Independent review of the draft Resolution on the development of digital citizenship.

On January 13th, the Ministry of Justice organized an independent review council to assess the draft Government Resolution on the development of digital citizens.

Deputy Minister of Justice Nguyen Thanh Tu presides over the appraisal council. Photo: PV.

According to information from the Ministry of Public Security, after three years of implementation, as of July 2025, Decision No. 06/QD-TTg dated January 6, 2022, of the Prime Minister approving the Project "Development of applications of population data, identification and electronic authentication to serve national digital transformation in the period 2022-2025, with a vision to 2030" has basically achieved its fundamental objectives.

The results of Project 06 have contributed to Vietnam achieving significant progress in the United Nations' 2024 e- Government Development Ranking, with Vietnam rising 15 places compared to 2022.

However, the development of digital citizenship in Vietnam still faces certain limitations, such as: a large disparity in digital literacy between urban and rural areas; and difficulties in popularizing digital infrastructure, especially VNeID electronic identification, due to a lack of preferential policies on taxes, fees, and charges to encourage people to shift their habits from traditional to digital environments.

To address the practical "gap" between technological achievements and people's ability to use them, the draft Resolution proposes a mechanism to recognize the level of active participation of citizens in the digital environment, linked to practical incentives.

Accordingly, based on the level of active development in digital skills, participation in public services, and other digital transactions, citizens will benefit from additional tax and fee exemptions, such as 100% exemption from fees and charges for basic, essential administrative procedures related to personal rights or high-frequency administrative procedures; and a minimum 50% reduction in fees and charges for complex administrative procedures requiring high management costs.

The construction and deployment of a "Digital Citizenship Score System" linked to population data and electronic identity is calculated based on data updates, frequency of digital service usage, and contributions to the digital community.

The VNeID application is oriented towards developing and providing utilities to best serve the interests of citizens, from providing a "national e-wallet" and digital payment services to providing secure "personal digital signatures" and official "email addresses" for each citizen...

During the review, the Council members highly appreciated the necessity of issuing a Government Resolution on the development of digital citizens.

However, Ms. Mai Thi Thanh Binh, representing the Ministry of Science and Technology, suggested careful consideration of the use of the phrase "ranking and classifying citizens" to ensure its appropriateness and absolute compliance with the Constitution and citizens' rights; and to review and ensure consistency and uniformity of the contents on digital signatures and digital citizens with the Law on Digital Transformation and the Law on Electronic Transactions.

Regarding the Digital Citizen Scoring System, a representative from the Department of Legal Document Review and Management, Ministry of Justice, stated that regulations on digital citizen scoring could create psychological barriers and have certain negative impacts. Therefore, consideration should be given to only establishing general regulations on basic citizen participation in public services.

In his concluding remarks, Deputy Minister of Justice Nguyen Thanh Tu affirmed that the Council unanimously agreed that the drafting of the Resolution is necessary to create a mechanism to encourage the development of digital citizens and promote digital transformation in activities, especially in the operations of state agencies. However, the lead agency needs to further clarify the legal basis of the policy on developing digital citizens.

Regarding the scope of regulation and preferential policies, the Deputy Minister of Justice suggested a thorough review to avoid overlapping regulations or deep interference in areas already regulated by specialized laws, especially preferential policies on taxes, fees, and charges. For tax reduction policies, careful consideration should be given to feasibility, practical impact, and the tax system's implementation capacity, as this is a complex technical and managerial issue.

Regarding online public services, a clear distinction needs to be made between mandatory public services and regular e-commerce services; avoiding policy design that restricts citizens' access to services or creates unnecessary discrimination.

The use of concepts such as "points," "rankings," and "digital citizen classification" is creating many inconsistent interpretations; therefore, the drafting agency notes that revisions should be made to shift to an approach using "thresholds" or "incentive levels" to avoid misunderstandings and ensure compliance with the Constitution.

Source: https://hanoimoi.vn/tham-dinh-doc-lap-du-thao-nghi-quyet-ve-phat-trien-cong-dan-so-729983.html