CIRCULAR

AMENDMENTS TO CIRCULAR NO. 03/2013/TT-BTTTT DATED JANUARY 22, 2013 OF THE MINISTER OF INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATIONS ON TECHNICAL REGULATIONS AND STANDARDS TO DATA CENTERS

Pursuant to the Law on Technical Regulations and Standards dated June 29, 2006;

Pursuant to the Law on Product and Goods Quality dated November 21, 2007;

Pursuant to the Law on Telecommunication dated November 23, 2009;

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

Pursuant to Decree No. 25/2011/ND-CP dated April 6, 2011 of the Government elaborating the Law on Telecommunication;

Pursuant to Decree No. 48/2022/ND-CP dated July 26, 2022 of the Government on functions, tasks, powers, and organizational structures of Ministry of Information and Communications;

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The Minister of Information and Communications promulgates Circular on amendments to Circular No. 03/2013/TT-BTTTT dated January 22, 2013 of the Minister of Information and Communications on Technical Regulations and Standards to Data Centers.

Article 1. Amendments to Circular No. 03/2013/TT-BTTTT dated January 22, 2013 of the Minister of Information and Communications on Technical Regulations and Standards to Data Centers

1. Amendments to Article 2:

“Article 2. Regulated entities

1. This Circular applies to enterprises that design, build, operate, use data centers in order to provide data center services (hereinafter referred to as “enterprises”) and relevant certification, assessment bodies.

2. This Circular does not apply to enterprises that design, build, operate, and utilize small-scale edge data centers.

3. Organizations and enterprises that build, operate other data centers are encouraged to apply regulations under this Circular.”

2. Amendments to Clause 3 and addition of Clause 3, Clause 4 following Clause 2 Article 3:

“2. Technical security level of data center means the “ranking” specified under TCVN 9250:2021 (or “rated” under ANSI/TIA-942-B:2017), and “tier” in Tier classification standards of Uptime Institute.

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a) Certification bodies that have registered to operate in the field of certification, have been designated by the Ministry of Information and Communications, foreign certification and assessment bodies recognized by the Ministry of Information and Communications to conduct assessment and certify conformity with the TCVN 9250:2021 (or the ANSI/TIA-942-B:2017). Designated or recognized certification, assessment bodies must possess management system and operational capacity satisfactory to the TCVN ISO/IEC 17021-1:2015 or the ISO/IEC 17021-1:2015 and must have assessment capability satisfactory to TCVN 9250:2021 (or ANSI/TIA-942-B:2017);

b) Organizations authorized by Uptime Institute to conduct assessment and certify conformity to Tier classification standards of the Uptime Institute.

4. Small-scale edge data centers mean small data centers contained in prefabricated shells, constantly supervised, and located at the edge of a network to support devices and applications. A shell can be independent, in form of cabinet or container, located indoor or outdoor.”

3. Amendments to Article 4:

 “Article 4. Applied technical regulations and standards

Data centers must apply the following technical regulations and standards:

1. National Standards TCVN 9250:2021 (or the ANSI/TIA-942-B:2017), or the Tier classification standards of Uptime Institute;

2. National Technical Regulations QCVN 32:2020/BTTTT on lightning protection for telecommunication stations and outside cable network;

3. National Technical Regulations QCVN 9:2016/BTTTT on earthing for telecommunications stations;

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4. Amendments to Article 5:

a) Amendments to Point a Clause 1:

“a) Conduct assessment and declare conformity of data centers with defined standards and technical security level;

If data centers have technical security level of 3 or 4: enterprises shall choose assessment, certification bodies in accordance with Clause 3 Article 3 of this Circular to assess and certify the data centers;

If data centers have technical security level of 1 or 2: enterprises conduct assessment by themselves or choose assessment, certification bodies in accordance with Clause 3 Article 3 of this Circular to assess and certify the data centers;”

b) Amendments to Clause 3 and Clause 4:

“3. In regard to technical regulations under Clause 4 Article 4 hereof, agencies and enterprises are responsible for ensuring compliance with applicable regulations.

