CIRCULAR

ON USE OF DIGITAL SIGNATURES FOR ELECTRONIC DOCUMENTS OF REGULATORY AGENCIES

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

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

The Government’s Decree No. 26/2017/ND-CP dated February 15, 2007 on guidelines for the Law on E-transactions about digital signatures and authentication of digital signatures, Government’s Decree No. 106/2011/ND-CP dated November 23, 2011 on amendments to Government’s Decree No. 26/2017/ND-CP and Government’s Decree No. 170/2013/ND-CP dated November 13, 2013 on amendments to Government’s Decree No. 26/2007/ND-CP and Decree No. 106/2011/ND-CP.

Pursuant to the Government's Decree No. 64/2007/ND-CP of April 10, 2007 on the application of information technology to the operation of regulatory agencies;

Pursuant to Decree No. 01/2013/ND-CP dated January 3, 2013 of the Government detailing the implementation of a number of articles of the Law on Archives;

Pursuant to the Government's Decree No. 17/2017/ND-CP dated February 17, 2017 defining the functions, tasks, powers and organizational structure of the Ministry of Information and Communications;

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Chapter I

GENERAL PROVISIONS

Article 1. Scope

1. This Circular set forth file-based signing and validation of digital signatures on electronic documents (e-documents); technical and functional requirements of digital signature software, digital signature validation software for electronic documents of regulatory agencies.

2. This Circular does not provide for the use of digital signatures for electronic documents containing information on the list of state secrets.

Article 2. Regulated entities

1. This Circular applies to agencies and organizations (including: ministries, ministerial-level agencies, Governmental agencies, People's Committees at all levels, and public sector entities funded by state budget) and related organizations and individuals using digital signatures for electronic documents of regulatory agencies.

2. Other agencies and organizations are recommended to apply this Circular.

Article 3. Interpretation of terms

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1. “corporate digital certificate” means a digital certificate issued by a certificate authority (CA) to the head of a corporate as per the law.

2. “private digital certificate” means a digital certificate issued by a CA to a person holding title in a regulatory agency, a competent person in a corporate as per the law on management and use of seals.

3. “seal secret key” means a secret key corresponding to a corporate digital certificate.

4. “private key” means a secret key corresponding to a private digital certificate.

5. “corporate digital signature” means a digital signature created when using a seal secret key.

6. “private digital signature” means a digital signature created when using a private secret key.

7. “digital signature software” means software used to digitally sign an e-document.

8. “digital signature validation software” means a software used to verify the validity of the digital signature of the e-document.

9. “authenticity of a digitally-signed document” means that an e-document with a digital signature thereto can identify the digital signer, either personal signer or corporate signer, of the e-document.

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11. “online certificate status protocol” (OCSP) means a protocol which enable applications to determine the state of digital certificates.

12. “security device” means a physical device to store digital certificate and private key of a subscriber.

Article 4. Rules for using digital signatures for electronic documents

1. A digital signature must be attached to the e-document after digitally signing.

2. A digitally-signed document must ensure authenticity and integrity throughout the process of exchanging, processing and storing the digitally-signed document.

Article 5. Management of private key and seal secret key

1. The person authorized to digitally sign document is responsible for securing the private key.

2. The head of corporate is responsible for assigning the clerical staff to manage and use the seal secret key as prescribed.

3. The device to store the seal secret key must be safely kept at the head office of the corporate.

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DIGITAL SIGNING AND VERIFICATION OF DIGITAL SIGNATURE ON ELECTRONIC DOCUMENTS OF REGULATORY AGENCIES

Article 6. Digital signing on e-documents

1. The digital signing is done through digital signature software; the successful or unsuccessful digital signing of e-documents must be notified through the software.

2. Digital signing on e-documents

a) In case of personal signer, through digital signature software, the competent person shall use the private key to digitally sign the e-document;

b) In case of corporate signer, through digital signature software, the clerical staff assigned to use the seal secret key of the corporate shall digitally sign the e-document;

3. Information about digital signatures of personal or corporate signer on e-documents shall be displayed in accordance with regulations of the Ministry of Home Affairs.

4. Information about the personal or corporate signer shall be managed in the database accompanying the digital signature software. Information subject to management is specified in Clause 4, Article 1 of the Government's Decree No. 106/2011/ND-CP dated November 23, 2011.

Article 7. Verification of digital signature on e-document

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a) Decrypt the digital signature with the corresponding public key;

b) Verify the information of the personal signer on the digital certificate attached to the e-document; The verification of digital signer shall comply with Article 8 of this Circular;

c) Check the integrity of the digitally-signed document.

