Shein and Temu have been suspended from Vietnam.
In November, the country told the two China-founded companies that they needed to register their respective businesses with the government. If they didn’t, regulators promised, their web domains and apps would be blocked from use.
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Less than a month after the initial warning, Vietnam followed through on its threat. Vietnam’s Department of E-commerce and Digital Economy has halted PDD Holdings-owned Temu’s operations because it missed the government’s deadline to register the company.
“Temu operations will be temporarily suspended until it completes the registration procedure,” the ministry said in a statement. “The platform has submitted an application for e-commerce service activities in Vietnam which is under authorities’ review.”
Neither the government nor the company shared how the suspension might last—nor the status of the registration application now that it’s in the hands of the government. Temu said it has been in contact with authorities about its registration process, but did not provide details into what it has been required to submit.
“We are working with the Vietnam E-commerce and Digital Economy Agency and the Ministry of Industry and Trade to register our provision of e-commerce services. We have submitted all required documents for the registration,” a spokesperson for Temu said in a statement.
While the ministry did not directly issue a statement about Shein’s status in Vietnam, its site was not available in the country as of Thursday. A Shein spokesperson confirmed that the company is working on its registration with the trade ministry.
“Shein is committed to complying with the laws and regulations of the countries we operate in. We are working with the Ministry of Industry and Trade to register our e-commerce services,” the spokesperson said in a statement.
Vietnamese authorities have expressed concern over the low-priced goods marketplaces, citing similar reasons to other jurisdictions globally.
Shein has been hawking goods in the Southeast Asian country for at least two years, while Temu only entered the market in October. Temu’s entry seemed a bit haphazard—at first, its interface in Vietnam was only offered in English and did not support payment via Momo, a popular financial services company used for e-commerce transactions in Vietnam.