4. Agencies and enterprises shall declare compliance of data centers with technical regulations and standards before introducing the data centers into use and providing data center services; report to the Ministry of Information and Communications (via the Vietnam Telecommunication Agency) when changes of data centers lead to deviation from previously declared details.”

5. Amendments to Article 7:

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“a) Receive and manage applications for declaration of conformity with technical regulations and standards of agencies, enterprises; prepare and actively provide online public services on the internet as per the law;”

b) Addition of Point c following Point b Clause 1:

“c) Cooperate with relevant authorities in inspecting and examining enterprises that fail to comply with this Circular; conducting irregular examination in response to customer's complaints.”

c) Addition of Clause 3 following Clause 2:

“3. The Department of Science and Technology is responsible for:

a) reviewing, amending, and adding technical regulations and standards applicable to data centers and regulations under this Circular from time to time depending on management situations;

b) guiding and organizing designation, recognition of assessment, certification bodies that assess, certify data centers conforming to technical standards and regulations as per applicable laws;

c) Publishing list of assessment, certification bodies designated and recognized on website of the Ministry of Information and Communications.”

6. Replace Appendix I of Circular No. 03/2013/TT-BTTTT with Appendix I hereunder.

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1. This Circular comes into force from February 01, 2023.

2. Data centers whose design has not been approved from the effective date hereof must comply with this Circular.

3. In regard to data centers whose design has been approved before the effective date hereof, enterprises shall review the application of this Circular and request competent individuals to decide.

Before introducing data centers into operation, enterprises shall conduct self-assessment and report to the Ministry of Information and Communications (via Vietnam Telecommunication Agency) regarding conformity of the data centers with technical standards and regulations under this Circular; publicly upload results of conformity self-assessment of the data centers on the enterprises’ websites.

4. In regard to data centers built and operated before the effective date hereof, enterprises shall conduct self-assessment and report to the Ministry of Information and Communications (via the Vietnam Telecommunication Agency) regarding conformity of the data centers with technical standards and regulations under this Circular while publicly uploading results of conformity self-assessment of the data centers on their websites within 1 year from the effective date hereof.

5. In regard to data centers under Clause 3 and Clause 4 of this Article, enterprises are encouraged to apply technical regulations and standards under this Circular for the purpose of revising, renovating, upgrading data centers and declaring conformity of data centers in accordance with Article 6 of Circular No. 03/2013/TT-BTTTT if conformity is achieved.

6. Difficulties that arise during the implementation of this Circular should be reported to the Ministry for consideration.

7. Chief of Office, Director of Department of Science and Technology, Director of Vietnam Telecommunication Agency, agencies, enterprises, relevant organizations and individuals are responsible for the implementation of this Circular./.

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MINISTER




Nguyen Manh Hung

APPENDIX I

DECLARATION OF CONFORMITY FORM
(Attached to Circular No. 23/2022/TT-BTTTT dated November 30, 2022 of the Minister of Information and Communications)

SOCIALIST REPUBLIC OF VIETNAM
Independence - Freedom - Happiness
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DECLARATION OF CONFORMITY

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Agency, enterprise: …………………………………………………………………………

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Address:

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Phone number: ……………………… E-mail: .........................................................................

HEREBY DECLARE:

The data center:

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Is designed and built in a manner that conforms to: ………………………………………….

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with level of technical security: ………………………………………………………………

Based on assessment (or certification) results No. …………… dated ………. conducted by ……………. (name of assessment or certification body).

 (Location and date)
Legal representative of agency, enterprise
(signature, full name, seal)

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Thông tư 23/2022/TT-BTTTT sửa đổi Thông tư 03/2013/TT-BTTTT quy định áp dụng tiêu chuẩn, quy chuẩn kỹ thuật đối với trung tâm dữ liệu do Bộ trưởng Bộ Thông tin và Truyền thông ban hành