Electronic notarization creates a new development in digital signatures

Digital signatures are growing rapidly, becoming the foundation for ensuring trust in electronic transactions. After being popularized in the fields of tax and banking, digital signatures continue to expand into notarization. This is an important development step to help save costs, increase transparency and promote digital transformation.

Development of digital signature

Ms. To Thi Thu Huong, Director of the National Electronic Authentication Center (NEAC) said: "Currently, when we go to any gas station or store, we see electronic invoice services and digital signatures. The Tax Department has applied digital signatures in electronic invoices; more than 8 billion electronic invoices have been issued, which means 8 billion digital signatures have been integrated. Next, the banking sector has also been widely deployed in the past year or so...".

People come to do certification procedures (notarization) at Hon Gai ward ( Quang Ninh ).

Ms. To Thi Thu Huong informed that in the first 8 months of 2025, the number of digital signature certificates issued was nearly double the total number of previous periods combined. Specifically, by the end of December 2024, the number of digital signature certificates issued was 11 million, by August 2025, this number had reached 22 million, an increase of 100%. This shows that the tool for electronic transactions is developing very rapidly.

Mobile technology has been around since 1993 and it will take about 15-17 years to reach 100% of the population. Vietnam currently has 140 million subscribers out of 100 million people, reaching a penetration rate exceeding 100%. Meanwhile, remote digital signature technology has only been put into use since 2021, after 4 years of implementation, the growth rate in 2025 shows great potential. "With the current growth rate, we expect that after about 10 years, 100% of Vietnamese people will have digital signature certificates," said Ms. To Thi Thu Huong.

Digital signatures and trusted services are considered the foundation for ensuring trust in electronic transactions. The deployment of digital infrastructure is identified as one of the focuses of the Ministry of Science and Technology . Digital infrastructure must be one step ahead.

In an era where data becomes the new resource and digital transactions become popular, ensuring digital trust is a prerequisite. In Vietnam, NEAC identifies that digital signatures and trusted services are not only technical tools, but also the foundation for ensuring trust in electronic transactions, shaping the digital economy , digital government and digital society...

Save money by switching to electronic notarization

The representative of NEAC said that currently 100% of organizations have digital signature certificates for financial and accounting work. However, the field of personal digital signatures is still limited. The application of electronic notarization is expected to bring significant economic benefits. With about 8 million notarized records processed each year, the conversion to electronic can save hundreds of billions of VND in costs of storing and processing documents. At the same time, the implementation of signatures will contribute to increasing the rate of online administrative procedures that localities are implementing.

According to local statistics, about 60% of public administrative procedures at wards and communes are notarization and civil status.

Ms. Nguyen Thi Tho, Executive Vice President of the Vietnam Notary Association, said: "The trend of digital transformation is becoming clear. Currently, data connectivity between fields is gradually being completed. The notary field cannot stay out of the game. The Association will accompany NEAC in promoting, training and guiding notaries to access new technology and use digital signatures in electronic notarization."

The 2024 Notary Law has created a legal framework for electronic notarization. Electronic notarized documents are effective from the time they are signed with the digital signature of the notary and the notary practice organization. In addition, Decree No. 23/2025/ND-CP has detailed and specific regulations on trusted services, including conditions that must be complied with regarding human resources, technology, finance, etc.

A representative of NEAC said that more than a year ago, when implementing digital signatures in electronic transactions in the banking sector, many units in this sector also had many concerns when implementing, especially about digital signatures. The most concerned issue is the legal value of digital signatures, which is confirmed to be equivalent to handwritten signatures in traditional transactions. Up to now, the number of newly developed digital signature certificates is mostly related to integrated transactions of banks.

According to Ms. Nguyen Thi Tho, to successfully implement electronic notarization, there are many challenges such as the legal mechanism needs to continue to be improved, synchronized with the Notarization Law 2024, the Electronic Transaction Law 2023 and related documents; technical infrastructure must ensure information security and network security at a high level; the ability to access technology and consensus of notaries and notary organizations nationwide also need to be focused on.

Analyzing the existing problems and difficulties in digital transformation of notarization and implementation of electronic notarization, Mr. Dao Duy An, General Secretary of the Vietnam Notary Association, commented that although the legal framework is available, it is not really complete and synchronous, the technology infrastructure and database are not synchronous, the issue of security technology and technical standards also has many limitations.

In addition, many notaries and office workers are not familiar with using digital platforms; they are afraid of legal risks when notarizing online. The mentality of "holding a red-stamped paper copy" is safe still exists among people and businesses.

According to Mr. Dao Duy An, regarding solutions for digital transformation of notarization, it is necessary to continue to perfect the legal framework, clearly defining the authority and procedures for converting between electronic notarized documents and paper documents. Building a centralized or unified nationwide notarized database with common data standards and a tight synchronization process.

Meanwhile, Mr. Pham Anh Tien, representative of Hoang Trung Thanh Notary Office (Thanh Hoa province) suggested that it is necessary to strengthen propaganda, guidance, training and popularization of electronic notarization in the coming time. At the same time, soon issue regulations on receiving electronic data messages, not requiring additional paper documents when there are electronic data documents with full value of reliable services.

In terms of orientation, electronic notarization helps people save more time and money because they can notarize some types of documents online right at home. Electronic records are processed quickly, and notarized documents can be issued almost immediately after the notary has signed them digitally. In addition, electronic notarization increases safety and transparency, avoiding the risk of loss, damage or forgery. At the same time, electronic notarization is also connected with many other public services and electronic transactions and can be used directly in business registration procedures, real estate transactions, banking, etc. without having to submit additional paper copies, helping to reduce duplication and create maximum convenience for people.

Source: https://baotintuc.vn/xa-hoi/cong-chung-dien-tu-tao-buoc-phat-trien-moi-ve-chu-ky-so-20250921183725364.htm