Consideration of legal recognition of scanned signatures and image signatures

Legal value of scanned signature and image signature should be considered

On the morning of May 30, participating in giving opinions on the draft Law on Electronic Transactions (amended), National Assembly Delegate Do Ngoc Thinh ( Khanh Hoa delegation) stated: Regarding the provisions in Article 25 on electronic signatures, the Delegate agreed with the drafting agency that it had received comments and added a framework provision on other forms of confirmation by electronic means other than electronic signatures in e-commerce transactions; the parties do not use signatures to conduct the purchase and sale of goods on e-commerce platforms, but instead the purchase and sale of goods will be carried out through the buyer clicking to confirm the order and the purchase and sale transaction is concluded at that time.

The delegate said that this addition partly solves the problem in principle, and such a method of confirming transactions can also be recognized by law.

National Assembly Delegate Do Ngoc Thinh (Khanh Hoa delegation) spoke.

However, according to the draft Law on Electronic Transactions (amended), the form of electronic signature only includes one of the following three types: Specialized electronic signature, public digital signature, and specialized digital signature for public service. Delegates believe that this provision is somewhat inconsistent with the practicality of contracts and transactions in the electronic environment.

In fact, there are three types of electronic signatures commonly used: digital signature (with the highest legal value and security certified by a signature certification organization); scanned signature (especially popular in contracts related to multinational transactions with foreign elements in terms of subjects); image signature (used in cases where the contract has a small value but is signed many times and repeatedly).

Vice Chairman of the National Assembly Nguyen Duc Hai chaired the meeting.

Compared with the draft Law on Electronic Transactions (amended) this time, the Delegate believes that scanned signatures and image signatures do not seem to be classified as any type of electronic signature specified in Article 25. Therefore, the legal value of these two types of signatures may not be recognized. However, these two types of costs are relatively common and widely used in practice. Therefore, the Delegate suggests that if electronic signatures meet all the conditions to ensure a secure signature, the legal value of electronic signatures, in addition to digital signatures, should be recognized.

Carefully consider regulations on management of digital signatures used exclusively for public service

Delegate Nguyen Hoang Bao Tran (Binh Duong delegation) also said that the service of certifying digital signatures for public service is a special important public service because the service users are civil servants and public employees. The field of management of digital signatures for public service and the management of digital signatures for public service are two separate fields with different characteristics in terms of subjects, objectives, and methods of managing technical infrastructure. Therefore, when regulating state management agencies on digital signatures for public service, it is necessary to consider carefully, it is not necessary to rigidly separate state management and service provision.

Delegates attending the meeting on the morning of May 30.

Delegate Nguyen Hoang Bao Tran pointed out that in practice, since 2007, there have been two separate digital signature systems: digital signatures for official use and public digital signatures, which have been assigned by the Government to two management agencies. In which, the Ministry of National Defense manages the state on digital signatures for official use. The Ministry of Information and Communications manages the state on digital signatures for public use.

Meanwhile, digital signatures for public service are special activities, reserved by agencies, organizations and individuals. This is the implementation of public service of the State to carry out political tasks requiring a higher level of safety and security. For digital signatures for public use, the Ministry of Information and Communications manages and licenses businesses to provide services to individuals, organizations and businesses, which is a conditional business activity with fees.

National Assembly Delegate Nguyen Hoang Bao Tran discusses.

Delegate Nguyen Hoang Bao Tran said that if the draft Law stipulates that the Ministry of Information and Communications shall manage both types of digital signatures mentioned above, then when an insecurity issue occurs, the determination of responsibility will not be clear. Delegate Nguyen Hoang Bao Tran proposed to stipulate that the Minister of National Defense shall perform state management of electronic transactions in the field of cryptography and digital signatures used exclusively for public service in accordance with the law on cryptography and electronic transactions.

At the same time, it is proposed to add a clause regulating the responsibility of the Government Cipher Committee in assisting the Minister of National Defense in developing, promulgating or submitting to competent authorities for promulgation legal documents on technical standards for digital signatures used exclusively for public service; managing and deploying the system for certifying digital signatures used exclusively for public service; organizing training, coaching, propaganda, dissemination of inspection, examination, preliminary and final summaries, and reporting to the Government on digital signatures used exclusively for public service.

According to Delegate Nguyen Hoang Bao Tran, this draft Law is a specialized field with many unclear and difficult-to-understand keywords that can only be understood by experts. Therefore, it is necessary to continue to review and study to clarify the interpretation of terms.

Source: https://www.congluan.vn/nen-xem-xet-cong-nhan-gia-tri-phap-ly-cho-hai-loai-chu-ky-scan-va-chu-ky-hinh-anh-post249638.html