HANOI (Reuters) – Vietnam said Chinese online retailers Shein and Temu must register with the government before the end of November or it will block access to their sites and apps in the country.

The Vietnamese government and local businesses have expressed concern about the impact of Chinese online platforms on local markets due to the deep discounts they offer.

The Commerce Ministry also expressed concern about the risk of counterfeit items being sold.

Nguyen Hoang Long, Vietnam’s deputy commerce minister, told a government meeting last weekend that the ministry had worked with Shein and Temu on the licensing issue.

“After the ministry’s notification, if these platforms do not comply, the Ministry of Industry and Commerce will coordinate with relevant agencies to implement technical measures such as blocking applications and domains,” said said Nguyen Hoang Long in a statement.

Shein has been present in Vietnam for at least two years, while Temu, owned by Chinese e-commerce giant PDD Holdings, arrived in the country last month.

According to a report released last week by Google, Temasek and Bain & Company, Vietnam’s e-commerce market grew 18% this year to reach a value of $22 billion (20.53 billion euros), which making it the third largest market in Southeast Asia, after Indonesia and Thailand.

Products imported into Vietnam whose price does not exceed 1 million dong (36.89 euros) are exempt from value added tax.

According to the Ministry of Finance, most items benefiting from this tax break, which it plans to remove, are imported through e-commerce platforms.

Temu and Shein are also facing increased scrutiny and lawsuits in other countries. Last month, Indonesia asked Apple and Google to block Temu from their app stores to protect small merchants from competition from ultra-cheap items.

Shein and Temu did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

(Reporting Khanh Vu and Phuong Nguyen; Mara Vîlcu, edited by Kate Entringer)

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