Brian Jeffrey
The adoption of digital signatures has seen a significant increase among Vietnamese adults, yet it still falls short of the ambitious targets outlined in the National Digital Economy and Digital Society Development Strategy.
Digital signatures have been increasingly recognized for their essential role, providing practical advantages for organizations, businesses, and individuals by establishing legal validity in electronic transactions and activities.
The widespread use of digital signatures across various sectors such as economics, commerce, finance, healthcare, education, and public administrative services is considered crucial in fostering digital citizens and propelling Vietnam’s digital economy and society forward.
The Ministry of Information and Communications (MIC) has licensed 25 enterprises through the National Electronic Authentication Center (NEAC) to offer public digital signature certification services (CAs), including 10 that provide remote signing solutions. By July 2024, public CAs had issued over 10.1 million digital certificates to individuals and businesses, marking an increase of more than 1.5 million from the previous year.
Over the first four years of the National Digital Transformation Program, there has been a notable improvement in the digital society between 2022 and 2024. The percentage of adults possessing a digital or electronic signature surged from 3% to 13.5%, a more than fourfold rise.
However, compared to the government’s goals in the “National Strategy for Digital Economy and Digital Society Development until 2025, with a Vision to 2030,” the current progress is still below the target. The strategy aims for over 50% of adults to have a personal digital or electronic signature by 2025.
One of the key reasons for the relatively low number of individual digital signatures is the restricted application environment. Presently, personal digital signatures are predominantly utilized in areas like tax declaration and payment, electronic customs, and social insurance. Sectors such as banking and online shopping remain untapped potential areas for promoting personal digital signatures.
Expanding the application scope for digital signatures poses a critical challenge to encourage their widespread use among the public.
The Ministry of Information and Communications (MIC) recognizes the significance of popularizing digital signatures in supporting the development of digital government, economy, and society. The NEAC, under MIC’s guidance, has been collaborating with localities to implement various solutions to promote the use of digital and electronic signatures in online transactions.
NEAC has partnered with public CAs to diversify service packages, introducing a prepaid service model similar to those in telecommunications. This model offers prepaid digital signature packages and pay-per-sign options tailored to different customer requirements.
Phung Huy Tam, Chairman of the Vietnam Digital Signature and Electronic Transactions Club, highlighted that individuals can now easily register for and obtain public digital signatures without incurring registration or maintenance expenses.
Tam explained, “The service costs provided by public CAs are customized to each customer’s specific usage needs, with options like unlimited signature subscriptions for as low as 5,000 VND per month or pay-per-sign packages at 1,000 VND per signature.”
Looking ahead, the MIC has set targets for the percentage of adults with digital or electronic signatures in each locality until 2025. Local governments are tasked with developing plans and executing strategies to meet these objectives, particularly focusing on promoting digital signatures in electronic transactions across various sectors.
The NEAC plans to conduct training and workshops for local officials and community digital technology groups in the upcoming months to educate them on the benefits of digital signatures, registration process, and usage of remote digital signatures in documents and public service portals with integrated signature features.
According to the Electronic Transactions Law 2023, effective from July 2024, an electronic signature is created in electronic data form and attached to or associated with a data message to confirm the signatory’s identity and approval of the message.
A digital signature, an electronic signature utilizing an asymmetric cryptographic algorithm, consists of a private and public key for signing and verifying digital signatures, respectively. While digital signatures ensure authenticity, integrity, and non-repudiation, they do not guarantee data message confidentiality.
