The Law on Digital Transformation takes effect
The law was passed by the National Assembly in December 2025, with 8 chapters and 48 articles. This is also the first time Vietnam has a Digital Transformation Law, replacing the 2006 Law on Information Technology.
The law includes principles and policies on digital transformation; national coordination of digital transformation; measures to ensure digital transformation; digital government; digital economy, digital society; Responsibilities of agencies, organizations and individuals in digital transformation.
According to the law, digital transformation is defined as "the process of transforming methods of operation, administration and service provision based on digital technology, digital data, digital systems, digital platforms, and digital processes to create new, effective and transparent value". This is also the first time that many concepts such as digital infrastructure, digital citizenship, digital capacity, digital society or digital economy are uniformly regulated in a legal document.
One of the important points in the law is user-centeredness. "Promoting innovation, being user-centered, improving service quality and creating new value for agencies, organizations, businesses and people," the principles section reads.
The law also emphasizes the principle of "declaring once is the default". Accordingly, state agencies need to increase connection, sharing and reuse of data to limit the need for people and businesses to provide the same information repeatedly when performing administrative procedures.
The law also provides many policies to support businesses, especially small and medium-sized enterprises, cooperatives, and business households in the process of digital transformation. The State encourages the development of shared digital platforms and domestic digital technology products, promoting innovation and controlled testing mechanisms for new technologies and business models.
For people, the law provides rights in the digital environment, including the right to protect personal data, universalize basic digital capabilities, access to digital services fairly and safely, as well as the right to be protected when legal rights are violated in the digital environment. The State also has a policy to narrow the digital gap, ensuring resource allocation "higher than the national average" for ethnic minority areas, mountainous areas, border areas, islands and areas with difficult and especially difficult socio-economic conditions.
Also according to the law, to ensure implementation resources, the annual state budget for digital transformation is at least 1% of total budget expenditures, while encouraging the mobilization of social resources for this activity.
Along with the law, Decree No. 224 dated June 24 of the Government detailing a number of articles and measures to implement the Law on Digital Transformation will also take effect from July 1.
The Decree provides regulations to implement the law, such as: strategies, programs, and plans for digital transformation; providing information and public services online; architectural principles, design, minimum requirements for digital systems; state budget spending tasks and decentralization of spending tasks between the central budget and local budget for digital transformation...
In particular, online public services are provided according to a unified, centralized model from central to local levels on the National Public Service Portal. Online public services when provided in the digital environment are standardized and synchronized in codes, service names according to code regulations, names of administrative procedures, interconnected administrative procedures, groups of administrative procedures according to the provisions of law on control of administrative procedures; provide the accompanying electronic form; Instructions on usage procedures for organizations and individuals.
Luu Quy