Legal value of e-signatures in Vietnam

Legal value of e-signatures in Vietnam (Internet image)

Regarding this issue, LawNet would like to answer as follows:

1. Regulations on e-signatures in Vietnam

- E-signatures are classified by their scope of use, including:

+ Special-use e-signatures are e-signatures designated and used by agencies and organizations for their particular purposes according with their functions and tasks;

+ Public digital signatures are digital signatures used in public activities and secured by public digital signature certificates;

+ Civil service digital signatures are digital signatures used in civil services and secured by civil service digital signature certificates;

- Each special-use e-signature must fully satisfy the following requirements:

+ The signature must be added to recognize the signatory and assert the signatory’s approval for the data message;

+ Data used to generate the special-use e-signature must solely accompany the approved data message;

+ Data use to generate the special-use e-signature must be under the sole control of the signatory at the point of time when the signature is added.

+ Effect of the special-use e-signature can be checked under certain conditions agreed by the parties.

- A digital signature is an e-signature fully satisfying the following requirements:

+ The signature must be added to recognize the signatory and assert the signatory’s approval for the data message;

+ Digital signature creation data must solely accompany the approved data message;

+ Digital signature creation data must be under the sole control of the signatory at the point of time when the signature is added;

+ All changes of the data message after adding the signature are detectable;

+ The signature must be secured by a digital signature certificate. A civil service digital signature must be secured by a digital signature certificate of a civil service digital signature authentication service provider. A public digital signature must be secured by a digital signature certificate of a public digital signature authentication service provider;

+ Signature creation device is responsible for qualifying that digital signature generation data must remain confidential, unique and protected from forgery; and data used to generate the digital signature is designed to be used only once; and it does not affect the data to be signed.

- The use of other authentication forms excluding e-signatures by electronic means to show signatories’ approval for data messages shall comply with other regulations of relevant laws.

(Article 22 of the Law on Electronic Transactions 2023)

2. Legal value of e-signatures in Vietnam

- E-signatures cannot have their legal value disclaimed for the sole reason that they are expressed in the form of e-signatures.

- Special-use qualified e-signatures or digital signatures have legal value equivalent to handwritten signatures of individuals on printed documents.

- Where any law requires a document to be authenticated by a specific agency or organization, it will be considered that a data message has fulfilled such requirement if it is signed by a special-use qualified e-signature or a digital signature of such agency or organization.

(Article 23 of the Law on Electronic Transactions 2023)

Law on Electronic Transactions 2023 takes effect on July 1, 2024.

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