The Cybersecurity Law was passed this morning of June 12 by the National Assembly, with 86.86% of NA deputies voting for the legislation.

National Assembly passed cybersecurity law on June 12 - PHOTO: VGP

The draft law, which will be signed into the law and take effect on January 1 next year, gained landslide support with 423 deputies out of the total 466 present casting their vote in approval, while 15 deputies voted against the draft and 28 others did not cast their vote.

The law is aimed to protect national security and safeguard social order and safety regarding the Internet, with both the Ministry of Public Security and the Ministry of Information and Communication serving as the watchdogs.

Before the vote, the NA Committee for Defense and Security on behalf of the NA Standing Committee made a presentation reviewing feedbacks from NA deputies on the draft.

With concerns from NA deputies over the mandate given to the Ministry of Public Security to launch cybersecurity inspections, the NA Committee for Defense and Security explained that the scope of the draft law was adjusted to such an extent to deal with threats on the internet that may infringe on the legal interests of organizations and individuals. It is also meant to create a legal foundation for competent agencies to ward off illegal activities on the internet.

The NA Standing Committee, according to Tuoi Tre, asserted that the information network crucial to national security must be subject to State management over cybersecurity by the Ministry of Public Security, and over information safety by the Ministry of Information and Communication.

The NA Standing Committee said that such management mandates are not overlapping, but in order to avoid repeated actions by such agencies, the Government is entrusted to issues regulations governing the coordination among competent agencies in this field.

Storage of data

The law requires local and international enterprises supplying telecommunication and internet services and other internet-based, value-added services in Vietnam to store essential data of local users. International enterprises engaging in such services must have their headquarters or offices located in Vietnam.

The NA Standing Committee explained that “basic agreements under the World Trade Organization such as GATT and GATS as well as the CPTPP also provide for exceptions on security. Therefore, it is necessary for us to resort to exceptions on security in this law to safeguard the people’s interest and national security.”

The committee added that as many as 18 countries as members of the WTO, including the U.S., Canada, Australia, Germany and France have issued regulations on compulsory storage of data within their territories.

Currently, Google and Facebook are storing data of Vietnamese organizations and individuals in their data centers in Hong Kong and Singapore, and under the new law on cybersecurity, these organizations will have to operate data centers in Vietnam, the NA committee said.

SGT