The Law on Cyber Security’s regulations regarding data storage and establishment of branches and representative offices in Vietnam are in line with international practices, said an official of the Ministry of Public Security. 

At the press conference

Major General Luong Tam Quang, Chief of the Ministry of Public Security’s Office, made the affirmation while answering reporters’ queries about the draft decree guiding the implementation of the law at the Government’s regular press conference in Hanoi on November 3. 

He further explained that 18 countries worldwide have issued documents and laws asking foreign enterprises to store critical data within national territory. Among those are the US, Canada, Russia, China, Indonesia, Denmark, Finland and Sweden. 

Quang also cited the European Union (EU)’s personal data protection regulation that officially took effect on May 25, 2018, allowing individuals to control their personal data when joining social forums. 

Furthermore, the law’s regulations match capacity of businesses, Quang said, taking Google and Facebook as examples, which have respectively established 70 and 80 representative offices in countries across the world, including Singapore, Indonesia and Malaysia in Southeast Asia. 

They also suit the domestic legal system, covering the 2005 Commerce Law and the 2017 Foreign Trade Management Law, he added.

He went on to say that such regulations do not go against international commitments, including treaties relating to the World Trade Organisation (WTO) and the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP).

Minister-Chairman of the Government Office Mai Tien Dung said the issuance of the law is necessary, noting that apart from food security and social safety and security, cyber security relates to national sovereignty safeguarding, aiming to ensure a good environment for investment attraction. 

The National Assembly passed the Law on Cyber Security last June, with majority voting yes to the controversial bill.

Four hundred and twenty-three deputies voted to approve the bill, accounting for 86.86 percent of those present at the assembly hall, while only 15 voted against it. Twenty-eight deputies abstained.

The law will go into effect on January 1, 2019.

The law requires all internet-related service providers, regardless of whether they are foreign or domestic companies, to open a representative office and maintain a customer database in servers based in Vietnam in exchange for authorisation to operate legally in the country.-VNA