the Decree on management, provision and use of radio and television services. Chapter I GENERAL PROVISIONS Article 1 . Scope of regulation This Decree prescribes in detail the management of information contents, quality, charge rates, provision and use of radio and television services in Vietnam; and reception and watching of foreign satellite television channels in Vietnam. Article 2 . Subjects of application This Decree applies to domestic and foreign organizations and individuals involved in the management of information contents, quality, charge rates, provision and use of radio and television services in Vietnam; and in the reception and watching of foreign satellite television channels in Vietnam. Article 3 . Interpretation of terms In this Decree, the terms and phrases below are construed as follows: 1. Radio or television service means a service that applies telecommunications to provide users with integral domestic and foreign channels and value-added services through radio or television transmission and broadcast technical infrastructure. Radio or television services may be provided directly to service users without going through storage or delay devices (online television service) or at the request of service subscribers (on-demand service). 2. Value-added service of a radio or television service means a service that add utilities to that radio or television service. 3. Domestic channel means a radio or television channel produced or co-produced in accordance with law by Vietnamese press agencies licensed to operate in radio or television journalism. 4. Political and essential information channel means a domestic channel determined by a competent state management agency to serve political and essential information tasks in each period. These channels include national and local political and essential information channels. 5. Foreign channel means a foreign-language radio or television channel produced by a foreign radio or television agency. 6. Co-production of a radio or television program means cooperation to produce a domestic program or channel between a unit licensed to produce domestic channels and a partner under a co-production contract. 7. Content provider means a press agency licensed for radio or television operations in Vietnam that owns the copyright or has a lawful copyright agreement for information contents provided on a radio or television service. 8. Radio or television service provider means an enterprise established in accordance with Vietnamese law which is eligible for service provision. 9. Radio or television transmission and broadcast technical infrastructure means a telecommunications network meeting requirements for the provision of radio or television services. 10. Service user means an organization or individual that has an endpoint device meeting requirements for use of radio or television services. 11. Service subscriber (below referred to as subscriber) means a person using services of a pay radio or television service provider under a contract or an equivalent written agreement. 12. Endpoint device means a user’s device receiving radio or television signals at the end point of radio or television transmission and broadcast technical infrastructure. 13. Endpoint device of pay radio or television means an endpoint device integrated with functions meeting a pay radio or television service provider’s requirements for content protection and subscriber management. 14. End point of a radio or television service means a physical connection point within a telecommunications network up to radio or television transmission and broadcast standards and technical regulations, which ensures the connection of an endpoint device to the telecommunications network and determination of the economic and technical boundary between the radio or television service provider and service user. 15. Transceiving center means a place where radio or television devices are installed in a system to receive and process baseband signals and transmit radio or television signals to radio or television transmission and broadcast technical infrastructure for provision to users. Article 4 . Classification of radio and television services 1. Radio and television services include: a/ Terrestrial television, which is a radio or television service using technical infrastructure for digital terrestrial television transmission and broadcast to provide radio or television channels to service users; b/ Cable television, which is a radio or television service using technical infrastructure for cable television transmission and broadcast and applying different technologies to provide radio or television channels to service users. Cable television includess analog cable television; digital cable television; and internet protocol cable television (IPTV); c/ Satellite television, which is a radio or television service using technical infrastructure for satellite television transmission and broadcast to provide radio or television channels to service users; d/ Mobile television, which is a radio or television service using technical infrastructure for transmission and broadcast of mobile terrestrial television, satellite mobile television and television via terrestrial mobile telecommunication network to provide radio or television channels to service users; dd/ Internet radio or television, which is a radio or television service using internet connections through domain names of websites or identified internet addresses managed by Vietnam to transmit radio or television channels to service users. 2. The mode of provision of radio and television services specified in Clause 1 of this Article may be public or pay as follows: a/ Public radio and television services are those provided to free service users by eligible enterprises as prescribed by law without applying technical measures to manage and control or restrict signal reception; b/ Pay radio and television services are those provided to service users by enterprises licensed to provide pay radio and television services with technical measures to manage, control and restrict signal reception. Article 5 . Policies on management of radio and television services 1. To develop public radio and television services nationwide using advanced technologies to enable the public’s easy access to national and local political and essential information radio and television channels. 