The draft Law on Personal Data Protection

 Understanding the Draft Law on Personal Data Protection

The draft Law on Personal Data Protection represents a critical step forward in establishing a comprehensive legal framework for safeguarding individual privacy in the digital age. As Vietnam accelerates its digital transformation, personal data has become a valuable and vulnerable asset, increasingly targeted by cybercriminals and misused by entities lacking proper awareness or ethical standards.

Personal Data is fundamentally linked to one's identity, dignity, and personal freedom. However, the widespread collection, sharing, and processing of data-often without consent-has created an environment  where individual's information is easily exposed, traded, or exploited. This reality calls for a legal instrument that can both rectify current shortcomings and anticipate emerging threats in data governance.

The draw law takes a board and forward-looking approach. It is not limited to correcting existing misconduct such as unauthorized data collection or leaks. Rather, it aims to set clear rules and responsibilities for how data must be processed, stored, shared and protected. This includes provisions on consent, purpose limitation, data minimization, cross-boder transfers, and the rights of data subjects.

One of the most pressing concerns addressed by the draft is the low level of awareness among many businesses, organizations, and individuals in Vietnam regarding personal data protection. This lack of understanding has led to grey ares in how data is handled-creating loopholes for exploitation and making enforcement difficult.

Recent fraud cases have demonstrated that the unlawful disclosure and commercialization of personal data often serves as the foundation for various crimes, including identity theft, financial scams, and digital impersonation. The draft law, therefore, seeks to regulate both physical and digital environments, ensuring that no legal vacuum exists where violations can thrive.

Importantly, the law emphasizes human security-acknowledging that protecting personal data is not only a matter of information technology but also a fundamental issue of civil rights and safety in modern society.

If adopted and effectively enforced, the law could become a cornerstone of Vietnam's data governance ecosystem, aligning with global standards such as GDPR while reflecting the unique socio-political and technological context of the country.