Vietnam mandates face biometrics for mobile device registration

A facial recognition process is now required for new mobile device registrations in Vietnam.

The policy took effect April 15 under a circular issued March 31, following a draft released in January, and is intended to combat identity fraud and other illegal activities related to SIM card and mobile device ownership.

The registration process entails submitting one’s name and date of birth, as well as their national ID number and face biometrics.

Authorities say the measure, which is in line with a circular of the Ministry of Science and Technology, will be particularly useful to curb identity theft in situations where individuals lose their devices or where ownership changes without a deactivation of the previous registration.

Per the new regulation, telecoms companies have up to two hours to identify activities involving a device change and block outbound services until the owner of the new gadget completes a facial recognition-based registration process.

Once there is a block, the affected individual has up to 30 days to undertake the biometric verification to prevent a suspension of both inbound and outbound services. If the situation is not sorted out five days after the full service suspension, the telco is required to put an end to the subscription.

The new policy requires not only new SIM cards to be registered using facial recognition, but also identities linked to newly registered devices to be verified against the national population register and the resident database.

With the new measure, authorities say it is possible to conduct SIM card registration using the VNeID national digital ID application, and users can also verify the number of SIM cards linked to their ID using the platform. Meanwhile, they can complete the process either in physical offices or through other mobile applications made available by telcos.

The new measure is part of the Vietnamese government’s efforts towards combating identity theft, something which is also common with social media use. In February, measures aiming to mandate digital ID verification for social media use were announced.

Article Topics

biometrics  |  digital ID  |  facial recognition  |  identity verification  |  national ID  |  Project 06  |  SIM card registration  |  smartphones  |  Vietnam  |  VNeID