Decision No. 28/2018/QD-TTg dated July 12, 2018 of the Prime Minister on the sending and receipt of e-documents between agencies in the state administrative system

DECISION

On the sending and receipt of e-documents between agencies in the state administrative system^[1]

Pursuant to the June 19, 2015 Law on Organization of the Government;

Pursuant to the June 19, 2015 Law on Organization of Local Administrations;

Pursuant to the November 29, 2005 Law on E-Transactions;

Pursuant to the June 29, 2006 Law on Information Technology;

Pursuant to the November 19, 2015 Law on Cyber Information Security;

Pursuant to the Government’s Decree No. 64/2007/ND-CP of April 10, 2007, on the application of information technology in activities of state agencies;

Pursuant to the Government’s Decree No. 26/2007/ND-CP of February 15, 2007, detailing the provisions of the Law on E-Transactions regarding digital signatures and digital signature authentication services; Decree No. 106/2011/ND-CP of November 23, 2011, amending and supplementing a number of articles of Decree No. 26/2007/ND-CP; and Decree No. 170/2013/ND-CP of November 13, 2013, amending and supplementing a number of articles of Decrees No. 26/2007/ND-CP and No. 106/2011/ND-CP;

Pursuant to the Government’s Decree No. 85/2016/ND-CP of July 1, 2016, on assurance of safety of information systems at different levels;

At the proposal of the Minister-Director of the Government Office;

The Prime Minister promulgates the Decision on the sending and receipt of e-documents between agencies in the state administrative system.

Chapter I

GENERAL PROVISIONS

Article 1.Scope of regulation

1. This Decision regulates the sending and receipt of e-documents via interconnected and interoperable document management and administration systems between agencies in the state administrative system.

2. This Decision does not apply to the sending and receipt of e-documents containing state secret-related contents as prescribed by law.

Article 2.Subjects of application

1. This Decision applies to ministries, ministerial-level agencies, government-attached agencies, People’s Committees at all levels and their attached agencies and units (below collectively referred to as ministries, sectors and localities).

2. Agencies and organizations other than those mentioned in Clause 1 of this Article that are involved in the sending and receipt of documents to/from ministries, sectors and localities and satisfy the technical and technological infrastructure conditions may apply this Decision.

Article 3.Interpretation of terms

In this Decision, the terms below are construed as follows:

1. E-document means a document in the form of data message created or digitized from a paper document using a protocol or format specified by a competent state agency.

2. Sending and receipt of e-documents means sending and receipt by an agency in the state administrative agency of e-documents via interconnected and interoperable document management and administration systems by means of technical and technological solutions.

3. National e-document exchange platform means technical and technological solutions implemented from the Government Office to ministries, sectors and localities to interconnect and interoperate the sending and receipt of e-documents.

4. Sender means an agency in the state administrative system that issues an e-document.

5. Recipient means an agency in the state administrative system that receives an e-document.

Article 4.Legal validity of e-documents

1. E-documents that bear a digital signature in accordance with law and are sent and received via document management and administration systems specified in this Decision have the same legal validity as paper documents and may substitute for paper documents.

2. E-documents other than those mentioned in Clause 1 of this Article that are sent and received via document management and administration systems are for information and reference purposes and may not substitute for paper documents.

Article 5.Principles of sending and receipt of e-documents

1. The sending and receipt of e-documents must adhere to the principles prescribed in Article 5 of the Law on E-Transactions and comply with other regulations on protection of state secrets, information security and safety, records and archives.

2. All e-documents falling within the issuing and settling competence of agencies in the state administrative system shall be sent and received via document management and administration systems, except the cases specified in Clause 1, Article 7 of this Decision.

3. Agencies in the state administrative system are not required to issue paper documents to recipients after having sent e-documents to them, except the cases specified in Clause 2, Article 7 of this Decision.

4. Recipients may refuse to receive e-documents which do not satisfy the principles and requirements on sending and receipt and shall take responsibility for their refusal and, at the same time, notify such to senders via document management and administration systems or the national e-document exchange platform for handling under regulations.

Article 6.Requirements on sending and receipt of e-documents

1. The authentic origin and integrity of every e-document and information and data security shall be ensured during its sending, receipt, processing and storage.

2. Every e-document shall be sent right on the day when it is signed or in the morning of the subsequent working day. After being received, incoming e-documents which are legally valid shall be promptly processed without having to wait for paper documents (if any).

Every urgent e-document shall be put in the priority mode clearly stating the urgency level, sent immediately after a digital signature is put on it and submitted or transferred for processing right after being received.

3. E-documents must have their sending, receipt and processing status monitored and automatically updated in document management and administration systems.

