Guidance on the issuance of public digital signature certificates for subscribers in Vietnam from April 10, 2025

Guidance on the issuance of public digital signature certificates for subscribers in Vietnam from April 10, 2025​ (Image from the Internet)

On February 21, 2025, the Government of Vietnam promulgated Decree 23/2025/ND-CP stipulating electronic signatures and trust services.

Guidance on the issuance of public digital signature certificates for subscribers in Vietnam from April 10, 2025

Article 38 of the Decree 23/2025/ND-CP provides regulations on issuing public digital signature certificates for subscribers in Vietnam as follows:

- The organization providing public digital signature authentication services issues public digital signature certificates to subscribers after verifying the following contents:

+ The information in the application for issuance of a public digital signature certificate from the subscriber is accurate;

+ The public key on the public digital signature certificate to be issued is unique and pairs with the private key of the organization or individual requesting the issuance of the public digital signature certificate.

- The public digital signature certificate is only issued to the organization or individual requesting issuance and must contain all information specified in Article 6 of Decree 23/2025/ND-CP, specifically:

+ The original digital signature certificate content from the national electronic authentication service provider includes:

++  Name  of  the  national  electronic  authentication  service  provider;

++  Serial  number  of  the  digital  signature  certificate;

++  Validity  period  of  the  digital  signature  certificate;

++  Public  key  of  the  national  electronic  authentication  service  provider;

++  Digital  signature  of  the  national  electronic  authentication  service  provider;

++  Purpose  and  usage  scope  of  the  digital  signature  certificate;

++  Legal  liability  of  the  national  electronic  authentication  service  provider;

++  Asymmetric  key  algorithm.

- The content of the digital signature certificate from the trust service provider corresponding to each type of service includes:

++ Name of the digital signature certificate issuing organization;

++ Name of the trust service provider;

++ Serial number of the digital signature certificate;

++ Validity period of the digital signature certificate;

++ Public key of the trust service provider;

++ Digital signature of the digital signature certificate issuing organization;

++ Purpose and usage scope of the digital signature certificate;

++ Legal liability of the trust service provider;

++ Asymmetric key algorithm.

+ The content of the public digital signature certificate includes:

++ Name of the organization issuing the digital signature certificate;

++ Name of the subscriber;

++ Serial number of the digital signature certificate;

++ Validity period of the digital signature certificate;

++ Public key of the subscriber;

++ Digital signature of the organization issuing the digital signature certificate;

++ Purpose and usage scope of the digital signature certificate;

++ Legal liability of the organization providing public digital signature authentication services;

++ Asymmetric key algorithm.

- The organization providing public digital signature authentication services is only allowed to release the issued public digital signature certificates to subscribers in their public digital signature certificate database after receiving confirmation from the subscriber on the accuracy of the information on that digital signature certificate; the deadline for publishing is a maximum of 24 hours after subscriber confirmation, unless otherwise agreed.

- The organization providing public digital signature authentication services must ensure safety throughout the process of creating and transferring public digital signature certificates to subscribers.

More details can be found in Decree 23/2025/ND-CP, effective from April 12, 2025.

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