Announcement of the President's decree on the Law on Electronic Transactions
The Law on Electronic Transactions includes eight new provisions, creating a complete, comprehensive, and favorable legal framework for the transition of activities from the physical to the digital environment in all industries and sectors.
On the morning of July 17th, authorized by the President, the Office of the President held a press conference to announce the President's decree regarding 8 laws passed by the 15th National Assembly at its 5th session, including the Law on Electronic Transactions (effective from July 1st, 2024).
Speaking about the necessity of enacting the law, on behalf of the drafting agency, Deputy Minister of Information and Communications Nguyen Huy Dung said that the law aims to fully institutionalize the views and policies of the Politburo, overcome the existing obstacles and shortcomings of the Law on Education and Training (2005), conform to current legal regulations and commitments in international treaties to which Vietnam is a member, and meet the requirements and promote comprehensive digital transformation for the entire population.
Deputy Minister Nguyen Huy Dung stated that the law has eight fundamental new contents. The Law on Education and Training (2023) inherits, amends, and supplements 33 articles and introduces 18 new articles compared to the Law on Education and Training (2005).
Firstly, in terms of scope, the Law on Education and Training allows many existing laws to take effect immediately in the digital environment.
Secondly, the new law has inherited, amended, and supplemented the concepts of "electronic signature," "digital signature," "timestamp," "electronic contract," "digital data," "master data," "electronic environment," "electronic certificate," "digital signature authentication service," "intermediary," etc.
Thirdly, regarding prohibited behaviors in education and training, the law provides more specific details on prohibited content and behaviors, facilitating compliance with the law.
Fourth, regarding data messages, data messages have the same value as written documents, the same value as original documents, and the same value as evidence to provide a legal basis for practical implementation.
Introducing the concept of electronic certificates and ensuring their legal validity is a major breakthrough in promoting educational activities across all sectors, fields, and society as a whole.
Fifth, regarding electronic signatures, the Law on Electronic Transactions basically remains unchanged in principle, only generalizing, amending, and supplementing specific regulations on electronic signatures, specialized electronic signatures, and digital signatures. It recognizes foreign organizations providing electronic signature certification services; and recognizes foreign electronic signatures and electronic signature certificates...
Sixth, regarding the conclusion and execution of electronic contracts, this involves using data messages to conduct part or all of a transaction during the process of concluding an electronic contract. The law stipulates that Ministers and heads of ministerial-level agencies shall, within their authority, issue or submit to competent authorities for issuance regulations on the conclusion and execution of electronic contracts in the field within their assigned duties and powers, in accordance with practical conditions.
Seventh, education and training within state agencies includes: education and training within state agencies; education and training between state agencies; and education and training between state agencies and other agencies, organizations, and individuals.
Open data is publicly released by competent state agencies for free use, reuse, and sharing by agencies, organizations, and individuals.
The law stipulates that state agencies can hire experts from the annual state budget to advise on database construction. This regulation initially addresses the difficulties in using operational funds for maintaining and operating information systems, including hiring consultants to build databases.
Eighth, regarding information systems serving education and training compared to the Law on Education and Training (2005), the law has added specific regulations on types of information systems serving education and training; education and training accounts; responsibilities of owners of information systems serving education and training, especially for intermediary digital platforms serving education and training with a large scale, a large number of users in Vietnam, or a large and very large number of monthly accesses from users in Vietnam...
