By Phuong Nguyen and Khanh Vu
HANOI (Reuters) -Vietnam has ordered Chinese online retailer Temu to suspend operations in the southeast Asian nation after it missed a business registration deadline at the end of November, the trade ministry said on Thursday.
The move comes after the ministry and domestic businesses voiced concern about the impact of deep discounting by Chinese online platforms, with the ministry saying it was also worried about potential sale of counterfeits.
Last month Vietnam told Chinese online retailers Shein and Temu to register with the government by the deadline or face the blocking of internet domains and a halt in use of their apps.
Temu, owned by Chinese e-commerce giant PDD Holdings, started allowing Vietnam shoppers in October, while fast fashion retailer Shein has been selling into Vietnam for at least two years.
“Temu operations will be temporarily suspended until it completes the registration procedure,” the trade ministry said in a statement.
“The platform has submitted an application for e-commerce service activities in Vietnam which is under authorities’ review.”
The ministry did not say how long the suspension would run, or what steps Temu must take before it is lifted.
On Thursday, Vietnamese-language options were missing from Temu’s website when accessed from Vietnam.”Temu is working with the Vietnam E-commerce and Digital Economy Agency and the Ministry of Industry and Trade to register its provision of e-commerce services in Vietnam,” the company said in a notice on the website.
In response to a Reuters’ email request for comment, Temu said it had submitted all documents required for the registration, but gave no timeframe to resume operations.
It is not clear if the authorities also halted operation of the Chinese fashion retailer Shein, but its Vietnamese website was similarly unavailable, with the company saying it was working with the trade ministry to register services.
The ministry and Shein did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Temu has also stumbled in Indonesia, where regulators have asked Alphabet’s Google (GOOGL.O) and Apple (AAPL.O) to block it in app stores in the country, to protect small merchants.
Last week, Vietnam’s parliament approved legal changes to require payment of value-added tax (VAT) by local operators of foreign e-commerce platforms and urged scrapping of a tax exemption for low-cost imported goods.
At the time, the finance ministry said it had begun the process to scrap the tax break.
The change spells a blow for the foreign-dominated e-commerce industry, which has benefited since 2010 from VAT exemption and rules freeing up duties on imports worth less than 1 million dong ($40).
(Reporting by Khanh Vu, Phuong Nguyen; Editing by Shri Navaratnam and Clarence Fernandez)
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