4. E-documents must satisfy the requirements on protocol and presentation technique as prescribed by the Ministry of Home Affairs and those on format as prescribed by the Ministry of Information and Communications.

5. Requirements on technical and technological infrastructure, information security and document management and administration system interconnection and interoperability solutions shall be satisfied.

Article 7.Types of e-documents and focal points for sending and receipt of e-documents

1. All e-documents falling within the issuing and settling competence of agencies in the state administrative system shall be sent and received via document management and administration systems, unless senders or recipients fail to satisfy the requirements on technical and technological infrastructure, information security and document management and administration system interconnection and interoperability solutions for sending and receipt of e-documents.

2. E-documents to be sent together with paper documents

a/ Documents to be sent to the Government or Prime Minister as specified in the working regulation of the Government;

b/ Documents on lists decided by ministers or heads of sectors or localities and other than those specified at Point a, Clause 2 of this Article and specified by law.

3. Focal points of agencies and units sending and receiving e-documents

a/ The Government Office shall send and receive e-documents falling within the management scope and competence of the Government, Prime Minister and Minister-Director of the Government Office under the working regulation and regulation on receipt, processing, issuance and management of documents of the Government Office;

b/ Offices of ministries, ministerial-level agencies and government-attached agencies shall send and receive e-documents falling within the management scope and competence of their ministers or the heads of their agencies and under the working regulations and regulations on receipt, processing, issuance and management of documents of their ministries or agencies;

c/ Offices of provincial-level People’s Committees shall send and receive e-documents falling within the management scope and competence of provincial-level People’s Committees or their chairpersons and under the working regulations and regulations on receipt, processing, issuance and management of documents of provincial-level People’s Committees.

Chapter II

PROCESS OF SENDING AND RECEIPT OF E-DOCUMENTS

Article 8.Sending of e-documents

1. After being approved by a competent authority with a signature and digital signatures in accordance with law, an e-document shall be sent to the recipient via interconnected and interoperable document management and administration systems.

2. The sender shall check and monitor the process to ensure an e-document is sent to the right recipient. If recalling an e-document, the sender shall notify such to the recipient via the document management and administration system for handling of such document.

Article 9.Receipt of e-documents

1. The recipient shall check the completeness, integrity and authenticity of an e-document before receiving it in the document management and administration system.

In case the principles of and requirements on sending and receipt of e-documents are not satisfied, the recipient shall notify such to the sender via the document management and administration system for handling under regulations.

2. After receiving an e-document, the recipient shall process it and notify the processing status in the document management and administration system.

In case of receiving a notice of recall of an e-document, the recipient shall delete the recalled e-document from the document management and administration system and, at the same time, notify the deletion to the sender via the document management and administration system.

Article 10.Information contents and requirements of e-documents

1. Information contents of e-documents sent and received via the document management and administration systems of ministries, sectors and localities include contents of such e-documents and all contents of enclosed files and documents.

2. The document management and administration systems of ministries, sectors and localities must show the following information of an e-document:

a/ Identification code of the issuing agency or organization:

A ministry, ministerial-level agency, government-attached agency or People’s Committee or its attached agency or unit has an identification code when sending or receiving e-documents in its document management and administration system.

An identification code of an agency or organization consists of 13 characters, divided into four groups separated from one another by a dot:

- Level-1 codes: Codes of level-1 units (ministries, ministerial-level agencies, government-attached agencies, People’s Committees of provinces and centrally run cities);

- Level-2, level-3 and level-4 codes: Codes of agencies and units of or attached to corresponding level-1, level-2 or level-3 units;

b/ Identification code of the document;

An identification code of a document consists of:

- Identification code of the issuing agency or organization as prescribed by law;

- Year of issuance of document and ordinal number of document issued in the year;

c/ Serial number and signs of the document;

d/ Date of issuance of the document;

dd/ Type of the document;

e/ Abstract of the document;

g/ Enclosed files and documents;

h/ Processing status (arriving, received, transferred for processing, under processing, completely processed, rejected (returned), recalled, deleted);

i/ Position and full name of the signatory;

k/ Level of urgency (urgent/highly urgent/express);

l/ Sender;

m/ Recipient;

n/ Time of sending and receipt;

o/ Processing time limit;

p/ Document sending and receiving history;

q/ Other information (if any).

Article 11.Summarization of information and status of sending and receipt of e-documents

The summarization and retrieval of information and data on the status and results of the sending and receipt of e-documents by agencies in the state administrative system shall be automatically carried out in the following systems:

1. The Government Office shall summarize and retrieve information and data on the status of sending and receipt of e-documents by ministries, sectors and localities via the national e-document exchange platform and its document management and administration system;

2. Offices of ministries, ministerial-level agencies and government-attached agencies shall summarize and retrieve information and data on the status of sending and receipt of e-documents by their attached units via document management and administration systems of their ministries or agencies;

3. Offices of provincial-level People’s Committees shall summarize and retrieve information and data on the status of sending and receipt of e-documents by their attached specialized agencies and district and commune-level People’s Committees via local document management and administration systems.

