Circular No. 22/2023/TT-BTTTT stipulates the structure, layout, and technical requirements for government agencies' electronic information portals and websites.

CIRCULAR

REGULATIONS ON THE STRUCTURE, LAYOUT, AND TECHNICAL REQUIREMENTS FOR ELECTRONIC PORTALS AND WEBSITES OF STATE AGENCIES

On the basis of Law on Information Technology June 29, 2006;

On the basis of Law on Access to Information April 6, 2016;

On the basis of Law on Cybersecurity November 19, 2015;

Decree No. April 19, 2022 of the Government dated July 26, 2022, of the Government stipulating the functions, tasks, powers, and organizational structure of the Ministry of Information and Communications;

Decree No. Decree No. 42/2022/NĐ-CP Pursuant to the Government's Decree No. 24/2022/ND-CP dated June 24, 2022 on the provision of information and online public services by state agencies in the online environment;

At the proposal of the Director of the National Digital Transformation Agency;

The Minister of Information and Communications issues this Circular regulating the structure, layout, and technical requirements for electronic portals and websites of state agencies.

PART I

GENERAL PROVISIONS

Article 1. Scope of Regulation

This Circular regulates the structure, layout, and technical requirements for electronic portals and websites of state agencies.

Article 2. Applicability

1. Ministries, ministerial-level agencies, government agencies; General Departments, Departments, and equivalent agencies; People's Committees of provinces and centrally-administered cities; specialized agencies under the People's Committees of provinces and centrally-administered cities; People's Committees of districts, towns, townships, and cities under provinces and centrally-administered cities (hereinafter collectively referred to as District People's Committees); People's Committees of communes, wards, and townships under districts, towns, townships, and cities under provinces and centrally-administered cities (hereinafter collectively referred to as Commune People's Committees).

2. Organizations and individuals participating or related to providing solutions, building, developing, upgrading, expanding, operating, and connecting with electronic portals and websites of state agencies.

Article 3. Explanation of Terms

In this Circular, the following terms are understood as follows:

1. An electronic website of a state agency is an electronic website as defined in Clause 21, Article 3 of the Government's Decree No. 72/2013/ND-CP dated July 15, 2013 on management, provision, and use of Internet services and information on networks, and has a domain name as stipulated in Clause 4, Article 6 of the Government's Decree No. 42/2022/ND-CP dated June 24, 2022 on the provision of information and online public services by state agencies in the online environment. Each electronic website of a state agency is a component of an electronic portal of a state agency (referred to as a component page).

2. Header is the top part of an electronic portal and an electronic website and is displayed consistently across interfaces. The header includes information to identify the electronic portal and electronic website, some utilities, as well as the navigation bar of the page.

3. Footer is the bottom part of an electronic portal and an electronic website and is displayed consistently across interfaces. The footer of an electronic portal and an electronic website must contain complete information about the managing and operating unit and the entity responsible for the content, including at least: the name of the unit, the person responsible, address, contact phone number, email address of the unit.

4. Navigation Bar: is the part containing links or icons to help users conveniently search and access content on the interface, access important parts of the electronic portal and electronic website such as the homepage, introduction, information or services, contact, personal account, and many other features.

5. Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG): are international standards for content on electronic portals and websites to ensure convenient access for everyone, including people with disabilities.

Chapter II

TECHNICAL REGULATIONS FOR ELECTRONIC PORTALS AND WEBSITES

Article 4. General requirements for electronic information portals and websites

1. Compliance with regulations on providing information by state agencies in the online environment as stipulated in Chapter II of Decree No. 42/2022/NĐ-CP dated June 24, 2022 of the Government on the provision of information and online public services by state agencies in the online environment, Article 28 of the Law on Information Technology, and Article 20 of Decree No. 64/2007/NĐ-CP dated April 10, 2007 on the application of information technology in the activities of state agencies.

2. Compliance with the framework architecture of the Vietnamese Digital Government and Digital State at the ministry level, and the e-Government and Digital State framework at the provincial level, currently in force, for electronic information portals and websites at the ministry level; and the e-Government and Digital State framework at the provincial level, currently in force, for electronic information portals and websites at the provincial level.

3. Information of state agencies in the online environment shall be stored in structured data format within databases and shared as web services to ensure the ability to connect and share information between state agency information systems.

4. Electronic information portals or websites shall have contingency plans to ensure safe, continuous operation and to address incidents when they occur, except in cases of force majeure as prescribed by law.

5. The managing authority of electronic information portals or websites shall establish management, operation, and information provision regulations including procedures for handling incidents and receiving and processing violations according to the law.

6. Electronic information portals or websites shall be equipped with monitoring codes on the System for Monitoring and Measuring the Level of Provision and Use of Digital Government Services (EMC System) based on information provided according to the form attached as Appendix I to this Circular.

