By the end of August this year, half a million electronic contracts had been certified as nearly 50,000 businesses joined the national digital transformation effort, participants heard at a forum to support businesses in digital transformation and e-commerce development organised by the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT) yesterday in Hà Nội.

According to Lê Hoàng Oanh, director of the Department of E-commerce and Digital Economy under the MoIT, signing digital contracts and conducting electronic transactions in the digital business environment remain a key issue for regulators.

Implementation has gotten underway with Việt Nam's 2005 Law on Electronic Transactions providing guiding documents and provisions ensuring the legal basis for electronic contracts and certification.

So far, 11 organisations specialised in providing electronic contract certification services (CeCA) have been registered. Their mission objectives are protecting the digital business environment with authentication and trust technologies, while supporting third parties such as tax authorities, banks and financial institutions in monitoring and conducting transactions. In other words, they form the foundation for the legal validity of electronic contracts.

Đỗ Kế Công, director of the Center for Digital Signatures and Electronic Contracts at VNPT, one of Việt Nam's largest telecommunications groups, said that starting as early as 2009, the group had made the VNPT eContract platform available to customers as a remote signing solution.

According to the ministry, by the end of this year more than a million electronic contracts in various fields will have been signed, including contracts in major fields including telecommunications, electricity, water, banking, securities transportation.

However, challenges remain as businesses face numerous difficulties in applying electronic contracts, especially complex procedures and a lack of goodwill from third parties including tax authorities and the state treasury.

Trần Đăng Hòa, chairman of FPT IS, an IT solutions company, said authentication solutions should be identified as a key component in the digital economy. In order to attract businesses to make use of the technology, electronic transactions must be safe and secure.

Recently, businesses across the country have adopted multiple electronic authentication solutions to enhance operational efficiency, including tools such as electronic certification, digital signatures, eKYC, identity verification and electronic contracts.

Platforms and services related to transaction management, such as FPT.CA, FPT.eSign, FPT.eKYC and FPT.CeCA have been widely implemented to ensure their authenticity, integrity and legal compliance for transactions between businesses (B2B) and between businesses and customers (B2C). These solutions have been applied in diverse fields such as commerce, finance, banking, labour and internal management.

Nguyễn Đăng Triển, a representative from Viettel Telecom - another large Vietnamese telecommunications group with a significant presence in regional and international markets -- said as electronic signatures become more common, consumers must stay alert and strictly follow security protocols. The use of digital signatures from verified and reputable accounts could also boost confidence for both sides conducting digital transactions.

Participants at the forum, including policymakers and leading experts in the field, said it was essential to optimise the effectiveness of this technology with close and synchronised coordination between state agencies, businesses and related organisations.