New Regulations on the Use of Seals in Administrative Documents

Illustrative image (source: internet)

The use of seals in administrative documents such as Resolutions (individual), Decisions (individual), Directives, Regulations, Announcements, Notices, Guidelines, etc. must comply with the provisions of Article 32 of Decree 30/2020/ND-CP, specifically:

- The seal must be clear, upright, in the correct direction, and use the proper red ink as prescribed.

- When sealing over a signature, the seal must cover about one-third of the signature on the left side.

- For documents issued together with the main document or appendices: The seal should be placed on the first page, covering a part of the organization's name, agency, or the appendix title.

- The procedure for placing the hanging seal, interlocking seal, or embossed seal on paper documents is determined by the head of the agency or organization.

- The interlocking seal should be placed in the middle of the right edge of the document or the document appendices, covering a part of the pages; each seal placement should cover a maximum of 5 pages.

Additionally, the Decree stipulates that secret key storage devices of agencies, organizations are used to digitally sign electronic documents issued by the agency, organization and copies from paper documents to electronic documents.

The head of the agency, organization is responsible for delegating the management, use of the seal, secret key storage devices of the agency, organization to the office clerical staff as prescribed. The office clerical staff has the responsibility to:

a) Safely store and use the seal, secret key storage devices of the agency, organization at the organization's headquarters.

b) Only deliver the agency's seal, secret key storage devices to others when authorized in writing by the competent authority. The handover of seals, secret key storage devices of the agency, organization must be documented.

c) Must directly affix the seal, digital signature onto documents issued by the agency, organization and document copies.

d) Only affix the agency's seal, digital signature to documents that have the signature of the authorized individual and copies of documents directly carried out by the agency, organization.

More details can be found in Decree 30/2020/ND-CP, effective from March 5, 2020.

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