Know-How Exchange : Advertising/PR

Australia: https://answers.google.com/answers/threadview/id/782232.html
Thailand: https://www.dit.go.th/otcc/upload/Recent%20Development%20%20latest%20versio...
Singapore: https://www.ccs.gov.sg/Guidelines/index.html
Malaysia: https://www.law.unimelb.edu.au/db/useful_links/alc/ListURLs.cfm?Level2=43
China: https://www.chinatechnews.com/2008/08/01/7131-survey-90-netizens-dislike-be...

Hi LqLim,

We operate sites in all these territories and sell products and hold contests. However, the 'local rules' are irrelevant.

There are only 2 relevant issues.

1. Where is your company registered? (we are in Hong Kong)
2. Where is your site hosted?

With respect to our business, since we are a Hong Kong company, we are governed by Hong Kong law. We must therefore follow the rules of this territory.

You must do the same, you must also make it clear in your 'Terms and Conditions' where you are registered and which law is applicable to the contest.

This is an area of the internet business that is still not well understood and in many cases, there is little if any legislation covering it.

The simplest way to understand it is that If I am in Manila or Bangkok, and I buy a product from Amazon (in the USA) then it is an import sale from the perspective of the local government.

It is just the same as if I had ordered it by mail or over the telephone from another country. When the physical goods arrive, I may be required to pay some import duties locally on it. If it is a digital download, then who? is going to collect the import duties and how ??? :)) There is no legilation but it will come n the next 6 to 8 years with all the cross border trade going over the interent.

If I am in Sydney and I choose to enter a prize draw or contest of some sort that is going on in the USA or India, then I must abide by the US or Indian regulations covering the contest. The fact that I am in Australia has no bearing on it.

On the other hand, if you register one company in each of these territories and run a 'Local' operation, then you must abide by the local regulations for each territory where you have a company and run a site.

On point 2. Hosting, it is also a very murky area :)) In our case, our legal entity is HK but all hosting is in Canada with iWeb.

Depending upon the digital item downloaded and the legal opinion of the territory in which I downloaded it, there could be a slight legal argument that I purchased the item from a store in Canada and that it should be governed by Canadian legislation.

This is the truly wonderful thing about commerce on the internet in its current infant state :) Very little regulation. But we only have a few more years to make hay before the regulators all over the world realise that they are not collecting sales taxes and import revenues and they begin to tighten everything up :).

I hope that this has clarified the situation for you.

My advise is, go ahead and run your contest ON THE INETRENT (this just means that your contest is accessible from anywhere in the world that someone has a connection) but understand that the contest is governed by the laws of the country or territory in which your company is registered. As with many countries, you may need to obtain a permit from the 'Department of Trade or Commerce' to run a contest if it involves prizes / prize money and it has to be clear that it is not Gambling as this would require a gambling permit.

Gambling is basically defined as a game of chance that requires an entry fee or payment (ie a raffle is gamblng if you ask people to PAY a fee first - whic is illegal anyway in most countries :)) ).

If it is a game of skill, then it is not gambling. IE if you are judging the 'Best Blog' on merits, then it is the skill of the writer / creator.

Good luck and don't hesitate to get in touch if you need further info.

matthewanxa at gmail dot com