As Vietnam expands its digital trust infrastructure, experts are examining how electronic signatures can gain recognition across borders, allowing documents signed in one country to be verified and accepted in another.
"If I sign a document in Vietnam, will it be accepted overseas? For example, can I use that document in Singapore, Malaysia or another country?"
The question was raised by Vijayakumar Manjunatha, Secretary-General of the Asia PKI Consortium (APKIC), at an international workshop titled "Cross-Border Trust Services: Building Digital Trust Infrastructure in the AI Era," organized by Vietnam's National Electronic Authentication Centre (NEAC) under the Ministry of Science and Technology on October 29.
The workshop was chaired by Deputy Minister of Science and Technology Pham Duc Long and attended by APKIC representatives, government agencies, international organizations, experts and digital technology companies working in electronic authentication, digital signatures and trust services.
Speaking at the event, Deputy Minister Long said digital transformation and artificial intelligence are profoundly reshaping public administration, manufacturing, business and everyday life.
Deputy Minister of Science and Technology Pham Duc Long addresses the international workshop on cross-border trust services. Photo: Pham Cong
Against this backdrop, trust services such as digital signature certification, electronic timestamping and data message authentication are no longer simply technological solutions. They have become essential components of digital economic infrastructure, helping verify identities and ensure the authenticity, integrity and verifiability of electronic transactions.
The deputy minister outlined four key priorities.
These include continuing to strengthen the legal framework and clarify conditions for recognizing foreign trust services; promoting technical interoperability to improve verification of digital signatures, digital certificates and electronic evidence; developing a trust services ecosystem that meets the practical needs of individuals and businesses; and expanding international cooperation.
He also called for pilot cooperation models in areas where demand is clearly established before gradually scaling them up.
At the workshop, Pham Quoc Hoan, Deputy Director of NEAC, presented Vietnam's progress and future direction in developing its digital trust infrastructure.
Pham Quoc Hoan, Deputy Director of the National Electronic Authentication Centre, presents Vietnam's digital trust infrastructure development strategy. Photo: Pham Cong
Vietnam has gradually strengthened its legal framework and national electronic authentication infrastructure, underpinned by the 2023 Law on Electronic Transactions and regulations governing trust services.
The country's trust services ecosystem now encompasses three main categories: digital signature certification, electronic timestamping and data message authentication.
"One of the current challenges is that verifying foreign digital signatures still involves numerous manual procedures, while countries differ in their certification policies, technical standards and regulatory mechanisms," Hoan said.
To improve interoperability, he emphasized the need to gradually establish mechanisms for connecting systems, exchanging trusted lists, determining equivalent assurance levels and clarifying the responsibilities of participating parties.
Sharing insights into regional cooperation, APKIC Secretary-General Vijayakumar Manjunatha cited preliminary findings from the consortium's 2026 survey covering 36 countries and territories.
APKIC Secretary-General Vijayakumar Manjunatha emphasizes the need to build bridges between national digital trust frameworks. Photo: Pham Cong
The survey found that most jurisdictions had established legal frameworks for digital signatures or trust services, but relatively few had entered into mutual recognition agreements.
Manjunatha raised a practical question about whether a document signed in Vietnam could be accepted and used in Singapore, Malaysia or elsewhere.
He argued that the region now needs to build bridges between national digital trust frameworks rather than create a single public key infrastructure (PKI) system for all of Asia.
For cross-border digital trust to function effectively, Manjunatha identified four interconnected areas that must be addressed.
The first is the legal framework, covering recognition rules, legal validity, liability and the admissibility of electronic evidence.
The second concerns supervision and assurance levels, including licensing, oversight of certification service providers, auditing, identity verification and service classification.
The third is technical interoperability, encompassing certificate profiles, signature formats, verification methods, certificate revocation and timestamping.
The fourth involves operational arrangements, including the publication of trust anchors, information distribution, status updates and incident notifications.
Offering a European perspective, Fábio Rego, a representative of UK-based Ascertia, shared experience in developing interoperable trust services infrastructure.
He highlighted the importance of trusted lists, technical standards and mechanisms for recognizing equivalent levels of assurance across jurisdictions.
According to Rego, technical connectivity alone cannot resolve the challenges of cross-border digital trust.
For digital signatures to be recognized and used in international transactions, countries must also address differences in legal systems, regulatory oversight and trust assurance requirements.
Vietnamnet.vn
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