PROMINENT POINTS OF THE LAW ON E-TRANSACTIONS 2023

On June 22^nd, 2023, the Law on E-Transactions No. 20/2023/QH15 was approved by the National Assembly at its 5th meeting session and shall enter into effect from July 1^st, 2024, (hereinafter referred to as the “Law on E-Transactions 2023”). Such promulgation officially marks the betterment of Vietnam’s legal framework relating to e-transactions in particular and digital transformation activities in general in Vietnam in the upcoming period.

1. Scope of regulation and subjects of application

Clause 3, Article 1 of the Law on E-Transactions 2023 has expanded the scope of regulation and only excludes the case of: “other laws stipulating that transactions cannot be made by electronic means, then the provisions of such laws shall be applied.” Compared to the Law in 2005, such provision has somewhat expanded the scope of regulation of e-transaction activities, thus creating a unified legal framework for electronic transaction activities in all fields while still being able to avoid overlap in regulations of other legal documents.

Concurrently, the Law on E-Transactions 2023 now prescribes applicable subjects to be agencies, organizations and individuals directly participating in electronic transactions or related to electronic transactions. In general, this provision has expanded by adding subjects related to electronic transactions, in comparision to the Law in 2005.

2. Regulations on certain definitions in electronic transations

Article 3 of the Law on E-Transactions 2023 provides certain new definitions such as: Electronic environment; Electronic data; Digital data; Data Home; Electronic Signature; Digital signatures; Timestamp; Electronic contract.

In addition, the Law has also amended and supplemented some of the following definitions: Electronic certificates; Digital signature authentication service; Intermediary.

Detailed regulations on such definitions will ensure legal validity for the forms and technological tools in electronic transactions; provide a more consistent understanding of transaction terms, thereby making it more convenient when conducting transactions in the electronic environment, as well as in practical application of the law.

3. Amending and supplementing prohibited acts in e-transactions

Article 6 of the Law on E-Transactions 2023 specifically prescribes 8 prohibited acts in electronic transactions as follows:

• Taking advantage of electronic transactions to commit offences against the national interests, national security, social order and safety, public interests, legal rights and interests of agencies, organizations, and individuals.
• Illegally obstructing or preventing the process of generating, sending, receiving, storing data messages or committing other acts to destroy the information system serving electronic transactions.
• Illegally collecting, providing, using, disclosing, displaying, distributing, and trading data messages.
• Forging, falsifying or illegally deleting, canceling, copying or moving part or whole of a data message.
• Creating data messages to commit illegal acts.
• Fraud, forgery, appropriation or illegal use of electronic transaction accounts, electronic certificates, electronic signature certificates, electronic signatures.
• Obstructing the selection of conducting electronic transactions.
• Other acts are strictly prohibited according to the provisions of law.

In particular, Clause 3 on “Illegal collection, provision, use, disclosure, display, dissemination, and trading of data messages” is a new provision.

Moreover, the Law on E-Transactions 2023 also provides more detailed and expanded explanations on certain violations, such as in Clause 4, the scope of prohibiting “fraud, forgery, appropriation, illegal use” is expanded with electronic transaction accounts, electronic certificates, and electronic signature certificates, instead of being only applicable to electronic signatures as in the previous Law.

Currently, electronic transaction activities are extremely diverse and developing day by day. Therefore, such detailed regulations on prohibited acts will help control those activities and ensure the compliance with the law of subjects, entities and individuals more effectively.

4. Conditions for conversion between printed documents and data messages

In the process of digitization, converting documents from traditional printed documents to electronic data that can be stored and used by electronic devices is inevitable. On the other hand, converting data messages to printed documents is also necessary in some cases. Therefore, the Law on E-Transactions 2023 has supplemented regulations on conversion between printed documents and data messages.

Article 12 of the Law on E-Transactions 2023 specifically regulates the conversion between printed documents and data messages. Such regulations will help ensure legal validity when converting from printed documents to data messages and vice versa, meeting the needs of society.

In addition, the Law on E-Transaction 2023 also supplements specific regulations on conditions for digital signatures to be electronic signatures; legal validity of electronic certificates and additional trust services in electronic transactions.

This article is only for informational purposes. The contents of this article shall neither constitute legal advice nor should it be considered as detailed legal advice for specific cases. For more information on these issues, please contact us for specific support and advice.