Continue the rollout of the 12-digit national identity card.

Yesterday (June 24), leaders of the General Department of Administrative Police for Social Order and Security (General Department VII) - Ministry of Public Security held a press conference. The purpose of the meeting was to provide clearer information about the project to issue new 12-digit ID cards, citizen identification numbers (personal identification numbers), and the renaming of ID cards to citizen identity cards.

Major General Tran Van Ve, Deputy Director General of General Department VII, said: When drafting the Law on Citizen Identification, the Ministry of Public Security proposed retaining the name "ID Card" because this name is used in most civil transactions and is shown on documents such as land ownership certificates, construction permits, household registration books, etc.

By 2020, all 9-digit ID cards will be replaced with new 12-digit ID cards.

Regarding the proposal to temporarily suspend the issuance of 12-digit ID cards, and wait until the Citizen Identity Card Law takes effect (expected in 2016) to simultaneously replace 9-digit ID cards with citizen identity cards, Major General Tran Van Ve said:

Since 2004, the Prime Minister has approved the project for the production, issuance, and management of national identity cards. It is expected that by the end of this year, the Ministry of Public Security will have issued and replaced 1 million new 12-digit national identity cards.

The system already contains a large amount of 12-digit ID card information, and the government has spent nearly 500 billion VND to equip and deploy the issuance of new ID cards. "If the program is proving effective, why should it be stopped?"

Responding to numerous opinions suggesting that not maintaining and continuing the management of the 9-digit ID card system is wasteful and could easily cause social disruption, Major General Tran Van Ve analyzed: The first three digits in the old 9-digit ID card represent the citizen's registered permanent residence, and the next six digits are the sequential order for issuing the ID card to the citizen.

For a long time, when citizens changed their place of residence, the police had to reissue a new ID card number, leading to a situation where many people possessed 3-5 ID card numbers.

In densely populated areas like Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, there will soon be no more allocation slots available.

Mr. Ve analyzed that the 9-digit ID card system, used since 1976, is outdated compared to the ID card number generation algorithms of other countries around the world.

The 12-digit national identity card was developed by the Ministry of Public Security, incorporating experience from 30 countries in issuing identification numbers, focusing on those with similar population characteristics and population management methods to Vietnam.

According to Mr. Ve, the 12-digit numbering system will ensure a sufficient number pool for all Vietnamese citizens for a period of 500 years.

Meanwhile, Colonel Vu Xuan Dung, Director of the Department of Residence Management and National Population Data Management (General Department VII), stated that: The issuance of the new 12-digit ID card, linked to the personal identification number, is key to reforming and reducing paperwork for citizens when the information technology infrastructure in state agencies is strong.

According to nld.com.vn