Vietnam – Draft Amendment To The Decree On Management, Provision And Utilization Of Radio And Television Services.

Draft amendment to Decree No.06/2016/ND-CP on management, provision and utilization of radio and television services (Draft version no. 5)

 

On 13 February 2019, the Ministry of Information and Communication (MIC) has released a new Draft Decree amending and supplementing some of articles of the current Decree No. 06/2016/ND-CP dated 18 January 2016 (Decree 06) regulating the management, provision and utilisation of radio and television services (Draft Decree).

 

This Draft Decree broadens the definition of radio and television services, which now includes the following:

 

(i)  domestic programme channels;

(ii)  foreign programme channels;

(iii)  domestic programmes;

(iv)  foreign programmes; and

(v)  value added contents on technical infrastructure for radio and television transmitting and broadcasting to users.

 

While Decree 06 used to classify radio and television services into five groups (being terrestrial television service, cable television service, satellite television services, mobile television service and radio and television service on the internet), the Draft Decree still maintains such five categories of radio and television services, but it further adds the category of “internet applications to broadcast to service subscribers”.

 

Among other things, the Draft Decree also provides that all domestic programme channels of paid radio and television services in Vietnam must be edited and managed to ensure that the programme contents comply with the laws of Vietnam. The Draft Decree therefore removes the exception, currently provided under Decree 06, according to which live shows of sport competitions, opening ceremonies and closing ceremonies in Vietnam and abroad do not need to be edited before broadcasting.

 

The Draft Decree also amends the term of validity of the foreign programme channel editing licence, reducing it to a maximum of 5 years from the date of issuance (instead of the current 10 years, as provided for under Decree 06).