2. The digital signature on the e-document is valid when the verification of information about the digital certificate of the digital signer at the signing time is still valid, the digital signature is created by the secret key corresponding to the public key on digital certificate and the integrity of the e-document is ensured.

3. Information about the personal or corporate signer on e-documents must be managed in the database accompanying the digital signature validation software. Information subject to management is specified in Clause 4, Article 1 of the Government's Decree No. 106/2011/ND-CP dated November 23, 2011.

Article 8. Examination of validity period of the digital certificate

1. The validity of a digital certificate at the time of digital signing shall be checked following the steps below:

a) Examine the validity of the digital certificate through the certificate revocation list (CRL) published at the time of digital signing or through OCSP;

b) To check the digital certificate of a personal signer on an e-document, it is required to pay a visit to the Root CA.

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a) It still remains valid at the time of signing;

b) It is consistent with the scope of use and legal liability of the signer;

c) The status of the digital certificate is still active at the time of digital signing.

3. The digital certificate is invalid when it fails to meet one of the criteria in Clause 2 of this Article.

Article 9. Profile attached to digitally-signed document

1. Profile attached to digitally-signed document includes:

a) Regarding outgoing documents:

- Digital certificate of the personal signer at the time of signing;

- The certificate revocation list (CRL) at the time of signing of CA;

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- Liability of the signer;

- Certificate of valid time stamp at the time of signing.

b) Regarding incoming documents:

- Digital certificates corresponding to digital signatures on incoming documents;

- The certificate revocation list (CRL) at the time of signing of CA;

- Certificate practices statement of CA at the time of signing;

- Liability of the signer;

- Certificate of valid time stamp at the time of receipt.

3. Profile attached to the e-document shall be managed using digital signature software, digital signature validation software suitable with the storage time of the e-document as prescribed.

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1. The profile attached to e-document shall be cancelled together with the e-document.

2. The cancellation of profile attached to e-document may not prejudice other e-documents and shall ensure the ordinary course of the system.

3. The profile attached to e-document shall be cancelled using a software.

Chapter III

TECHNICAL AND FUNCTIONAL REQUIREMENTS FOR DIGITAL SIGNATURE SOFTWARE, DIGITAL SIGNATURE VERIFICATION SOFTWARE

Article 11. Technical and functional requirements for digital signature software, digital signature verification software

Digital signature software is an independent software or a software module that meets the following requirements:

1. Satisfying the technical standards and regulations specified in the appendix to this Circular;

2. Having function of digital signing on e-documents as prescribed in Clauses 2, 3 and 4, Article 6 of this Circular;

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4. Having the function of managing profile attached to digitally-signed documents specified in Article 9 of this Circular;

5. Having the function of cancelling profile attached to digitally-signed documents specified in Article 10 of this Circular;

6. Having the function of notifying (by words/by symbols) to the digital signer that the digital signing is successful or unsuccessful;

7. Supporting the installation and integration of root digital certificate of the CA to digitally sign documents into digital signature software to check the validity of the digital certificate on e-documents;

8. Affixing the time stamp at the time of digital signing.

Article 12. Technical and functional requirements for digital signature verification software

Digital signature validation software is an independent software or a software module with functions to verify digital signatures on e-documents that meets the following requirements:

1. Satisfying the technical standards and regulations specified in the appendix to this Circular;

2. Having function of verifying digital signing on e-documents as prescribed in Clauses 1, 2 and 3, Article 7 of this Circular;

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4. Having the function of cancelling cache attached to digitally-signed documents specified in Article 10 of this Circular;

5. Supporting the installation and integration of root digital certificate of the CA to digitally sign documents into digital signature validation software to check the validity of the digital certificate on e-documents;

6. Having the function of notifying the result of checking whether the digital signature is valid or invalid to the inspector;

7. Affixing the time stamp at the time of receiving incoming document.

Chapter IV

IMPLEMENTATION

Article 13. Responsibilities of the CA

1. Store, update and publish all of sufficient and accurate information on the website of the CA and the website must be available 24 hours a day and 7 days a week (to assist in determining the validity of digital signatures on e-documents)

a) Information related to the suspension and revocation of digital certificates and revoked digital certificates of the subscribers;

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c) Certificate practices statement of the CA.

2. Disclose technical specifications (both documentation and toolkit) related to the CA and digital signature standards; provide the root digital certificate of the CA to software developers to integrate into the digital signature validation software.

3. Encourage the CA to provide OCSP.

4. Provide Time Stamping services.

Article 14. Responsibilities of corporate using digital signatures for e-documents.

