Decision No. 222/2005/QD-TTg on Approving the Overall Plan for the Development of E-commerce for the Period 2006-2010

DECISION OF THE PRIME MINISTER

Regarding the Approval of the Overall Plan for the Development of E-commerce for the Period 2006-2010

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PRIME MINISTER

Pursuant to the Law on Organization of the Government dated December 25, 2001;

Pursuant to Directive No. 58/CT-TW dated October 17, 2000 of the Politburo on accelerating the application and development of information technology in the industrialization and modernization process from 2001 to 2005;

Pursuant to Decision No. 272/2003/QĐ-TTg dated December 31, 2003 of the Prime Minister approving the strategy for the development of science and technology in Vietnam until 2010;

Considering the proposal of the Minister of Trade,

DECISION:

Article 1. Approves the Overall Plan for the Development of E-commerce for the Period 2006-2010 with the following main contents:

I. Development Perspective

1. Developing e-commerce contributes to promoting trade and enhancing the competitiveness of enterprises in the context of Vietnam's increasingly deep integration into the world economy;

2. The State plays a role in creating a favorable legal environment and policy mechanism to attract advanced technology and encourage enterprises to apply e-commerce; providing public services to support e-commerce activities;

3. The development of e-commerce needs to be closely linked with the application and development of information technology and telecommunications.

II. Objectives

By 2010, the development of e-commerce must achieve the following main objectives:

1. Approximately 60% of large-scale enterprises will conduct B2B e-commerce transactions;

2. Approximately 80% of medium and small-sized enterprises will be aware of the benefits of e-commerce and will conduct B2C or B2B e-commerce transactions;

3. Approximately 10% of households will conduct B2C or C2C e-commerce transactions;

4. Government tender announcements will be published on the websites of government agencies and e-commerce transactions will be applied in government procurement.

III. Main Policies and Solutions

1. Training and Promotion, Popularizing E-commerce

- Develop human resources in a coordinated and balanced manner based on mobilizing the contributions of the entire society. First, focus on training human resources and supporting the promotion of e-commerce applications among large enterprises. The State will have supportive policies during the initial phase for specific target programs;

- From 2006 to 2010, regular training will be conducted at universities, colleges, and vocational schools in economics and law departments; simultaneously, general training programs will be implemented at vocational schools in commerce and business management departments; training for state management officials responsible for policy planning and enforcement of laws on e-commerce at central and provincial levels; encouraging enterprises to participate in providing e-commerce training services;

- Popularize and widely promote e-commerce among the people, first targeting the business community, management levels, and industry associations.

2. Improving the Legal System

- By the end of 2006, issue all subordinate legal documents necessary to implement the Law on Electronic Transactions, the Commercial Law, and the Civil Code, establishing a legal basis for electronic messages. By the end of 2007, issue all regulatory legal documents governing aspects related to e-commerce such as dispute resolution, consumer protection, intellectual property rights protection, crime prevention, domestic tax issues, and customs duties.

- Review, supplement, and amend relevant legal documents to ensure that the entire legal system is generally oriented towards supporting and facilitating the development of e-commerce.

3. Requirements for Government Agencies in Providing Support Services for E-commerce and Conducting Electronic Transactions in Government Procurement:

- By 2010, all government agencies must move all public services online, prioritizing services such as electronic tax, electronic customs, electronic export-import procedures, investment and business registration procedures, specialized commercial permits, and dispute resolution procedures;

- Amend regulations on tendering in government procurement so that project sponsors must publish tender invitations on the websites of the national tender management agency and other agencies' websites. Central ministries, departments, and local authorities of major cities must gradually conclude government procurement contracts online.

4. Developing Supporting Technologies for E-commerce Based on Encouraging Technology Transfer from Abroad:

- Issue and popularize policies and measures to encourage investment in developing technologies serving e-commerce activities; common standards used in e-commerce, particularly electronic data interchange (EDI and ebXML) standards;

- Encourage and support banks and financial institutions in applying new technologies to banking operations and various types of banking services, especially electronic payment services; build electronic business networks for certain industries with significant economic scale.

5. Implementation of Legal Provisions Related to E-commerce:

- Establish effective mechanisms and organizations to enforce the protection of intellectual property rights, consumer protection, privacy, and dispute resolution in e-commerce according to current laws;

- Urgently implement statistical activities on e-commerce.

6. International Cooperation in E-commerce:

- Prioritize multilateral cooperation with international and regional economic organizations such as the WTO, APEC, ASEAN, ASEM, and specialized United Nations organizations such as UNCTAD, UNCITRAL, and UNCEFACT;

- Prioritize bilateral cooperation with advanced countries in e-commerce and countries with large trade volumes with Vietnam.

IV. Programs and Projects

Programs with specific projects aimed at implementing key policies and solutions during the period from 2006 to 2010:

1. Program for disseminating, promoting, and training on electronic commerce;

2. Program for establishing and perfecting the legal system for electronic commerce;

3. Program for providing public services supporting electronic commerce and applying electronic commerce in government procurement;

4. Program for developing technology supporting electronic commerce;

5. Program for enforcing laws related to electronic commerce;

6. Program for international cooperation on electronic commerce;

The contents and division of responsibilities for implementing the projects under these programs are specified in the Appendix attached to this Decision.

Article 2. Implementation

- Ministries, ministerial-level agencies, agencies under the Government, People's Committees of provinces and centrally governed cities assigned to lead the projects under the programs mentioned in Section IV, Article 1 shall be responsible for drafting implementation plans for the entire five-year period from 2006 to 2010 and detailed plans starting from 2006.

- Assign the Ministry of Planning and Investment to take the lead, coordinate with the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Trade to balance, consolidate, and allocate state budget resources in the five-year national plan and annual plans for the programs and projects of ministries, ministerial-level agencies, and provincial and centrally governed city People's Committees.

- Assign the Ministry of Trade to take the lead, coordinate with ministries, ministerial-level agencies, agencies under the Government, and provincial and centrally governed city People's Committees to implement this Decision; annually, compile the implementation situation, propose necessary measures to promote work, report to the Prime Minister for decision; summarize and report to the Prime Minister the results at the end of the overall plan.

Article 3. This Decision takes effect fifteen days from the date of publication in the Official Gazette.

Article 4. The Ministers, Heads of ministerial-level agencies, Heads of government agencies, Chairmen of provincial People's Committees under the central government are responsible for implementing this Decision.