Digital signature and its benefits have been repeatedly mentioned. Though many Vietnamese companies have used digital signature, they account for only a small number of business entities in the country. The registration and use of digital signature remains spontaneous and unsystematic.
This situation can be maintained only until the end of the first quarter of 2014 because enterprises will not be able to do customs procedures at Vietnamese customs agencies if they do not have digital signature from April 1, 2014.
Many benefits
Mr Nguyen Manh Tung, Director of Information Technology and Customs Statistics Department under the General Department of Vietnam Customs, said customs digital signature has two security keys: one key kept by the customs declarer and the other by customs officers. Digital signature is supplied by a third party which authenticates security keys when custom digital signature is in use.
With this trilateral security regime, digital signatures are more secure on the internet environment. This regime helps ensure the integrity of data and keeps the evidence against the non-repudiation of responsibility to contents signed, thus helping users feel peace of mind with their electronic transactions.
The use of digital signature is a compulsory trend when Vietnam integrates more deeply with the region and the world. On the other hand, the implementation of current account-based customs procedures is revealing some shortcomings. Most worryingly, many companies are not aware of their responsibility for keeping their accounts secure and their e-customs declaration accounts are at risk of revelation, appropriation or change without the knowledge of them and without their control. This leads to more risks. For example, they cannot access the system to declare customs documents or their accounts are abused by others to declare prohibited goods, falsify data to increase taxes or commit other violations with the accounts.
Deployed in narrow scope
On September 18, 2013, the Ministry of Finance dispatched a written request, saying that all companies must use digital signature when they do e-customs procedures from November 1. However, as of October 24, 2013 when the General Department of Vietnam Customs hosted a press conference to introduce the deployment of digital signatures in e-customs procedures, only 3,000 companies had e-customs signatures. And, on the first day of meeting the Ministry of Finance’s request, the number of companies with digital signature rose to 12,000 with about 13,000 signatures registered with customs authorities. This figure remained modest in comparison with 40,000 companies using e-customs procedures.
A customs representative explained that this was because not many companies were aware of this. He hoped that more companies will register digital signatures in the coming time and that no companies will be stopped from doing e-customs just because of no digital signature.
Irresistible trend
Mr Nguyen Manh Tung said as the timeline for deployment of digital signature in e-customs procedures requested by the Ministry of Finance is too short, the customs sector proposed solutions to deal with companies without digital signature. Accordingly, after November 1, 2013, the customs authority will maintain two options for handling e-customs procedures: One for companies with registered digital signature and the other for companies without digital signature. He added that both the General Department of Vietnam Customs and the Ministry of Finance share the view that customs procedures of enterprises cannot be stopped just because of no digital signature.
However, this concession cannot last long. All enterprises must have digital signature before the end of the first quarter of 2014 because Vietnam will officially launch the advanced VNACCS/VCIS system on April 1, 2014 when customs procedures without digital signature will be stopped and settled according to the law as this system works automatically. Digital signature is required for processing.
He said that Vietnam now has dozens of digital signature suppliers authorised by the Ministry of Information and Communications like BKAV, VNPT-CA, Nacencom, CK-CA, Safe-Ca, Viettel-CA and SmartSign. Companies can choose any digital signature supplier they want and register their digital signatures with customs authorities. Registration fee for a digital signature is about VND1.5 million, possibly including a token key. The registration of digital signatures with customs authorities is also very fast. It takes no more than two minutes to fill up information at the e-customs procedure gateway (www.customs.gov.vn) and customs authorities will immediately notify the success or failure of that digital signature registration. After the signature is accepted, it can be used to carry out customs procedures at all customs offices nationwide.
M.L
Đăng ký: VietNam News