Law on Electronic Transactions will be amended to fit current reality — Photo vcci.com.vn

The Ministry of Information and Communications is proposing to amend and supplement some articles in the Law on Electronic Transactions No. 51/2005/QH11 in order to solve shortcomings.

The Ministry of Information and Communications said that the law was passed by the National Assembly in 2005, and it had played an important role in creating a legal basis to promote e-transactions, promoting the application of information technology and contributing to socio-economic development for nearly 15 years.

However, there are some shortcomings which needed to be amended and supplemented after 15 years of implementation.

Statistics in the e-Commerce White Book 2019 showed that the size of the e-commerce market reached about US$7.8 billion in 2018, including online retail, travel, marketing, entertainment and purchase of other digital products and services. If the growth rate continues at 30 per cent, the market size will reach $13 billion by the end of this year.

However, many experts believed that the implementation of contracts, digital signatures, electronic authentication and payments still had many shortcomings which limited the development of electronic transactions even though the Government had a policy to promote the digital economy.

According to the Ministry of Information and Communications the goal is to build in the direction of expanding the scope to suit the development of Industry 4.0 and the digital economy.

At the same time, the amendment also aims to suit international treaties related to free trade agreements in which Viet Nam is a member to facilitate the promotion of development as well as the protection of legal rights and interests for those participating in e-transactions.

The amendment and supplementation draft will include regulations on prohibited acts related to electronic identification and authentication, electronic transactions among state agencies, electronic transactions between state agencies and organisations and individuals.

The Ministry of Information and Communications will be the agency responsible to the Government for presiding and co-ordinating with relevant ministries and agencies in performing the state management of electronic transactions.

The draft will supplement the regulations on converting paper documents into electronic documents and additional regulations on electronic identification, authentication, trusted services and service providers. — VNS