The government office has launched a National e-Document Exchange Platform that connects Vietnam government offices, ministries, agencies, and localities, and enables secure sharing of data to support progress towards e-Government, e-Cabinet and digital economy.
In July, the Prime Minister of Vietnam signed Decision No. 28/2018/QD-TTg prescribing the sending and receipt of e-documents among government agencies. According to the Decision, e-document refers to a document in the form of data message created or digitized from a paper document using a protocol or format specified by a competent state agency. E-documents that bear a digital signature in accordance with law and are sent and received via document management and administration systems specified in this Decision have the same legal validity as paper documents and may substitute for paper documents.
Every e-document is supposed to be sent on the day when it is signed or by the morning of the subsequent working day. After being received, incoming e-documents which are legally valid are supposed to be promptly processed without having to wait for paper documents (if any). Urgent e-documents shall be put in the priority mode clearly stating the urgency level, sent immediately after a digital signature is put on it and submitted or transferred for processing right after being received.
Currently, the Party Central Committee’s office, 31 ministries and agencies, and 63 provinces and cities have connected to the platform to speed up sending and receiving documents with a safer manner. The platform is expected to result in cost savings of more than VND 1.2 trillion (USD 52.17 million) each year and improve the state administrative bodies’ effectiveness and quality. The Government also hopes to put into use an information system to serve the Cabinet’ meetings and work processing (eCabinet) and a national public service portal to monitor online service delivery by ministries and agencies.
Relevant stakeholders have been asked to continue working to complete national databases on population, insurance, finance, business registration, national land, electronic household registration, and specialized data, which will be connected with the platform during the 2020-2025 period.
(Sources: Vietnam Ministry of Information and Communication; Vietnam News)