The first legal question of every truck-hailing app is not about technology but identity: does the platform merely connect two sides of a market, or is the platform itself the seller of transport services? The two answers pull behind them entirely different licensing, liability and labour regimes.
When a platform stays a platform, and when it becomes a carrier
A pure-connection platform — displaying demand, reference pricing, letting shippers and carriers contract directly and bear carriage responsibility themselves — operates under the e-commerce framework (the E-commerce Law 122/2025/QH15 and Decree 248/2026/ND-CP, replacing Decree 52/2013/ND-CP from 1 July 2026): platform registration and notification, service-seller verification duties and complaint mechanisms. But when the platform contracts carriage in its own name with the shipper, issues its own transport documents, collects all-in freight and subcontracts trucks below, it has taken the position of a transport business and logistics provider — it must meet transport business conditions and answer for cargo as carrier, despite owning no truck at all.
Liability when cargo is lost or damaged on an app trip
In the pure-platform model, carriage liability sits with the carrier who signed the transport contract; the platform answers within its own service scope — misleading information, careless partner verification, mishandled escrow money. In the own-name carriage model, the platform compensates the shipper as carrier and recovers from the actual carrier. The most dangerous spot is the unconscious hybrid: the app advertises platform-guaranteed delivery while its terms push all liability to carriers — in a dispute, a court will look at how the platform presented itself to customers and how the freight money flowed, not at the model label in the terms.
Drivers on the platform: independent partners or disguised employees
Drivers who own their trucks, choose their trips, serve several platforms and bear revenue risk are normally independent business partners. Conversely, if the platform fixes prices, mandates trip assignment, disciplines by algorithm and bans multi-homing, the real relationship approaches employment under the Labour Code 45/2019 — with social-insurance arrears and accident liability in tow. Platforms also process large location and transaction data sets and must comply with the personal-data framework of Decree 356/2025/ND-CP. Designing the model correctly at the start — contracts, money flow, dispatch mechanics — is far cheaper than being reclassified after three years of operation.
Frequently asked questions
Does an app connecting shippers with trucks need a transport licence?
No, if the platform purely connects and never contracts carriage in its own name: then the carriers are the ones needing transport business conditions. But if the app signs carriage contracts with shippers, collects freight and answers for delivery, the platform is in substance a transport business and must meet the corresponding conditions — whether or not it owns vehicles.
Is a freight platform liable when cargo is lost?
It follows the real legal model: in a pure-platform model the carrying operator bears primary liability and the platform answers for its own faults (verification, information, escrow); in an own-name carriage model the platform must compensate the shipper as carrier. Advertising and how the app presents its promise to customers are key evidence when a court classifies the model.
Are drivers on a freight platform partners or employees?
It depends on actual control: drivers owning trucks, choosing trips and serving multiple platforms are independent partners; if the platform fixes prices, mandates assignments and rates and disciplines like an employer, the relationship can be classified as employment under the Labour Code 45/2019 with social-insurance duties attached. The contract’s label does not decide — operating reality does.
FLAT Law Firm — FLAT Law Firm designs legal models for digital freight platforms: platform-versus-carrier classification, cargo-liability structure and driver relations before scale-up.
This article has been quality-reviewed by the FLAW AI Legal Council