Chapter III

TECHNICAL AND TECHNOLOGICAL INFRASTRUCTURE

Article 12.Assurance of technical infrastructure

1. The national e-document exchange platform shall be connected with document management and administration systems of ministries, sectors and localities via specialized data transmission networks of Party and State agencies (level-I specialized data transmission networks).

2. Document management and administration systems of ministries, sectors and localities must have their technical infrastructure facilities connected with the national e-document exchange platform.

Article 13.Assurance of information security

1. Managing bodies of the national e-document exchange platform and document management and administration systems of ministries, sectors and localities shall identify and approve levels of information systems under their management and organize the implementation of level-based information security assurance plans in accordance with law.

2. The interconnection of document management and administration systems of ministries, sectors and localities with the national e-document exchange platform shall be encrypted and authenticated according to the information security standards in the list of technical standards on application of information technology in state agencies prescribed by the Ministry of Information and Communications.

Article 14.Assurance of interconnection and interoperability solutions

1. Ministries, sectors and localities shall ensure that solutions to connecting and interoperating their document management and administration systems with the national e-document exchange platform are compliant with regulations of the Ministry of Information and Communications; and carry out the interconnection under the guidance of the Government Office.

2. Document management and administration systems of ministries, sectors and localities shall send and receive e-documents via the national e-document exchange platform using identification codes and formats of information package data and notify the document processing status under regulations of the Ministry of Information and Communications.

3. Information on the status of sending and receipt of e-documents by ministries, sectors and localities shall be shared and published in document management and administration systems and other information systems to serve the direction and administration by the Government and Prime Minister.

4. Points of time of sending and receipt of e-documents between document management and administration systems of ministries, sectors and localities must follow and synchronize with Vietnam’s time zone (ISO 8601) and shall be synchronized on the national e-document exchange platform.

Chapter IV

ORGANIZATION OF IMPLEMENTATION

Article 15.Responsibilities of the Government Office

1. To assume the prime responsibility for, and coordinate with ministries, sectors, and related agencies and organizations in, organizing the implementation of this Decision; and summarize data and report on a quarterly basis to the Government and Prime Minister on the implementation of this Decision and results thereof in periodical reports on building of an e-government.

2. To assume the prime responsibility for, and coordinate with ministries, sectors and sectors in, building, managing and operating the national e-document exchange platform; to guide the interconnection of document management and administration systems of ministries, sectors and localities with the national e-document exchange platform.

Article 16.Responsibilities of the Ministry of Information and Communications

1. To assume the prime responsibility for guiding ministries, sectors and sectors how to use identification codes of agencies, identification codes of documents and formats of information package data serving the interconnection of document management and administration systems for sending and receiving e-documents; managing the list of identification codes of agencies in the state administrative system to serve the sending and receipt of e-documents; summarizing and promptly updating identification codes of agencies when there is any change in administrative units or organizational structures of such agencies into the information system managing the common-use electronic list  of state agencies to serve the development of Vietnam’s e-government; receiving registrations of, managing, guiding and inspecting the declaration of regulation conformity of interconnected and interoperable document management and administration systems of state agencies under regulations.

2. To assume the prime responsibility for, and coordinate with the Government Office and Ministry of Public Security in, supervising, inspecting and assessing information security of the national e-document exchange platform; guiding ministries, sectors and localities how to ensure information security of their document management and administration systems under regulations.

3. To ensure uninterrupted and stable transmission lines of level-I specialized data transmission networks to satisfy the requirements on sending and receipt of e-documents; to work out plans on deployment and expansion of specialized data transmission networks; to support the interconnection of networks of ministries, sectors and localities with level-I specialized data transmission networks.

Article 17.Responsibilities of the Ministry of Home Affairs

1. To assume the prime responsibility for, and coordinate with ministries, sectors and sectors in, revising current legal documents on management and use of e-documents or issuing according to its competence or submitting new ones to competent authorities for issuance.

2. To assume the prime responsibility for, and coordinate with the Government Office and Ministry of Information and Communications in, promulgating in 2018 a circular prescribing procedures for exchange, storage and processing of e-documents in desk work and basic functions of e-document management systems in the course of operation of agencies and organizations, and a circular setting standards of input information data and requirements on preservation of e-archives.

