Vietnam: Shall physical documents converted from electronic documents in financial activities be destroyed after expiration of the retention period?

Main Content

• What are the requirements for conversion from electronic documents into physical documents in Vietnam?
• Shall physical documents converted from electronic documents in financial activities in Vietnam be destroyed after expiration of the retention period?
• Shall physical documents converted from invalidated electronic documents in Vietnam be automatically invalid?

What are the requirements for conversion from electronic documents into physical documents in Vietnam?

According to the provisions of Article 7 of Decree 165/2018/ND-CP on conversion from electronic documents into physical documents as follows:

Article 7. Conversion from electronic documents into physical documents

1. Organizations and individuals may print electronic documents generated by such organizations and individuals and information system administrators may print electronic documents of organizations or individuals under their management from the information system to store or compare information or present them to authorities that have the power to check documents or provide them to organizations and individuals that wish to retrieve or verify information within the scope permitted by the law.

2. Organizations and individuals may request information system administrators to confirm e-transactions in writing so that written confirmation can be presented to authorities that have the power to check documents or provided to other organizations and individuals that wish to retrieve or verify information within the scope permitted by the law. When initiated at a regulatory authority, such request and confirmation shall comply with regulations and procedures for providing information in accordance with regulations of the law on access to information.

3. The physical document converted from an electronic document must satisfy the following conditions:

a) It sufficiently and accurately specifies contents of the electronic document;

b) There is information showing that the document has been processed on the information system and showing name of the information system or name of the information system administrator;

c) An identification code for the electronic document is available to serve the retrieval or verification of information or full name and signature of the person carrying out the conversion are available;

d) There must be seal of the organization carrying out the conversion in the cases where the conversion is required to be carried out under regulations of law or agreement between parties.

dd) Information is retrieved at any time during the normal operation of the information system.

4. The physical document converted from an electronic document has the same value as the electronic document unless otherwise prescribed by specialized law.

Accordingly, the requirements for conversion from electronic documents into physical documents in Vietnam are:

- It sufficiently and accurately specifies contents of the electronic document;

- There is information showing that the document has been processed on the information system and showing name of the information system or name of the information system administrator;

- An identification code for the electronic document is available to serve the retrieval or verification of information or full name and signature of the person carrying out the conversion are available;

- There must be seal of the organization carrying out the conversion in the cases where the conversion is required to be carried out under regulations of law or agreement between parties.

- Information is retrieved at any time during the normal operation of the information system.

Shall physical documents converted from electronic documents in financial activities in Vietnam be destroyed after expiration of the retention period?

The deletion of an electronic document is defined in Clause 9 Article 3 of Decree 165/2018/ND-CP as follows:

Definitions

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9. “deletion of an electronic document” means a method of making an electronic document vanish from the information system and information contained in such document inaccessible and unusable for reference.

Accordingly, “deletion of an electronic document” means a method of making an electronic document vanish from the information system and information contained in such document inaccessible and unusable for reference.

Pursuant to Article 11 of Decree 165/2018/ND-CP on deletion of electronic documents as follows:

Deletion of electronic documents

1. Electronic documents and physical documents converted from electronic documents may be deleted after expiration of the retention period unless otherwise decided by a competent authority.

2. The deletion of electronic documents must not affect the integrity of the documents that have not been deleted and ensure normal operation of the information system.

3. The information system must record the deletion of electronic documents in the form of a list enclosed with information about person in charge and time of deletion. Such list shall be stored on the system to be available for retrieval when necessary.

Accordingly, physical documents converted from electronic documents may be deleted after expiration of the retention period unless otherwise decided by a competent authority.

At the same time, the information system must record the deletion of electronic documents in the form of a list enclosed with information about person in charge and time of deletion. Such list shall be stored on the system to be available for retrieval when necessary..

In addition, the deletion of electronic documents must not affect the integrity of the documents that have not been deleted and ensure normal operation of the information system.

Shall physical documents converted from invalidated electronic documents in Vietnam be automatically invalid?

Pursuant to Clause 4, Article 10 of Decree 165/2018/ND-CP stipulating the invalidation of electronic documents as follows:

Invalidation of electronic documents

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4. The physical document (if any) converted from the invalidated electronic document is invalid and no longer usable.

Thus, according to the above provisions, the physical document converted from the invalidated electronic document is invalid and no longer usable.