The Ministry of National Defense received a petition from voters of Quang Nam province sent by the Government Office with the following content: "Requesting unified direction on the legal value of digital signatures and electronic records (currently, many state management agencies and credit institutions have not uniformly applied this content and are required to use conventional signatures and paper records in parallel with digital signatures and electronic records)".
The Ministry of National Defense has a written response to voters of Quang Nam province as follows:
I. Legal provisions related to digital signatures and electronic documents
- Law on Electronic Transactions 2015
“ Article 24. Legal value of electronic signature
1. In cases where the law requires a document to have a signature, that requirement for a data message is considered to be met if the electronic signature used to sign the data message satisfies the following conditions:
a) The method of creating an electronic signature allows the signer to be identified and demonstrates the signer's approval of the contents of the data message.
b) The method is sufficiently reliable and appropriate for the purpose for which the data message was generated and sent.
2. In cases where the law stipulates that a document must be stamped by an agency or organization, that requirement for a data message shall be considered satisfied if the data message is signed by an electronic signature of the agency or organization that meets the conditions specified in Clause 1, Article 22 of this Law and that electronic signature is certified.
3. The Government shall specify the management and use of electronic signatures by agencies and organizations".
- Decree No. 130/2018/ND-CP dated September 27, 2018 of the Government detailing the implementation of the Law on Electronic Transactions on digital signatures and digital signature certification services
“ Article 8. Legal value of digital signature
1. In cases where the law stipulates that a document must have a signature, the requirement for a data message is considered satisfied if the data message is signed with a digital signature and the digital signature is guaranteed to be secure as prescribed in Article 9 of this Decree.
2. In cases where the law stipulates that a document must be stamped by an agency or organization, that requirement for a data message is considered satisfied if the data message is signed by a digital signature of the agency or organization and that digital signature is guaranteed to be secure as prescribed in Article 9 of this Decree.
3. Foreign digital signatures and digital certificates licensed for use in Vietnam according to the provisions of Chapter V of this Decree have the same legal value and effectiveness as digital signatures and digital certificates issued by organizations providing public digital signature certification services in Vietnam.
- Directive No. 02/CT-TTg dated January 23, 2019 on enhancing the use of specialized Government digital signatures in the activities of state agencies at all levels
At Point c, Clause 1, the Prime Minister requests ministries, ministerial-level agencies, government agencies, and People's Committees of provinces and centrally run cities to direct agencies and units under their management to use specialized Government digital signatures in all types of electronic transactions serving management, administration, work processing, and provision of online public services; and prioritize resources to implement this work.
In case an agency or unit is using public digital signature, it must have a plan to switch to using specialized Government digital signature.
- Decree No. 30/2020/ND-CP dated March 5, 2020 of the Government on document work
“ Article 5. Legal value of electronic documents
1. Electronic documents digitally signed by authorized persons and digitally signed by agencies and organizations as prescribed by law have the same legal value as original documents and paper documents.
2. Digital signatures on electronic documents must fully comply with legal regulations".
- Decree No. 165/2018/ND-CP dated December 24, 2018 of the Government on electronic transactions in financial activities
“ Article 5. Legal value of electronic documents
1. Electronic documents must fully meet state management requirements and comply with specialized laws. The form of expression, creation, sending, receiving, storage and legal value of electronic documents are implemented in accordance with the Law on Electronic Transactions.
2. An electronic document is considered an original when one of the following measures is taken:
a) Electronic documents are digitally signed by the agency, organization or individual that initiates the electronic document and the agency, organization or individual with related responsibilities according to the provisions of specialized laws...”.
- Decision No. 28/2018/QD-TTg dated July 12, 2018 of the Prime Minister on sending and receiving electronic documents between agencies in the state administrative system
“ Article 4. Legal value of electronic documents
1. Electronic documents that have been digitally signed in accordance with the provisions of law and sent and received through the document management and administration system prescribed in this decision have the same legal value as paper documents and replace the sending and receiving of paper documents…”.
II. Law on Electronic Transactions No. 20/2023/QH15 dated June 22, 2023 was passed by the 15th National Assembly at the 5th Session, effective from July 1, 2024.
“ Article 23. Legal value of electronic signature
1. An electronic signature is not denied legal value simply because it is expressed in the form of an electronic signature.
2. A specialized electronic signature ensures security or a digital signature has the same legal value as that individual's signature on a paper document.
3. In cases where the law stipulates that a document must be certified by an agency or organization, that requirement is considered met for a data message if the data message is signed with a specialized electronic signature that ensures security or a digital signature of that agency or organization.
The Ministry of National Defense stated: Based on the above-mentioned bases, the legal value of digital signatures and electronic records has been specifically and consistently regulated in legal documents and the Prime Minister has given instructions for implementation.
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