Chinese online seller Temu not registered in Vietnam as required by law

Chinese e-commerce platform Temu is not registered in Vietnam but still allows local consumers to shop on it.

We have asked the Vietnam e-Commerce and Digital Economy Agency about it and the latter confirmed the news Wednesday.

The law requires cross-border e-commerce platforms to register in the country if it has a Vietnamese domain, uses Vietnamese as a display language or has over 100,000 transactions a year in Vietnam.

Temu started allowing users in Vietnam to shop last month, and Vietnamese is among the four languages it offers them.

The agency is studying the impact of Temu on the local market, especially its discount policy, to prevent sale of counterfeits, Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Nguyen Sinh Nhat Tan told reporters recently.

Temu, owned by Chinese e-commerce giant PDD Holdings, launched the U.S. in September 2022 and is now present in 82 countries and territories, according to Singapore-based consultancy Momentum Works.

It recorded gross merchandise value of US$20 billion in the first half of this year, up from $18 billion of last year’s total, it added.

Indonesia earlier this month banned the platform to prevent an influx of cheap Chinese goods.

Other countries have made moves to limit the platform to protect their small and medium-sized businesses.