Promoting comprehensive digital transformation towards a digital nation

The draft Decree states that the electronic portal or website of a state agency serves as the official, centralized channel for providing information on the digital environment. These portals are connected and integrated with the Government Portal and use the national domain name “.vn” in accordance with regulations.

Depending on specific conditions, state agencies may also deploy the following additional information channels to provide digital services to organizations and individuals:

- Social media platforms authorized by state agencies to provide information in the digital environment in accordance with the law.

- Mobile applications authorized by state agencies to provide digital information services. These applications are to be deployed in a centralized, unified, and shared manner within ministries, sectors, or localities to avoid duplication.

- Telephone hotlines.

The draft Decree also stipulates that state agencies are responsible for managing, controlling, and publicly announcing the official information channels they operate in the digital environment.

The Ministry of Science and Technology will provide guidance on standards that support persons with disabilities in accessing and using information and communications technology products and services, as well as digital information services.

Organizations and individuals have the right to choose the channels provided by state agencies to access and use official information in the digital environment, while also being responsible for complying with relevant regulations when using such information.

According to the draft Decree, the electronic portals of ministries, central agencies, and provincial and municipal People’s Committees serve as the primary and official information channels of state agencies within their respective sectors or localities in the digital environment. Agencies and units under ministries and central agencies, specialized agencies under provincial or municipal People’s Committees, and commune-level People’s Committees that operate websites must ensure that these are components of the electronic portals of the respective ministries, central agencies, or provincial and municipal People’s Committees.

The Government Portal acts as the central hub for connecting information related to the Government’s direction and administration in the digital environment. It also provides operational guidance and integrates information with the electronic portals of ministries, central agencies, and provincial and municipal People’s Committees.

Electronic portals of ministries, central agencies, and provincial and municipal People’s Committees are connected and integrated with the Government Portal as well as with platforms used for statistics, measurement, monitoring, and evaluation of digital transformation implementation.

Domain names used for accessing the electronic portals of state agencies must use the Vietnamese national domain “.vn” and adopt the Internet protocol IPv6, following these rules:

For ministries and central agencies, third-level domains should be used in the format: tenbonganh.gov.vn, where tenbonganh represents the abbreviated or full Vietnamese name without diacritics, or the English abbreviation of the ministry or central agency as regulated by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Subordinate agencies under ministries and central agencies use fourth-level domains in the format: tendonvi.tenbonganh.gov.vn, where tendonvi is the abbreviated or full name of the subordinate unit in Vietnamese without diacritics or in English.

For provincial and municipal People’s Committees, third-level domains should follow the format: tentinhthanh.gov.vn, where tentinhthanh is the full name of the province or city in Vietnamese without diacritics.

Ho Chi Minh City uses the domain name: hochiminhcity.gov.vn.

Specialized agencies under provincial or municipal People’s Committees use fourth-level domains in the format: tencoquan.tentinhthanh.gov.vn, where tencoquan is the abbreviated or full name of the specialized agency in Vietnamese without diacritics or in English.

For commune-level People’s Committees, fourth-level domains follow the format: tenphuongxa.tentinhthanh.gov.vn, where tenphuongxa is the full name of the commune or ward in Vietnamese without diacritics.

The draft Decree also specifies levels of online public service provision. Fully online public services are those carried out entirely in the digital environment, including information provision, submission and receipt of dossiers, processing, payment (if applicable), and delivery of results.

Partially online public services are those in which only one or several stages are conducted in the digital environment.

State agencies are required to provide administrative procedures by default in the form of fully online public services. In cases where services are provided only partially online, the agency must publicly disclose on the National Public Service Portal and at its one-stop service unit the reasons and relevant legal provisions for providing only partial online services. These include cases where: organizations or individuals must be physically present at the state agency; on-site verification or inspection is required by law; or technical incidents have not yet been resolved.

Organizations and individuals have the right to choose to carry out administrative procedures and online public services in accordance with the provisions of the Law on Electronic Transactions./.