Building a unified Digital Technology Industry Law with related specialized laws

Delegates highly agreed on the urgency of promulgating the Law on Digital Technology Industry to institutionalize the Party and State's viewpoints on the need to perfect the law. The promulgation of the Law on Digital Technology Industry will meet the practical requirements of today's society when the digital technology industry will be one of the important driving forces for the development of the digital economy and digital society.

However, delegates said that the Draft Law needs to be adjusted, supplemented, and clarified to ensure scientific accuracy, consistency of the legal system, and feasibility when putting the Law into practice.

Dr. Nguyen Vinh Huy, Vice President of the Ho Chi Minh City Business Association, lecturer at Ho Chi Minh City Open University, said that the Draft Law needs to clearly define digital technology, identify areas belonging to the digital technology industry and clarify the difference between digital technology and information technology, avoiding overlap with current laws.

Currently, the concept of "digital technology industry" is still broad and overlaps with other fields such as information technology, telecommunications and cyber security. Therefore, the Law needs to provide a specific definition, covering fields such as artificial intelligence (AI), big data, blockchain, cloud computing and the internet of things (IoT). Clearly defining the scope of application of the Law will avoid overlapping with current legal documents, ensuring the consistency of the law.

Also on this issue, Ms. Thai Thi Tuyet Dung, Ho Chi Minh City National University, said that the concept of “key digital technology products and services” stipulated in Article 15 of the Draft Law is only generally defined as “high added value” and “high demand”. This may lead to inconsistent understanding and application among management agencies, especially when the Ministry of Science and Technology is assigned to issue a list for each period without specific standards.

Ms. Thai Thi Tuyet Dung proposed to add an appendix or assign the Government to issue a detailed list of this concept, possibly with criteria such as: high contribution to GDP or added value for the economy; having a great influence on the digital transformation process, technological innovation and socio-economic development; high demand in the domestic market or having great export potential; applying strategic digital technology, having an important impact on priority industries and fields...

Meanwhile, concerned about the feasibility of the Law when put into application, Ms. Truong Thi Kim Chi, Quang Trung Software Park Development One Member Co., Ltd. proposed to add "artificial intelligence system" to the production of digital technology products stipulated in Article 13 of the Draft Law, to create more favorable conditions for businesses in the production and business process without having to explain and prove to state agencies, especially in the field of tax.

According to Ms. Truong Thi Kim Chi, it is necessary to amend and supplement a number of concepts and terms related to digital technology into the content of related articles and clauses in a number of other specialized laws such as the Investment Law, Construction Law, Urban and Rural Planning Law, and Corporate Income Tax Law to ensure consistency and synchronization.

Ms. Le Thi Thi, State Bank Branch Region 2, said that, in addition to specific policies, incentives, encouragement, and support from the State budget for enterprises producing strategic digital technology products, other digital technology products stipulated in the Draft Law, it is also necessary to study and supplement regulations on the State Bank's policy of partial support during testing; regulations on profit sharing policies when the project is successfully implemented.

In addition, it is necessary to supplement regulations and principles for resolving disputes involving foreign elements in this field; supplement regulations on the protection of personal data and privacy; prescribe responsibilities and sanctions for organizations and businesses that violate the protection of users' personal data...

The Draft Law on Digital Technology Industry consists of 9 chapters and 56 articles regulating the digital technology industry such as digital technology industry development, digital technology enterprise development, concentrated digital technology zones, controlled testing mechanism, semiconductor industry, artificial intelligence, digital assets, rights and responsibilities of related organizations and individuals.