The 2025 E-Commerce Law officially entered into force on July 1, 2026, marking a pivotal shift in the regulation of digital business operations in Vietnam. If e-commerce was previously regarded as a fast-expanding “growth frontier,” the landscape has now entered a phase focused on transparency, standardization, and heightened accountability for both sellers and platforms. For the fashion industry, where brand identity, design, and consumer trust represent core assets, these changes do not merely impose regulatory compliance burdens; they drive businesses to restructure operations and build digital governance capabilities for sustainable competitiveness.
From “Sales Platforms” to a Transparent Commercial Ecosystem
The 2025 E-Commerce Law, effective July 1, 2026, marks a shift toward a more transparent management model by strengthening traceability, enhancing seller transparency, heightening platform accountability, and protecting consumer rights. For the fashion industry, this represents a crucial shift amid complex challenges with counterfeit goods, knockoffs, and intellectual property infringements, at a time when consumers are increasingly focused on product quality, origin, and sustainability.
Complying with these new regulations is not merely a legal obligation, it is an opportunity to boost competitive advantage. Businesses must focus on three core priorities: product information transparency, supply chain digitization combined with traceability, and the standardization of all sales, payment, and customer care processes. In this new era, e-commerce competitiveness will no longer rely solely on pricing, but on trust, customer experience, and governance quality, laying a foundation for the sustainable growth of Vietnamese fashion brands.
“Brand Governance” Determines Corporate Standing in the Digital Environment
Counterfeit goods, knockoffs, and intellectual property infringements pose major challenges for the fashion industry, particularly across e-commerce platforms, livestreaming channels, and social media networks. According to businesses in the sector, branding and product designs represent core assets; thus, protecting intellectual property rights must be executed as a long-term strategy rather than a reactive response after infringements occur.
To limit this issue, enterprises need to proactively register trademark and industrial design protections, enhance oversight of online sales channels, adopt anti-counterfeiting technologies such as security labels and QR codes, and make product data transparent to support traceability. Furthermore, close collaboration among businesses, e-commerce platforms, and regulatory authorities through information sharing, early detection, and enforcement, is critical to fostering a transparent business environment, safeguarding consumer rights, and protecting the reputation of fashion brands.
Shifting from “Sales” to “Data Governance”
The 2025 E-Commerce Law marks a significant shift by requiring e-commerce platforms to take greater responsibility for seller authentication, as well as handling and removing counterfeit goods and knockoffs, thereby safeguarding the rights of both businesses and consumers. Concurrently, the law mandates that enterprises transition to data-driven business governance, ensuring transparency and end-to-end transaction traceability.
To adapt, fashion enterprises must build two core capabilities: digitizing and integrating data across the supply chain, and legal risk management backed by robust internal controls spanning product disclosures, sales channels, and customer support. In an environment where export markets increasingly emphasize traceability and sustainability, standardizing digital operations enables companies to go beyond legal compliance, enhancing brand reputation, reinforcing consumer trust, and bolstering the competitiveness of Vietnamese fashion brands both domestically and internationally.
