Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc has approved a proposal by the Ministry of Public Security (MPS) to roll out chip-based national ID cards as early as 2021.

The approval was confirmed on Thursday by General To Lam, Minister of Public Security, during a meeting of the steering committee for implementation of the national population database project and the project on production, issuance and monitoring of ID cards.

This national ID card project will run synchronously with the national population database project, due to be launched in early 2021, according to prime minister decision No. 1368 issued on Thursday.

The MPS will merge the steering committees of the two projects, all while consolidating their management boards to ensure the close, thorough and unified cooperation in their direction as well as communication aspects.

The ministry also called on relevant units to mobilize personnel and resources in preparation for meeting the settled goals and roadmap.

The ministry also expects breakthrough resolutions, detailed project design and evaluation sessions, diligence on ensuring infrastructure and information security of the project, as well as an early completion date on the research and design of the chip-based ID card template, among others.

The MPS inaugurated the distribution of barcode-based ID cards in 2016. So far, this design is only available in 16 cities and provinces nationwide, with a total of 16 million cards issued, while the rest of Vietnam are still keeping to the old 9- and 12-digit ID versions.

The MPS has eyed the chip-embedded version of ID cards since the citizen card revamp project was first initiated in 2012, but electronic chips were expensive and the country faced difficulties to master the technology at the time.

Electronic chips are much cheaper and can be manufactured by Vietnamese firms at the moment.

Major General To Van Hue, director of the Department of Police Records Management, said the implementation of the new chip-based ID cards will begin in November 2020.

Residents will not be subjected to switch to the new design immediately but rather be instructed to change their card following a multi-stage plan.

Essentially, the electronic chip is the only thing that distinguishes the new design from the current version, while other information, including the ID number, will remain unchanged.

There will be multiple ID card designs in existence simultaneously in the upcoming time, but the 9-digit version will be completely phased out by July 1, 2021, Hue said.

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