National Assembly passes revised Law on Electronic Transactions

On the morning of June 22, after the National Assembly listened to Mr. Le Quang Huy, Chairman of the Committee on Science, Technology and Environment, explain, accept and revise the draft Law on Electronic Transactions (amended), the delegates voted to pass this law.

Speaking at the meeting hall, Vice Chairman of the National Assembly Nguyen Duc Hai said that the voting results showed that 468/477 delegates participated in the vote to pass the Law on Electronic Transactions (amended), reaching a rate of 94.74%.

Vice Chairman of the National Assembly Nguyen Duc Hai speaks at the hall.

The Law on Electronic Transactions (amended) consists of 7 Chapters and 54 Articles, with some new points compared to the current law. The amendment of the law aims to overcome the difficulties and shortcomings of the Law on Electronic Transactions 2005. Specifically, the restriction of some areas of application of electronic transactions in the law may hinder the application of digital technology and digital transformation in these areas.

In addition, the law amendment will overcome the lack of policies supporting e-transactions, promoting e-transactions in state agencies, and the lack of regulations on the creation, collection, connection, and sharing of data by state agencies.

On the other hand, the law amendment aims to create consistency with later laws on cybersecurity and safety; create a complete, adequate, and favorable legal corridor for the conversion of activities from the real environment to the digital environment in all sectors and fields, in order to proactively and actively participate in the Fourth Industrial Revolution and the national digital transformation.

The Law on Electronic Transactions (amended) supplements regulations on data management, databases, open data, and regulations for State agencies to promote electronic transactions, aiming to move all activities to the digital environment.

Specifically, in terms of scope , the Law only regulates the implementation of transactions by electronic means, not the content, form, and conditions of transactions in different fields, including the fields of defense and security. Transactions in any field will be regulated by the specialized laws of that field.

Regarding the responsibility for State management of electronic transactions, the Law stipulates that the Ministry of Information and Communications is the focal agency responsible to the Government for presiding over and coordinating with ministries and ministerial-level agencies to implement State management of electronic transactions.

Ministries, ministerial-level agencies, People's Committees of provinces and centrally-run cities shall coordinate with the Ministry of Information and Communications to perform State management of electronic transactions in the fields and areas within the scope of assigned tasks and powers.

The Minister of National Defense shall perform State management of electronic transactions in the field of cryptography and digital signatures for public service on the basis of national technical standards and regulations on digital signatures in accordance with the provisions of law.

Regarding the legal value of data messages, the scope of regulation of the Law only regulates the implementation of transactions by electronic means, not the content, conditions, and methods of transactions.

To be consistent with the scope of regulation, the provisions on notarization, authentication, consular legalization, and electronic storage in Articles 9, 13, and 19 of the Law are only referred to without specific provisions to avoid overlap and duplication in the legal system. Therefore, the National Assembly Standing Committee retains this content as in the draft Law and does not add transitional provisions related to notarization and authentication in Article 53.

National Assembly deputies pressed the button to pass the Law on Electronic Transactions (amended).

Regarding electronic signatures, there are suggestions to add other types of electronic signatures in addition to digital signatures that meet all the conditions to ensure the signature is safe and legally valid.

Regarding this issue, the Standing Committee of the National Assembly said that, according to Clause 11, Article 3 of the Law, an electronic signature is used to confirm the signing subject, confirm the subject's approval of the information in the signed data message and must be created in the form of electronic data attached or logically combined with the data message to be considered an electronic signature.

Currently, other forms of confirmation by electronic means such as scanned signatures, image signatures, one-time passwords (OTP), text messages (SMS)... are not electronic signatures. However, to be consistent with the practical implementation of operations in the banking and customs sectors... and to promote electronic transactions, Clause 4, Article 22 of the Law stipulates that the use of these forms of confirmation must comply with relevant legal provisions.

Regarding the conversion from paper documents to data messages and vice versa to suit the practice of the banking and customs sectors, taking into account the valid opinions of National Assembly deputies, Article 15 has been revised to include the content of the conversion requirements that need to be met and assigned to the Government for detailed regulations, as stated in the Law, in accordance with the practice of the banking and customs sectors.

Articles 43 to 47 of the Law specifically stipulate types of electronic transactions, activities, responsibilities of State agencies and supporting regulations to promote electronic transactions.

The Law on Electronic Transactions (amended) stipulates that ministries and branches will publish open data of their sectors and fields. To ensure flexibility, the Law assigns the Government to specify, detail, and clearly classify open data of State agencies.

Regarding the information system serving electronic transactions, the Law stipulates that the owner of the information system is responsible for monitoring his/her system; the State agency manages the reporting, synthesis, and sharing of data serving the State management of electronic transactions by electronic means. In addition, the Law also revises the provisions on the related responsibilities of the Ministry of Information and Communications.

The Law on Electronic Transactions (amended) takes effect from July 1, 2024.

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