7. Structure and layout on the interface of electronic information portals and websites.

a) Electronic information portals and websites shall display labels indicating their connection to the EMC System.

b) Electronic information portals shall display links on the homepage leading to component pages of the portal.

c) Websites shall display links on the homepage leading to the electronic information portal to which the website belongs.

d) Ensure color and layout consistency between the portal and component pages at the top and bottom interfaces.

8. Compliance with data storage regulations as prescribed by laws on data storage, online information security, cybersecurity, and other relevant laws.

9. Ensuring compliance with specific data requirements as specified in

Appendix IV issued together with this Circular.

10. Requirements for electronic information portals

a) Deployment on infrastructure capable of expansion according to usage needs.

b) Meeting security requirements for information systems at level 3 or higher.

11. Requirements for websites may be deployed on standard infrastructure according to usage needs.

Article 5. Functional requirements for electronic information portals and websites

The minimum functional requirements for electronic information portals and websites are set forth in Appendix II issued together with this Circular.

Article 6. Requirements for performance of electronic portals and websites

1. Page load performance for user experience: initial content display time, longest content display time, content download time, response time, details in Appendix II attached to this Circular.

2. System performance includes: average response time, longest response time, simultaneous access, number of active users at the same time, details in Appendix II attached to this Circular.

Article 7. Information security requirements for electronic portals and websites

1. Electronic portals and websites must comply with legal provisions on ensuring information system security levels and other relevant legal provisions.

2. The determination of information security level for electronic portals shall comply with the provisions of Clause 10, Article 4 of this Circular.

Chapter III

PROVISIONS ON CONNECTION TO SUPPORT SUPERVISION, MONITORING, AND EVALUATION WORK

Article 8. General provisions on connection and data collection for the EMC System

1. Data collected by the EMC System from electronic portals and websites is specified in Appendix III attached to this Circular.

2. Electronic portals and websites must be connected to the EMC System before being officially put into operation to manage and monitor the effectiveness and degree of provision and use of information by state agencies on the online environment.

3. Agencies and organizations conducting activities involving connection and data sharing with the EMC System have the responsibility to retain logs of connection implementation for at least one year from the date of completion of the connection to serve tracking, inspection, and monitoring work.

Article 9. Rights of agencies and organizations connecting to the EMC System

1. Exploit and use data collected on the EMC System within the scope of authorized management.

2. Request the EMC System management agency to resolve technical issues affecting the right to exploit and use information; technical incidents during the connection process through email, contact phone numbers, at the headquarters of the EMC System management agency (National Digital Transformation Agency - Ministry of Information and Communications), or by submitting a written request for support and resolution of issues.

Article 10. Responsibilities of agencies and organizations connecting to the EMC System

1. Coordinate with the EMC System management agency to periodically review and evaluate to ensure stable and continuous technical connection.

2. Notify the EMC System management agency of changes in embedded code, system configuration, connection configuration, and issues causing incomplete data from the electronic portal or website.

3. Notify the EMC System management agency of changes in the responsible point of contact for coordination regarding the electronic portal and website according to the information provision form in Appendix I attached to this Circular.

Article 11. Responsibilities of the EMC System management agency

1. Take the lead and coordinate with agencies and organizations operating electronic portals and websites and related agencies and organizations to resolve and handle incidents and issues arising during the connection process.

2. Coordinate with relevant units to review and evaluate to ensure that the data collected as specified in Appendix III attached to this Circular is complete and accurate; full embedding code; complete connection configuration functioning normally.

Chapter IV

IMPLEMENTATION

Article 12. Transitional Provisions

For electronic portals and websites currently in operation prior to the effective date of this Circular, the main management agency of the information system shall conduct a review of the list of electronic portals and websites; coordinate with the EMC System management agency to establish monitoring codes to manage and monitor the effectiveness and degree of provision and use of information by state agencies on the online environment. The review must be completed within one year from the effective date of this Circular.

Article 13. Effectiveness and Responsibility for Implementation

1. This Circular takes effect from April 5, 2024; it abolishes Articles 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, and 22 of Circular No. 32/2017/TT-BTTTT dated November 15, 2017 of the Ministry of Information and Communications on the provision of online public services and ensuring convenient access to government agencies' electronic information websites or portals, and Circular No. 24/2011/TT-BTTTT dated September 20, 2011 of the Ministry of Information and Communications on the creation, use, and storage of descriptive data on government agency electronic portals or websites.

2. The Ministry of Information and Communications (National Digital Transformation Agency) shall be responsible for organizing inspections, supervision, and evaluations of government agencies' electronic portals and websites in accordance with the law; organizing the publication and ranking of government agencies' electronic portals and websites annually.

3. In the course of implementing this Circular, if there are any difficulties, relevant agencies and units shall contact the Ministry of Information and Communications (National Digital Transformation Agency) for coordination and resolution./.