2. To sustainably develop the pay radio and television service market conducive to fair competition in order to mobilize social resources to serve political communication tasks and meet the people’s healthy and diverse entertainment needs. 3. To facilitate the mobilization and use of social resources for co-production of domestic programs and channels to raise people’s intellectual level and meet their cultural and spiritual needs; to conserve and promote the nation’s fine historical and cultural traditions, contributing to building and defending the socialist fatherland of Vietnam. 4. To manage the provision of information contents on radio and television services in accordance with the press law; manage radio and television transmission and broadcast technical infrastructure in accordance with the law on telecommunications; manage radio and television service activities in accordance with this Decree. 5. To increasingly examine and assess the effectiveness of information contents and quality of radio and television services through technical measures and modern statistical and social survey methods. 6. To create favorable conditions for the Pay Television Association and radio and television service providers to operate effectively to boost development of the radio and television service market in line with the Party’s directions and guidelines and the State’s policies and laws. Article 6. State management of radio and television services 1. Responsibilities of the Ministry of Information and Communications a/ To assume the prime responsibility for and coordinate in formulating and promulgating according to its competence, or proposing competent agencies to promulgate, legal documents, strategies, master plans, plans and state policies on radio and television service activities; b/ To assume the prime responsibility for and coordinate in promulgating according to its competence technical regulations on technical infrastructure for provision of radio and television services; c/ To perform the specialized state management of radio and television service charge rates; d/ To conduct scientific research, apply advanced technologies and develop technical regulations applicable to radio and television service activities; to provide professional training and refresher training in radio and television service operations; dd/ To manage and organize international cooperation in radio and television service activities; e/ To grant, re-grant, renew and revoke licenses and certificates of radio and television service operations in accordance with the Press Law and this Decree; g/ To guide the implementation of regulations on information, reporting and statistics on, and issue forms for use in, radio and television service activities; h/ To manage, inspect, examine, supervise and settle complaints and denunciations and handle violations of law in radio and television service activities according to its competence. 2. Ministries, ministerial-level agencies and provincial-level People’s Committees shall, within the ambit of their tasks and powers, coordinate with the Ministry of Information and Communications in performing the state management of radio and television service activities. Chapter II MANAGEMENT, PROVISION AND USE OF RADIO AND TELEVISION SERVICES Section 1 PUBLIC RADIO AND TELEVISION SERVICES Article 7. Rights and obligations of public radio and television service providers 1. Rights of a public radio or television service provider a/ To select domestic channels for their provided services in accordance with Article 13 of this Decree; b/ To select units having appropriate telecommunications networks to provide public radio or television services in case it does not have a telecommunications network; c/ To use special-use equipment to display the name and logo of its service on television channels in accordance with Article 23 of this Decree. 2. Obligations of a public radio or television service provider a/ To have plans to allocate transmission capacity for transmission and broadcast on their services the channels prescribed in Clause 4, Article 13 of this Decree and as assigned by competent agencies; b/ To observe the State’s regulations on management of information contents and protection of copyright over contents of radio or television programs and channels; c/ To observe regulations on operation reporting to central and local state management agencies; d/ To submit to the inspection and examination by competent agencies as prescribed by law. Article 8. Rights and obligations of users of public radio and television services 1. Rights of a radio or television service user a/ To own endpoint devices and select public radio or television services according to his/her demand; b/ To be provided with information on public radio and television services nationwide; c/ To lodge complaints about service quality with state management agencies. 2. Obligations of a radio or television service user To observe the law on protection of copyright over contents of radio and television programs and channels. Article 9 . Principles of provision of public radio and television services 1. To universalize public radio and television services nationwide, prioritizing deep-lying, remote, border, island and exceptionally disadvantaged areas. 2. To conform with the State’s planning on press; radio and television transmission and broadcast; and development of radio and television services. 3. To conform with regulations on management of internet resources and radio frequencies in accordance with the laws on telecommunications and radio frequency. 4. To ensure service contents’ conformity with regulations on information content management under the press law and this Decree. 5. To conform with the State’s standards and technical regulations on quality of radio and television devices and services. Section 2 PAY RADIO AND TELEVISION SERVICES Article 10. Rights and obligations of pay radio and television service providers 1. Rights of a pay radio or television service provider a/ To select domestic and foreign channels, on-demand contents and value-added contents to be provided in its service packages; b/ To use special use equipment to display the name and logo of its service on television channels in service packages in accordance with Article 23 of this Decree; c/ To select units having appropriate telecommunications networks to provide pay radio or television services in case it does not have a telecommunications network; d/ To apply technologies and techniques relevant to its services to provide the option for selecting the audio or subtitle Vietnamese language created by the unit licensed to edit foreign programs and channels. 