Circular No. 23/2022/TT-BTTTT amends and supplements certain provisions of Circular No. 03/2013/TT-BTTTT dated January 22, 2013, issued by the Minister of Information and Communications on the application of standards and technology for Data Centers.

CIRCULAR
Amending and supplementing certain provisions of Circular No. 03/2013/TT-BTTTT
dated January 22, 2013 of the Minister of Information and Communications
on the application of technical standards and regulations for data centers

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

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

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

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

Pursuant to Decree No. 25/2011/NĐ-CP dated April 6, 2011 of the Government detailing and guiding the implementation of certain provisions of the Law on Telecommunications;

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

Pursuant to the proposal of the Director of the Science and Technology Department,

The Minister of Information and Communications promulgates this Circular amending and supplementing certain provisions of Circular No. 03/2013/TT-BTTTT dated January 22, 2013 of the Minister of Information and Communications on the application of technical standards and regulations for data centers

Article 1. Amending and supplementing certain contents of Circular No. 03/2013/TT-BTTTT dated February 22, 2013 of the Minister of Information and Communications on the application of technical standards and regulations for data centers

1. Market management agencies at all levels include: the Department of Domestic Market Management and Development under the Ministry of Industry and Trade; the Market Management Business Unit under the Department of Domestic Market Management and Development; the Market Management Sub-department under the Department of Industry and Trade of provinces and centrally-administered cities; and the Market Management Team under the Market Management Sub-department.

"Article 2. Scope of Application
1. This Circular applies to enterprises designing, constructing, operating, and managing data centers to provide data center services (hereinafter referred to as enterprises) and related organizations evaluating and certifying.
2. This Circular does not apply to enterprises designing, constructing, operating, and managing small edge computing data centers.

3. It is encouraged for other organizations and enterprises building and operating data centers to apply the technical standards and regulations stipulated in this Circular.

“2. The technical assurance level of the data center is the ‘rating’ specified in the national standard TCVN 9250:2021 (or ‘rated’ in the standard ANSI/TIA-942-8:2017), and ‘tier’ in the Tier standard of the Uptime Institute.
3. The organization evaluating and certifying is:
a) An organization that has registered its certification business scope, designated by the Ministry of Information and Communications, or a foreign evaluation and certification organization recognized by the Ministry of Information and Communications to evaluate and certify compliance with TCVN 9250:2021 (or ANSI/TIA-942-8:2017). The designated or recognized organization must have a management system and operational capacity meeting the requirements stipulated in TCVN ISO/IEC 17021-1:2015 or the international standard ISO/IEC 17021-1:2015 and must have the capability to conduct evaluations in accordance with TCVN 9250:2021 (or ANSI/TIA-942-B:2017);
b) An organization authorized by the Uptime Institute to evaluate and issue certificates in accordance with the Uptime Institute’s Tier standard.”
4. A small edge computing data center is a small-scale data center within a prefabricated enclosure, continuously monitored, and located at the edge of the network to support devices and applications. It is independent, may be in the form of a cabinet or container, and can be placed either inside or outside a building.

3. Amending Article 4 as follows:

“Article 4. Technical Standards and Regulations to be Applied
Data centers must apply the following technical standards and regulations:
1. National standard TCVN 9250:2021 (or ANSI/TIA-942-B:2017), or the Tier standard of the Uptime Institute;
2. National technical regulation on lightning protection for telecommunications stations and cable networks, code QCVN 32:2020/BTTTT;
3. National technical regulation on grounding for telecommunications stations, code QCVN 9:2016/BTTTT;
4. National technical regulation on fire safety for buildings and structures, code QCVN 06:2021/BXD.”

4. Amending and supplementing some points and clauses of Article 5 as follows:

a) Amend and supplement point a, Clause 1 as follows:

“a) Conducting assessment and announcing the conformity of the data center with the determined technical standards and assurance levels;

In case the data center has a technical assurance level of 3 or 4: the enterprise shall select an evaluation and certification organization according to Clause 3 of Article 3 of this Circular to assess and certify the data center's compliance with the standard;
In case the data center has a technical assurance level of 1 or 2: the enterprise may conduct self-assessment or select an evaluation and certification organization according to Clause 3 of Article 3 of this Circular to assess the data center's compliance with the standard.”

b) Amend and supplement Clause 3 and Clause 4 as follows:

"3. For the technical regulations stipulated in Clause 4 of Article 4 of this Circular, relevant agencies and enterprises are responsible for ensuring compliance with current regulations.
4. Relevant agencies and enterprises shall announce the conformity of the data center with the technical standards and regulations before putting the data center into operation to provide data center services, and report to the Ministry of Information and Communications (Telecommunications Department) when there are changes leading to discrepancies with the previously announced content."

5. Amending and supplementing certain points and clauses of Article 7 as follows:

“a) Receiving and managing the declaration files of conformity with technical standards and regulations from relevant agencies and enterprises; proactively providing online public services on the internet as prescribed;”

b) Supplementing Point c after Point b of Clause 1 as follows:

"c) Coordinating with relevant management agencies to organize inspections and spot checks of enterprises that do not comply with the provisions of this Circular; conducting spot checks of enterprises upon customer complaints."

"3. The Science and Technology Department shall be responsible for:
a) Organizing reviews, amendments, and supplements to the technical standards and regulations applicable to data centers and the provisions of this Circular according to each period, in line with practical management needs;
b) Guiding and organizing the designation and recognition of organizations evaluating and certifying data centers in compliance with technical standards and regulations according to current regulations;
c) Announcing the list of designated and recognized organizations evaluating and certifying on the Ministry of Information and Communications' electronic information portal."

6. Replacing Appendix 1 of Circular No. 03/2013/TT-BTTTT with Appendix 1 issued together with this Circular.

Article 2. Implementation clause

1. This Circular takes effect from February 1, 2023.

2. Data centers that have not been approved for design at the time this Circular takes effect must comply with the provisions of this Circular.

3. For data centers that have been approved for design prior to the effective date of this Circular, enterprises shall review and assess the application of the provisions of this Circular, and submit the results to the competent authority for consideration and decision. Before putting the data center into operation, enterprises shall self-assess and report to the Ministry of Information and Communications (Telecommunications Department) on the compliance of the data center with the technical standards and regulations stipulated in this Circular; and publicly disclose information about the self-assessment results on their corporate website.

4. For data centers that have been constructed and operated prior to the effective date of this Circular, within one year from the effective date of this Circular, enterprises shall self-assess and report to the Ministry of Information and Communications (Telecommunications Department) on the compliance of the data center with the technical standards and regulations stipulated in this Circular; and simultaneously publicly disclose information about the self-assessment results on their corporate website.

5. For data centers referred to in Clause 3 and Clause 4 of this Article, it is encouraged that enterprises apply the technical standards and regulations stipulated in this Circular during the process of modifying, renovating, and upgrading the data center, and implement notification of compliance of the data center according to Article 6 of Circular No. 03/2013/TT-BTTTT if compliance is achieved.

6. During implementation, if there are difficulties or obstacles, agencies, enterprises shall reflect them to the Ministry of Information and Communications for consideration and resolution.

7. The Director of the Office, the Heads of the Science and Technology Department, the Telecommunications Department, relevant agencies, enterprises, organizations, and individuals shall be responsible for implementing this Circular./.