Digital Transformation Law: The first legal framework for governing the digital space.

Vietnam's Digital Transformation Law is considered a unique and pioneering framework law in the world because it creates a comprehensive and unified legal framework for a digital nation, addressing new issues related to digital government.

With the Digital Transformation Law Project being passed by the National Assembly (433/442 votes in favor) on the morning of December 11th, at the 10th session of the 15th National Assembly, it is considered an important step towards creating a comprehensive legal framework for the field of digital transformation.

Vietnam's Digital Transformation Law is considered a unique and pioneering framework law in the world because it creates a comprehensive and unified legal framework for a digital nation, addressing new issues related to digital government, digital economy , and digital society.

In addition, the law establishes a national digital transformation governance mechanism, something no other country has a similar law that covers as comprehensively as this one.

Regulations outlining general principles for digital transformation.

Commenting on the Law on Digital Transformation, Minister of Science and Technology Nguyen Manh Hung said that the Law consists of 8 chapters and 48 articles, stipulating the principles, policies, coordination mechanisms, and responsibilities of agencies, organizations, and individuals in digital transformation activities; clarifying key contents regarding digital government, digital economy, and digital society.

The Law on Digital Transformation is a framework law that stipulates general principles of digital transformation; principles of digital design and architecture; minimum requirements for digital systems; responsibilities of participating entities; coordination mechanisms and measures to promote digital transformation activities nationwide in a unified, safe, and effective manner.

The Law on Digital Transformation aims to create linkages between specialized laws on digital transformation to form a unified, interconnected, comprehensive, secure, and modern digital nation, without interfering with the internal workings of specialized laws.

Minister of Science and Technology Nguyen Manh Hung delivers a speech. (Photo: Doan Tan/VNA)

The law also addresses common difficulties in digital transformation faced by ministries, departments, and localities, especially regarding financial mechanisms.

"The Law on Digital Transformation was developed to create a unified legal framework for national digital transformation, ensuring that digital transformation is on the right track, safe, and effective, overcoming the situation of digital fragmentation and division of platforms, creating an environment for innovation, and promoting the digital government, digital economy, and digital society," Minister Nguyen Manh Hung said.

According to Minister Nguyen Manh Hung, the Law on Digital Transformation focuses on addressing several key issues: establishing a unified legal framework for the formation of a digital nation; legal mechanisms for a digital government, digital economy, and digital society; establishing a unified national governance structure for digital transformation; legalizing mechanisms, financial resources, and digital human resources for digital transformation; and stipulating mechanisms for periodic evaluation and public disclosure of digital transformation indicators.

The law also formalizes the promulgation of the national digital transformation program, the national digital architecture framework, the data governance framework, the digital competency framework, and the national digital transformation measurement indicators.

Minister Nguyen Manh Hung emphasized that digital transformation is not just about technology; it is about reform, innovation, and creating new growth drivers. He stressed that digital transformation is the foundation for the country to move forward quickly, seize opportunities from the digital space, and ensure digital safety, sustainability, and inclusiveness.

User-centric approach

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 "once-declared, default" principle, which enhances data connectivity, sharing, and reuse, reducing procedural duplication and improving management efficiency and decision-making capabilities.

In addition, the Law requires ensuring cybersecurity, protecting data and privacy as prescribed; flexible implementation adapting to the rapid development of technology; and ensuring inclusiveness, transparency, and accountability for all decisions based on digital technology.

Members of the National Assembly vote to pass laws and resolutions. (Photo: Doan Tan/VNA)

The law 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. Non-state organizations and businesses 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. Systems must be designed to utilize digital platforms and shared components, effectively exploit cloud computing infrastructure, ensure flexible scalability, and optimize costs.

The law affirms that data is central, and that data must be collected, managed, shared, declared once, and used effectively to improve decision-making and service quality.

The system must be designed based on open standards and an open architecture, supporting connectivity and integration from the outset, with a standardized application programming interface that facilitates 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.

Take action against officials who request documents when digital data is already available.

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

Management 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 database and 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 a commitment to building a comprehensive legal framework, creating momentum for the development of the digital economy and digital society, and moving towards an efficient digital government that serves citizens and businesses.

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

(VNA/Vietnam+)

Source: https://www.vietnamplus.vn/luat-chuyen-doi-so-khuon-kho-phap-ly-dau-tien-ve-quan-tri-khong-gian-so-post1082462.vnp