What are the latest regulations on electronic signatures in Vietnam under the 2023 Law on Electronic Transactions? What are the legal values of electronic signatures?
What is Public digital signature authentication service? What activities do public digital signature authentication service providers perform?
According to Article 33 of the Law on Electronic Transactions 2023, the regulations on Public digital signature authentication services are as follows:
Public digital signature authentication service
1. Public digital signature authentication service is the authentication of digital signatures in public activities.
2. Public digital signature certificates are provided by Public digital signature authentication service providers as stipulated in this Law.
3. Public digital signature authentication service providers perform the following activities:
a) Issue public digital signature certificates to confirm and maintain the validity status of the digital signature certificates of the signatories of data messages;
b) Revoke public digital signature certificates;
c) Check the validity of public digital signatures and maintain the validity status of the public digital signature certificates; do not use technical or technological barriers to restrict the verification of public digital signatures;
d) Provide the necessary information to authenticate public digital signatures;
đ) Interconnect with national electronic authentication service providers to ensure the verification of public digital signatures.
4. Public digital signature certificates and public digital signatures must meet technical standards and technical requirements for digital signatures and digital signature authentication services as stipulated by law.
5. The Government of Vietnam specifies the details of this Article.
Thus, according to the regulations above, the Public digital signature authentication service is the authentication of digital signatures in public activities.
Public digital signature authentication service providers perform the activities listed in Clause 3, Article 33 of the Law on Electronic Transactions 2023 as follows:
- Issue public digital signature certificates to confirm and maintain the validity status of the digital signature certificates of the signatories of data messages;
- Revoke public digital signature certificates;
- Check the validity of public digital signatures and maintain the validity status of the public digital signature certificates; do not use technical or technological barriers to restrict the verification of public digital signatures;
- Provide the necessary information to authenticate public digital signatures;
- Interconnect with national electronic authentication service providers to ensure the verification of public digital signatures.
What are the latest regulations on electronic signatures in Vietnam under the 2023 Law on Electronic Transactions?
What are the latest regulations on electronic signatures in Vietnam under the 2023 Law on Electronic Transactions?
According to Article 22 of the Law on Electronic Transactions 2023, the regulations on electronic signatures are as follows:
- Electronic signatures are categorized based on their usage scope, including:
+ Specialized electronic signature is an electronic signature created and used by agencies or organizations exclusively for their activities, suitable to their function and duty;
+ Public digital signature is a digital signature used in public activities and guaranteed by a public digital signature certificate;
+ Business-specific specialized digital signature is a digital signature used in official activities and guaranteed by a certificate for specialized official digital signatures.
- Specialized electronic signatures must fulfill the following requirements:
+ Confirm the signature subject and affirm the acceptance of the signed data message by the signature subject;
+ The data creating the specialized electronic signature is solely associated with the content of the accepted data message;
+ The data creating the specialized electronic signature is only under the control of the signature subject at the time of signing;
+ The effectiveness of the specialized electronic signature can be verified under conditions agreed by participating parties.
- Digital signatures must meet the following requirements:
+ Confirm the signature subject and affirm the acceptance of the signed data message by the signature subject;
+ The data creating the digital signature is solely associated with the content of the accepted data message;
+ The data creating the digital signature is only under the control of the signature subject at the time of signing;
+ Any alteration of the data message after the time of signing can be detected;
+ Must be guaranteed by a digital signature certificate. In the case of specialized official digital signatures, they must be guaranteed by a certificate for specialized official digital signatures provided by specialized official digital signature authentication service providers. In the case of public digital signatures, they must be guaranteed by a public digital signature certificate provided by Public digital signature authentication service providers;
+ The means of creating the digital signature must ensure that the data creating the digital signature is not divulged, collected, or used for signature forgery; and ensure the data used for creating the digital signature can only be used once and does not alter the data to be signed.
- The use of other forms of electronic confirmation to indicate the acceptance of the data message by the signature subject, which is not an electronic signature, is carried out under other relevant legal regulations.
What is the Legal Value of Electronic Signatures in Vietnam?
According to Article 23 of the Law on Electronic Transactions 2023, the legal value of electronic signatures is stipulated as follows:
- Electronic signatures cannot be denied legal value solely because they are in electronic form.
- Secure specialized electronic signatures or digital signatures have legal value equivalent to the personal signatures of that individual in paper documents.
- Where the law requires a document to be authenticated by an agency or organization, such requirement is deemed fulfilled for a data message if it is signed with a secure specialized electronic signature or a digital signature of that agency or organization.
The Law on Electronic Transactions 2023 will come into effect on July 1, 2024.
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