Completing the legal framework for the national digital transformation process.

With 433 out of 442 delegates voting in favor, the 15th National Assembly passed the Law on Digital Transformation, a foundational law that contributes to perfecting the legal framework for the national digital transformation process.

The Law on Digital Transformation comprises 8 chapters and 48 articles, stipulating the principles, policies, coordination mechanisms, and responsibilities of agencies, organizations, and individuals in digital transformation activities; it also clarifies key aspects of digital government, digital economy , and digital society.

User-centric approach, fostering innovation.

The Law on Digital Transformation is built on a user-centric perspective, considering it the foundation for all digitalization activities. A key highlight is the "one-time declaration" principle, enhancing connectivity, sharing, and reuse of data, reducing procedural duplication, improving management efficiency, and enhancing decision-making capabilities. Furthermore, the Law requires ensuring cybersecurity, protecting data and privacy rights as stipulated; flexible implementation adapting to the rapid development of technology; and ensuring inclusiveness, transparency, and accountability for all decisions based on digital technology .

The Law on Digital Transformation also encourages linking digital transformation activities with continuous measurement, evaluation, monitoring, and improvement to enhance service quality. State agencies are responsible for complying with these principles, while organizations and businesses outside the state sector are encouraged to apply them in their operations.

Article 7 of the Law on Digital Transformation also clearly stipulates the principles of digital system architecture and design. Accordingly, systems must be designed to utilize digital platforms and shared components, effectively exploit cloud computing infrastructure, ensure flexible scalability, and optimize costs.

Overview of the meeting.

The law affirms that data is central, and that data must be collected, managed, shared, declared once, and used efficiently to improve decision-making and service quality. The system must be designed based on open standards and architecture, supporting connectivity and integration from the outset, with standardized application programming interfaces that facilitate data sharing and interoperability between systems.

Users are placed at the center of the digital system design process, ensuring convenience, accessibility, ease of use, and suitability for a wide range of target groups, including marginalized and vulnerable populations.

Prioritize the development of digital infrastructure and human resources.

Article 9 of the Law on Digital Transformation stipulates the State's policy system on digital transformation, emphasizing the development of a unified, secure, reliable, and scalable digital infrastructure. The State promotes the formation and development of digital data, encourages the development and use of shared digital platforms, open digital platforms, and digital technology products and services to serve governance and socio-economic development.

The State's policy on digital transformation also includes ensuring cybersecurity and data protection; encouraging innovation, controlled experimentation, and the application of new digital technologies. The State supports businesses, cooperatives, and business households in implementing digital transformation, especially small and medium-sized enterprises and businesses operating in areas with difficult or extremely difficult socio-economic conditions.

Regarding attracting and utilizing talent for digital transformation, Article 18 stipulates that state agencies and enterprises are allowed to hire experts and collaborators from both within and outside the country; individuals with outstanding achievements in this field will be honored and rewarded. At the same time, officials and employees working on digital transformation in agencies within the political system will enjoy special benefits in terms of salary, allowances, working conditions, and career development opportunities.

Enhance the measurement, monitoring, and evaluation of digital transformation effectiveness.

To ensure effective implementation, the Law on Digital Transformation stipulates that state management agencies responsible for digital transformation are tasked with developing and publishing a unified set of indicators to assess the level of digital transformation, and building, managing, and operating a platform for statistics, measurement, monitoring, and evaluation of digital transformation implementation. Annual assessments of the national, ministerial, sectoral, and local levels of digital transformation are conducted; the assessment results are publicly announced and serve as the basis for ranking, rewarding, adjusting policies, and prioritizing funding for agencies and localities.

Regarding digital government, the Law on Digital Transformation requires state agencies to be responsible for providing public services, internal governance, and operations in a digital environment, except where otherwise stipulated by law. Directives and operational activities must be based on complete, accurate, and timely digital data. Business processes must be reviewed, standardized, restructured, ensuring efficiency, avoiding duplication, and increasing automation.

Administrative procedures are provided by default as full-process online public services, only switching to a partial online format in cases where the law stipulates otherwise or when technical problems cannot be resolved immediately. State agencies are responsible for guiding and supporting citizens, publicly disclosing the application processing procedures and results, and strictly penalizing officials who request additional documents when the system is already connected to the national or specialized databases.

The Law on Digital Transformation is a major step forward in institutionalizing the Party and State's policy on national digital development. The enactment of this law demonstrates the determination to build a comprehensive legal framework, creating momentum for the development of the digital economy and digital society, aiming towards an efficient digital government that serves citizens and businesses.

The Law on Digital Transformation will come into effect on July 1, 2026.

The Law on Information Technology No. 67/2006/QH11 ceases to be in effect from the date the Law on Digital Transformation comes into effect, except as provided in Clauses 1 and 2 of Article 48 of this Law.

Center for Science and Technology Communication

Source: https://mst.gov.vn/hoan-thien-hanh-lang-phap-ly-cho-qua-trinh-chuyen-doi-so-quoc-gia-197251211114610646.htm