VI Advertising is a crucial bridge that connects products with consumers. However, in sensitive fields like food, this activity cannot take place arbitrarily. The State has established a tight legal framework, requiring pre-registration (pre-clearance) of advertising content for many product groups to ensure authenticity, safety, and public health protection. This is not just a compliance obligation but also evidence of a business’s commitment to the quality of information provided. What food categories fall under this regulation, and how can businesses ensure legal compliance? Let’s explore these regulations in detail with Pham Consult.
- Foods require content registration before advertising
Advertising is the use of individuals and means to introduce products, goods, services, or the organizations/individuals producing/trading them, to the audience. In the food sector, advertising is strictly controlled by law, particularly the regulation on pre-clearance of content. According to Article 26 of Decree No. 15/2018/ND-CP, the food products that must register content before advertising include:
– Health protection foods (dietary supplements), medical nutrition foods, foods for special dietary uses.
– Nutritional products for children up to 36 months old that are not among the cases prohibited from advertising under Article 7 of the Law on Advertising.
Accordingly, the above types of food products must register their content before advertising. Organizations and individuals whose products are being advertised, or organizations and individuals publishing the advertisement, are only allowed to proceed with advertising a product that has been issued a Certificate of Advertising Content Confirmation and may only advertise in accordance with the confirmed content.
If an organization or individual advertises food products that do not fall into the above groups, pre-advertising content registration is not required. However, when advertising these products, organizations and individuals must still fully comply with all existing advertising regulations.
- Mandatory compliance issues when registering food advertising content
According to Article 27 of Decree 15/2018/ND-CP, in addition to complying with general advertising laws, the registration of food advertising content must adhere to the following specific regulations:
Before advertising, the organization or individual with the product being advertised must register the advertising content with the agency that issued the Receipt for Product Declaration Registration according to current regulations.
The advertising content must be consistent with the uses and effects of the product as declared in the Product Declaration. It is prohibited to use images, equipment, attire, names, correspondence of healthcare units, medical facilities, doctors, pharmacists, medical staff, patient thank-you letters, or articles by doctors, pharmacists, or medical staff to advertise food products.
– For Health protection foods (Dietary supplements):
+ There must be a clear warning: “This product is not a medicine and does not have the effect of replacing medicine.” The text must be clear and have a contrasting color against the background.
+ Advertisements on radio and television must clearly read the above warning as prescribed.
+ For television and radio advertisements shorter than 15 seconds, the warning “This product is not a medicine and does not have the effect of replacing medicine” does not have to be read, but the warning must still be visually or audibly displayed within the advertisement.
- Required documents for advertising content confirmation registration
The documents for registering advertising content confirmation are specified in Clause 4, Article 27 of Decree 15/2018/ND-CP, including the following:
(i) Application for Advertising Content Confirmation following Form No. 10 of Appendix I issued with Decree 15/2018/ND-CP;
(ii) Receipt for Product Declaration Registration and the Product Declaration confirmed by the competent authority (a certified copy by the organization/individual);
(iii) Sample product label (certified by the organization/individual);
(iv) For advertisements on radio or television: The proposed advertising script and the proposed advertising content recorded on video/audio discs; for advertisements on other media: The proposed advertising mock-up (certified by the organization/individual);
(v) For advertising content beyond the uses and features stated in the Product Declaration: Scientific documentation for proof (a certified copy by the organization/individual).
Note: All documents in the application for advertising content confirmation must be presented in Vietnamese; if there are documents in a foreign language, they must be translated into Vietnamese and notarized.
- Procedure for issuing the Certificate of Advertising Content Confirmation
Step 1: Submission of application
The organization or individual with the product being advertised submits the application for advertising content confirmation to the agency that issued the Receipt for Product Declaration Registration.
Step 2: Application review
Within 10 working days from the date of receiving a complete and valid application, the receiving agency is responsible for reviewing the application and providing the result. This period starts from the date of the receiving agency’s stamp if the application is submitted via postal service, or the date the completed application is received on the online public service system.
In case of disagreement with the advertising content or a request for amendment/supplementation, the receiving agency must issue a document clearly stating the reasons and legal grounds for the request. The receiving agency is only allowed to request amendment/supplementation one time.
Within 10 working days from receiving the amended/supplemented application, the receiving agency shall appraise the application and issue a written response. If the organization or individual fails to amend or supplement the application within 90 working days from the date of the official request for amendment/supplementation, the application shall become invalid.
The agencies receiving applications for advertising content confirmation are responsible for publicly announcing the names and products of the organizations and individuals that have been issued a Certificate of Advertising Content Confirmation on their websites and the food safety database.
The organization or individual registering the advertising content confirmation is responsible for paying the application appraisal fee at the receiving agency.