3. To assume the prime responsibility for, and coordinate with the Government Office and Ministry of Information and Communications in, submitting to the Government for promulgation a decree to replace the Government’s Decree No. 110/2004/ND-CP of April 8, 2004, on desk work, to meet requirements on online processing of dossiers.

Article 18.Responsibilities of the Government Cipher Committee

1. To ensure the sufficient and timely supply of digital deeds to ministries, sectors, localities, cadres, civil servants and public employees in agencies in the state administrative system for sending and receiving e-documents according to the roadmap prescribed in Article 21 of this Decision.

2. To study and propose competent authorities to shorten the process of grant, renewal or re-grant of digital deeds; to apply digital signature and digital signature authentication solutions on mobile devices for convenient use by cadres, civil servants and public employees of agencies in the state administrative system.

3. To guide ministries, sectors and localities how to apply the solution to integrate and authenticate digital signatures in their document management and administration systems according to their assigned functions and tasks.

Article 19.Responsibilities of ministries, sectors and localities

1. Ministries, sectors and localities shall:

a/ Elaborate and issue regulations on receipt, processing, issuance and management of documents under this Decision and other relevant legal documents;

b/ Ensure technical infrastructure and solutions of interconnection and interoperability between their document management and administration systems and the national e-document exchange platform; apply technical solutions to enhance the management, supervision and control in the sending and receipt of e-documents in order to ensure information safety and security;

c/ Elaborate, issue and promptly update identification codes for their attached agencies and units and send them to the Ministry of Information and Communications for unified management and public use nationwide;

d/ Build, upgrade and operate their document management and administration systems under this Decision, uniformly connect and interoperate document management software of their attached agencies and units to serve the sending and receipt of e-documents between agencies in the state administrative system in their ministries, sectors and localities.

In case a ministry, sector or locality already has a unified document management and administration system, it shall connect such system with the national e-document exchange platform.

dd/ Manage and regularly back up e-documents, and ensure information safety and security while doing so.

2. Ministers, heads of ministerial-level agencies, heads of government-attached agencies, chairpersons of provincial-level People’s Committees and heads of related agencies shall direct the building and uniform application of document management and administration systems or organize the interconnection and interoperability of their existing systems; work out plans on application of digital signatures and roadmaps for use of e-documents to eventually substitute paper documents in their work.

3. To arrange sufficient funds in their annual budget plans for maintaining and developing document management systems and internal infrastructure facilities and interconnecting them with the national e-document exchange platform.

4. To regularly inspect the implementation of this Decision by their subordinate agencies and units; to organize training in how to use document management and administration systems; to carry out public communication about benefits of the sending and receipt of e-documents and application of digital signatures in activities of state agencies.

5. To report any difficulties or problems arising in the course of implementation of this Decision to the Government Office for summarization and reporting to the Prime Minister for consideration and settlement.

Article 20.Funds for implementation

Funds for implementation of this Decision shall be allocated by the state budget in accordance with law.

Chapter V

IMPLEMENTATION PROVISIONS

Article 21.Transitional provisions

1. The Government Office shall coordinate with ministries, sectors and localities that satisfy the requirements on sending and receipt of e-documents prescribed in this Decision in organizing the interconnection and interoperability of their document management and administration systems with the national e-document exchange platform, the pilot sending and receipt of e-documents under this Decision through December 31, 2018, and the official sending and receipt of e-documents from January 1, 2019.

Other ministries, sectors and localities shall ensure the interconnection and interoperability of their document management and administration systems with the national e-document exchange platform for sending and receipt of e-documents under this Decision before June 30, 2019.

2. Ministries, sectors and localities that have not yet completed the interconnection and interoperability of their internal e-documents may print out such e-documents bearing digital signatures from their document management and administration systems and append incoming-document marks on printed documents for processing like paper documents under regulations; complete the interconnection and interoperability of internal e-documents and effect the sending and receipt of e-documents under this Decision before June 30, 2020.

The Ministry of National Defense shall ensure the interconnection and interoperability of its document management and administration system with the national e-document exchange platform at a focal point (without internal interconnection and interoperability) within the time limit prescribed in Clause 1 of this Article.

3. Agencies and organizations mentioned in Clause 2, Article 2 of this Decision shall coordinate with the Government Office and related ministries and sectors in organizing the interconnection and interoperability of their document management and administration systems with the national e-document exchange platform.

Article 22.Effect

1. This Decision takes effect on September 6, 2018.

2. Ministers, heads of ministerial-level agencies, heads of government-attached agencies, chairpersons of provincial-level People’s Committees, and related agencies, organizations, units and individuals shall implement this Decision.

3. The Government Office shall assist the Prime Minister in monitoring, pressing for and inspecting the implementation of this Decision.-

Prime Minister
NGUYEN XUAN PHUC