The role of digital signatures in electronic notarization in Vietnam

(Chinhphu.vn) - On the morning of September 19, in Hanoi, the National Center for Electronic Authentication (Ministry of Science and Technology) coordinated with the Vietnam Notary Association to organize the Workshop "The role of digital signatures and trusted services with electronic notarization".

Ms. To Thi Thu Huong, Director of NEAC, delivered the opening speech at the Workshop. Photo: VGP/DA

The workshop was held in the context of the law on notarization creating a legal corridor for electronic notarization and the Government 's recently issued Decree 23/2025/ND-CP on electronic signatures and trusted services establishing a complete legal framework for trusted services (digital signatures, data message authentication, timestamping, secure data sending and receiving services, etc.). These new regulations are an important bridge to create a legal foundation for electronic notarization to operate effectively, ensuring that all electronic notarized documents have the same legal value as paper documents.

The foundation for ensuring trust in electronic transactions

Speaking at the opening of the workshop, 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 industry has applied digital signatures very early in electronic invoices; more than 8 billion electronic invoices have been issued, which means 8 billion of our digital signatures have been integrated."

The NEAC Director added 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, and by August 2025, this number had reached 22 million. This shows that the tool for electronic transactions is developing very rapidly.

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...

Executive Vice President of the Vietnam Notary Association Nguyen Thi Tho affirmed that notarization is considered a "preventive judicial service", contributing to ensuring legal safety for civil, commercial and real estate transactions. When converted to a digital environment, notarization not only maintains its mission of preventing disputes but also becomes an important bridge in ensuring the authenticity and integrity of contracts and electronic transactions.

Executive Vice President of the Vietnam Notary Association Nguyen Thi Tho speaks at the workshop. Photo: VGP/DA

In that process, digital signatures and trusted services are essential legal and technical infrastructure, helping notaries to determine identity, capacity to act, voluntariness, and legality of transactions in an online environment with a level of assurance equivalent to, or even higher than, traditional methods.

However, according to Ms. Nguyen Thi Tho, to successfully implement electronic notarization, we are facing many challenges such as the legal mechanism needs to continue to be improved and 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.

The Executive Vice President of the Vietnam Notary Association hopes that the Workshop will be an opportunity to exchange, evaluate and share experiences in applying modern technological solutions, especially digital signatures, timestamps and reliable services, in order to gradually form a unified, safe and effective electronic notarization system.

Creating a legal framework for effective operation of electronic notarization

At the workshop, NEAC representatives clarified the legal value as well as the role of digital signature services and these trusted services in electronic notarization activities, thereby supporting notaries to access and properly apply legal regulations...

According to the Law on Electronic Transactions 2023, a digital signature is an electronic signature that uses an asymmetric key algorithm to authenticate the signatory and confirm the signatory's acceptance of the signed content. A digital signature ensures authenticity, integrity, and non-repudiation, so the Law on Electronic Transactions affirms that a digital signature has the same legal value as a handwritten signature in traditional transactions, and the Law on Notarization 2024 stipulates that an electronic notarized document is valid from the time it is signed with the digital signature of a notary and the digital signature of a notary practice organization.

As electronic transactions become more popular, related services are also brought along, one of which is trust service. In the field of electronic notarization, trust service is an effective tool, helping notaries and notary organizations simplify business processes. Thereby, gradually converting traditional notarization transactions from the real environment to the digital environment, improving the efficiency of electronic notarization activities.

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, said that although the legal framework is available, it is not really complete and synchronous, the technology infrastructure and database are not synchronous, and 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, although the 2024 Notary Law and its guiding decree have created a basic legal basis, there are still "gaps" that need to be supplemented for timely completion.

Proposing solutions for digital transformation of notarization, Mr. Dao Duy An emphasized that 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 strict synchronization process.

Delegates share opinions at the Workshop. Photo: VGP/DA

In addition, there should be clear regulations on the scope of data that can be accessed, procedures and responsibilities for using data to facilitate notarization and ensure personal privacy.

Through the discussions and analysis from the delegates, it can be seen that the implementation of electronic notarization needs to follow an expansion roadmap, in which technology will be used to simplify administrative procedures...

Dieu Anh

Source: https://baochinhphu.vn/vai-tro-cua-chu-ky-so-doi-voi-cong-chung-dien-tu-tai-viet-nam-10225091912531711.htm