Some issues when start to collect ICT indicators in Vietnam Geneva 8-10 September 2003 Nguyen Duc Thang General Statistics Office of Vietnam

Introduction zCurrent situation of e-commerce development in Vietnam. yAt the present, e-commerce has been applied in various forms. yThe initiative of e-commerce in Vietnam has just been embarked, at the first step. zIn general, e-commerce in Vietnam has not yet been applied broadly and fully and GSO has some difficulties when start collecting ICT indicators as follow :

A. Subjective causes zFramework of organization of GSO yUp to now, GSO has not got a section, which responsible for collecting and processing ICT indicators. yGSO has submitted an Odirnance on a change of framework of organization to Primer Minister.

Subjective causes (continuous) zLacking of the document concerning to methodology zBuilding up the ICT indicators system.

Subjective causes (continuous) zLacking of computers for statistical staff on some provinces/cities. zUp to now, we have got about 50 percent of 61 Provincial Statistics Offices which in common use local area network (LAN).

B. Objective causes zSome problems are not only impact to applying, developing e-commerce but also to collecting ICT indicators in Vietnamas follow:

1. Awareness of the people on e-commerce zToday, the majority of Vietnamese, have not yet had a complete awareness on e- commerce. zThe proportion of internet subscribers (compared to the population) is much less than that in the regional countries.

Awareness of the people on e-commerce (continuos) zThe reasons are low skill of using information technology applicants and knowledge of English, low income affects to the ones' demand or lack of security when taking part in e-commerce zWorking manner and in general and purchasing habit in particular, are still under traditional form

2. Human resources for e-commerce zThe informative workforce of Vietnam has not yet satisfied the demand on the domestic software market. zThe majority of employee and people have not yet had sufficient skills to work and do business on the internet and with other modern equipment. zWeakness in English, the principle language on the internet, is also an obstacle to actively doing e-commerce.

3. Information and communication technology infrastructure yThe information and communication network of Vietnam has not yet satisfied the demand for quickly having access to the internet of consumers and businesses. yInternet access cost is rather high compared to income of the majority of people. yThe quality of telecommunication services, especially the quality of internet services, also influences the implement and development of e-commerce.

3. Information and communication technology infrastructure (continuos) yHardware equipment mainly is imported. ySome of 100% foreign-invested enterprises manufactured and exported printing circuits for information equipment, however the imported materials reached to 90%.

4. Legislation infrastructure yVietnam has not yet issued any legal texts stipulating in detail about e- commerce. This is a big barrier to the development of e-commerce in Vietnam. yThe Ordinance on E-commerce is under drafting process.

5. Electronic payment yElectronic payment system of Vietnam commercial banks has not yet developed sufficiently to satisfy requirements of e-commerce. yLegal texts related to tax, accounting and statistics management didn't accept invoices in electronic form of enterprises.

6. Electronic payment (continuos) yVietnam commercial banks have not yet focussed on investment in research and development of electronic banking system yThe usage of credit cards, payment cards, smart cards is limited to a narrow sphere, is now being experimented and has not yet become overall measures with respect to each bank.

7. Consumer protection zRecent years Vietnam has had many efforts in drafting and approving legal texts related to consumer protection. However, due to the context that e-commerce has not yet taken shape in Vietnam, all the above legal texts didn't reflect protection of consumer rights in e- commerce.

8. Information security zAt present, security technology applied in commerce has not yet developed in Vietnam. zTo encourage people to participate in e- commerce activities, Vietnam should quickly resolve the problems related to information security for e-commerce.

Some ICT indicators are collected in co- ordination with other census by GSO zThe Agriculture, Forest and Aquiculture census 2001, the Establishment Census zResult of some indicators as follow: -Number of Establishments: 2,9 million, of which: x Enterprises 2.2 % x Branch of enterprises 1.7% x Business household: 90.2% x Administrative Unit: 5.9%

Result of some indicators (continuous) -Rate of employee use computer compare to total: 7.84% -Rate of establishment using computer: 3.1% -Rate of establishment have access to the Internet: 0.76% -Rate of establishment have Website: 0.09% -Rate of establishment have used e- commerce: 0.14%

C. Recommendation of GSO to the International Organization for support and assistance zExpert for consulting of building up the ICT indicators system. zFinancial supports for organizing workshops, seminar and training on collecting ICT indicators. zEquipment supports for statistical staff. zFinancial supports for organizing a pilot survey on collecting ICT indicators.

Thank you