1. Apply digital signature software and digital signature validation software specified in Articles 11 and 12 of this Circular.

2. Initiate the network connection according to the provisions of Clause 3, Article 8 of the Government's Decree No. 64/2007/ND-CP of April 10, 2007 with safety, security and high availability.

3. Manage software products (according to their versions) that have functions of digital signing, verification of digital signatures, storing information attached to digitally-signed documents corresponding to technical regulations and standards to ensure the availability, compatibility and security in the process of using stored digitally-signed document.

Article 15. Responsibilities of the head of corporate using digital signature

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2. Regularly check to ensure that the management and use of digital signatures and digital certificates at the corporate comply with this Circular and other relevant regulations.

3. Based on practice requirements and requirements for information security in electronic transactions, make requests for issue, revocation and suspension of personal and corporate digital certificates within scope of management.

4. Upon request to convert stored digitally-signed documents into new file format (for reasons of information security or obsolete hardware or software), the head shall plan and seek approval from the information technology authority, to ensure compatibility and validity of digital signatures.

Article 16. Transitional provision

Within 12 months from the effective date of this Circular, agencies and organizations using software with digital signing and digital signature validation functions that have not met technical requirements and functions as prescribed in this Circular shall upgrade and supplement digital signature software and digital signature validation software to meet regulations.

Article 17. Implementation

1. The National Electronic Authentication Center (NEAC) shall assume take charge and cooperate with the Legal Department and concerned units in, guiding and providing technical assistance for the implementation of this Circular.

2. The Departments of Information and Communications of the provinces and centrally-affiliated cities, the information technology authorities of the ministries, the ministerial-level agencies, the Governmental agencies shall have the following responsibilities:

a) Disseminate the implementation of the provisions of this Circular;

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Article 18. Entry in force

1. This Circular comes into force as of February 5, 2018.

2. Chief of Office, Director of National Electronic Authentication Center, relevant agencies, organizations and individuals shall implement this Circular.

4. Difficulties that arise during the implementation of this Circular should be reported to National Electronic Authentication Center (affiliated to the Ministry of Information and Communication) for consideration./.

MINISTER




Truong Minh Tuan

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LIST OF STANDARDS IN DIGITAL SIGNATURES AND FORMAT OF DIGITALLY-SIGNED DOCUMENTS
(Issued together with Circular No. 41/2017/TT-BTTTT dated December 19, 2017 of the Ministry of Information and Communications)

No.

Type of standard

Standard symbol

Description of standard

Application

1

Standard in format of electronic document

1.1

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(.pdf)

Portable Document (.pdf) - Version 1.4 or later

Compulsory

1.2

Other format of digitally-signed document including: docs, sheets, slides, graphic arts

Standard in docs, sheets, slides, graphic arts in the list of technical standards in terms of application of information technology in regulatory agencies.

Recommended

2

Standard in digital signature

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Standard in digital signature

PKCS#1

RSA Cryptography Standard (version 2.1 or later)

Compulsory

TCVN 7635:2007

Cryptography techniques - digital signature

2.2

Secure Hash Standard

FIPS PUB 180-4

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SHA-256, 384, 512 are compulsory

2.3

XML Encryption Syntax and Processing

XML Encryption Syntax and Processing

XML Encryption Syntax and Processing

Compulsory

XML Signature Syntax and Processing

XML Signature Syntax and Processing

Compulsory

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XML Key Management Specification

XKMS v2.0

XML Key Management Specification version 2.0

Compulsory

2.5

Cryptographic message syntax for file-based signing and encrypting

PKCS#7 v1.5 (RFC 2315)

Cryptographic message syntax for file-based signing and encrypting

Compulsory

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Standard in Time Stamping services

3.1

Time stample Protocol

RFC 3161

Internet X.509 Public Key Infrastructure - Time stample Protocol

Compulsory

3.2

Time Stamping services

ISO/IEC
18014-1:2008

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Compulsory

- Apply ISO/IEC 18014- 1:2008); ISO/IEC 18014- 2:2009); ISO/IEC 18014- 3:2009.

ISO/IEC
18014-2:2009

Information technology - Security techniques - Time Stamping services -Part 2: Mechanisms producing independent tokens

ISO/IEC
18014-3:2009

Information technology - Security techniques - Time-stamping services - Part 3: Mechanisms producing linked tokens

Thông tư 41/2017/TT-BTTTT về quy định sử dụng chữ ký số cho văn bản điện tử trong cơ quan nhà nước do Bộ trưởng Bộ Thông tin và Truyền thông ban hành