How much is the fine for not registering a website with the Ministry of Industry and Trade?

Many business owners treat registering with the regulator as something for later, until the day the penalty decision arrives. How much is the fine for not registering a website with the Ministry of Industry and Trade is a question to answer before it's too late, not after a violation record has been drawn up. MONA Media lists every penalty level and the legal basis currently in force, so you know the risk you are carrying.

The price of complacency

Your website runs well, orders come in steadily, and you figure the paperwork can wait. That is exactly when the risk is greatest.

Market surveillance authorities are checking e-commerce activity more and more closely. One inspection, one cross-check against data on the online.gov.vn portal, is enough to expose your unregistered website.

At that point there is no room to ask for more time. Once the violation record is drawn up, the fine becomes a real number, taken straight out of your profit.

Penalty levels under Decree 98/2020/ND-CP

The penalty basis currently in force is Under Decree 98/2020/ND-CP, part of the set of documents we cover in our article on legal regulations on registering a website with the Ministry of Industry and Trade. Here are the specific levels.

Failing to notify a sales e-commerce website

A fine of 10 to 20 million VND. Applies to sales websites with an online ordering function that haven't notified the Ministry of Industry and Trade.

Failing to register an e-commerce service website

A fine of 20 to 30 million VND. Applies to trading platforms, auction sites and online promotion sites operating without registration.

Providing false or forged information when registering

A fine of 20 to 30 million VND for providing false or forged information when registering an e-commerce service website.

Penalties double for organizations

These levels apply to individuals. For organizations and businesses, the fine doubles. That means an unregistered service website run by a business can be fined up to 60,000,000 VND.

The consequences go beyond the fine

The fine is the visible part. The more dangerous part is the measures that come with it.

If you offend repeatedly, the website can be suspended from e-commerce activity for 6 to 12 months. Half a year to a year without selling online is close to paralysis for a business that lives off its website.

Even heavier is the measure of forced revocation of the .vn domain. The domain you have nurtured for years, printed on business cards and built into your brand, can be taken away.

Add it all up and the real loss is far bigger than the fine.

Lessons from a 70,000,000 VND penalty

A business has actually suffered heavy consequences. One company was fined as much as 70,000,000 VND for delays and multiple violations involving an unregistered website.

That figure isn't meant to scare you. It shows how fast penalties climb when violations stack up, enough to wipe out the profit of a whole business period.

Compared with that, the cost of doing the registration from the start is many times lower. See the details in our article on the cost of registering a website with the Ministry of Industry and Trade.

How to avoid the risk entirely

The only way to stop worrying about fines is to finish the procedure before the website starts selling. Classify it correctly, prepare complete documents, file, and display the confirmation logo.

First, you need to know whether your website falls under notification or registration, because each has different penalties and procedures. We analyze this in our article on the difference between notifying and registering a website with the Ministry of Industry and Trade.

Business owners shouldn't leave an unfinished procedure hanging with tens of millions of dong in risk over their heads. Hand it to a dedicated team and it's done.

We have done this procedure for a great many businesses, and we're so practiced that applications are almost never returned. Sit back, and we take care of all the risk.

MONA Media has been building websites since 2016, working with over 14,000 customers, and handles Ministry of Industry and Trade registration regularly. If you want to close this risk gap right now, see your Ministry of Industry and Trade website registration end to end from MONA, or call 1900 636 648 for advice today.