2. Obligations of a pay radio or television service provider a/ To observe the State’s regulations on management of information contents and protection of copyright over contents of radio or television programs and channels and other contents of its service; b/ To observe the State’s regulations on charges, fees, prices and contracts on provision of services; c/ To observe provisions of its granted license for pay radio or television service provision; d/ To observe regulations on operational reporting to central and local state management agencies; dd/ For a radio or television service provider having a telecommunications network, to observe regulations on corporate ownership under the telecommunications law; e/ To neither provide nor test the provision of, channels outside the granted registration list in any forms; g/ Not to purchase, sell, transfer, rent or lend the license for pay radio or television service provision in any forms; h/ To submit to the inspection and examination by competent agencies as prescribed by law. Article 11. Rights and obligations of pay radio and television subscribers 1. Rights of a pay radio or television subscriber a/ To select a pay radio or television service provider for entry into a contract on provision and use of a pay radio or television service; b/ To request the pay radio or television service provider to provide necessary information relating to the quality and conditions for use of the pay radio or television service; c/ To use the pay radio or television service according to its quality and charge rates and other provisions under the contract signed with the pay radio or television service provider; d/ To refuse to use part or whole of the pay radio or television service under the contract signed with the pay radio or television service provider; dd/ To have private information confidentiality guaranteed in accordance with law; e/ To lodge complaints about service charge rates and quality; to have service charges refunded and receive compensations for other direct damage due to the fault of the pay radio or television service provider in case the service is not provided under the signed contract. 2. Obligations of a pay radio and television subscriber a/ To make full and timely payment of pay radio or television service charges; b/ To implement all the terms of the contract on pay radio or television service provision; c/ To observe the law on protection of copyright over contents of radio or television programs and channels; d/ To neither provide nor resell pay the radio or television service in any forms. Article 12. Licensing of pay radio and television service provision 1. Licensing conditions: a/ Being a Vietnamese enterprise. For a foreign-invested enterprise, obtaining the Prime Minister’s in-principle approval; b/ Having a service provision plan conformable with the master plans on radio and television service development and radio and television transmission and broadcast and other master plans in radio and television and e-information sectors; c/ Having a license for telecommunications network establishment or an agreement on rent or use of a telecommunications network meeting technical requirements for service transmission to subscribers connected to that telecommunications network, for the services prescribed at Points a, b, c and d, Clause 1, Article 4 of this Decree; having a registration certificate of domain name “.vn” or identified internet address for service provision to subscribers, for the service prescribed at Point dd, Clause 1, Article 4 of this Decree; d/ Having plans on human resources; investment in technical equipment; service market forecast and analysis; and business, service charge rates and investment and operation cost estimates for at least 2 (two) first years; and documents proving the charter capital or equivalent document meeting service provision requirements according to the cost estimates; dd/ Having a plan on establishment of a center for transceiving all domestic and foreign channels at a single place, except channels on the list of local political and essential information channels, specifying technical designs of systems of signal processing devices; devices for connection to transmission networks, devices for management of services and subscribers and content protection; e/ Having a plan on application of advanced technologies conformable with state-prescribed standards and technical regulations to guarantee service quality and information security and safety and prompt handle technical incidents to ensure uninterrupted services and interests of subscribers; g/ Having a tentative list of domestic channels (other than those prescribed in Clause 4, Article 13 of this Decree), foreign channels, on-demand contents and value-added contents to be provided on pay radio or television services accompanied by content providers’ written approvals; h/ Having a written agreement on channel signal reception points in accordance with Point c, Clause 1, Article 14 of this Decree. 2. Dossier of application for a license a/ An application for a license for pay radio or television service provision, made according to the form provided by the Ministry of Information and Communications; b/ A certified copy, or a copy enclosed with the original for comparison, of the most recently granted enterprise registration certificate or investment certificate (if any); c/ A service provision plan specifying the type of service and scope of service provision, technical options for provision of online services and on-demand services (if any); tentative terms and provisions on rights and responsibilities of parties to the contract on service provision and use and the contents prescribed at Points b, d, dd, e, g and h, Clause 1 of this Article; d/ A copy of the license for telecommunications network establishment or certified copy of the agreement on rent or use of the telecommunications network of the telecommunications network owner during the validity period of the license for telecommunications network establishment, for the services prescribed at Points a, b, c and d, Clause 1, Article 4 of this Decree; a copy of the registration certificate of domain name “.vn” or identified internet address, for the service prescribed at Point dd, Clause 1, Article 4 of this Decree; A provider of the services prescri

Decree 06/2016/ND-CP