Circular No. 03/2003/TT-BTC dated January 10, 2003 of the Ministry of Finance stipulating the regime of collection, remittance and use management of charges for expertising, and fees for granting certificates of quality and technical safety for, machinery, equipment, supplies and substances subject to strict safety requirements

CIRCULAR

STIPULATING THE REGIME OF COLLECTION, REMITTANCE AND USE MANAGEMENT OF CHARGES FOR EXPERTISING, AND FEES FOR GRANTING CERTIFICATES OF QUALITY AND TECHNICAL SAFETY FOR, MACHINERY, EQUIPMENT, SUPPLIES AND SUBSTANCES SUBJECT TO STRICT SAFETY REQUIREMENTS

Pursuant to Charges and Fees Ordinance No. 38/2001/PL-UBTVQH10 and the Governments Decree No. 57/2002/ND-CP of June 3, 2002 detailing the implementation of the Ordinance on Charges and Fees and documents guiding the implementation thereof;

After obtaining the Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs Ministrys comments, the Finance Ministry hereby prescribes the regime of collection, remittance and use management of charges for expertising, and fees for granting certificates of quality and technical safety to, machinery, equipment, supplies and substances subject to strict safety requirements as follows:

I. SUBJECTS AND COLLECTION LEVELS:

1. Vietnamese as well as foreign organizations and individuals, when having their machinery, equipment, supplies and substances, which are subject to strict safety requirements, expertised and granted certificates of quality and technical safety (referred collectively to as expertise of technical safety) by State management agencies or authorized agencies (referred collectively to as technical safety-expertising agencies) according to law provisions, shall have to pay charges and fees under the provisions of this Circular.

2. To issue together with this Circular the Table of rates of charges for technical expertise of, and fees for granting certificates of quality and technical safety for, machinery, equipment, supplies and

Charges for technical expertise shall be collected according to the sample volumes actually expertised (not to collect upon the whole goods lots).

3. The charges and fees shall be collected in Vietnam dong (VND).

II. COLLECTION, REMITTANCE AND USE MANAGEMENT OF CHARGES AND FEES:

1. The technical safety-expertising agencies shall collect charges and fees according to the following provisions:

a) To organize the collection and remittance of technical safety-expertising charges and fees strictly according to the provisions of this Circular. When collecting charges and fees, they shall have to issue to the payers receipts for collection thereof (receipts of a type issued by the Finance Ministry and got at the Tax Departments of the localities where the technical safety-expertising agencies are headquartered).

b) To register, declare and remit technical safety-expertising charges and fees according to the provisions in the Finance Ministrys Circular No. 63/2002/TT-BTC of July 24, 2002 guiding the implementation of law provisions on charges and fees.

c) To open accounting books to monitor the collected, remitted and used amounts of charges and fees in strict accordance with the current accounting and statistical regimes. Everyday or every ten days, to make a list of and transfer the whole collected amounts of charges and fees into the accounts for temporary charge and fee custody opened at the State treasuries of the localities where they are headquartered and strictly manage them according to current financial regimes.

d) To make payments for, and final settlements of, the charge and fee collection receipts and make final settlements of the collected and remitted amounts of charges and fees with the tax offices directly managing them according to the regimes for management of receipts and prints prescribed by the Finance Ministry.

2. The technical safety-expertising agencies, which have not yet been allocated funding for expertise activities by the State budget, shall be allowed to deduct parts of the total charge and fee amounts actually collected in percentages (%) before remitting them into the State budget in order to serve the collection of charges and fees for expertising and granting of certificates of technical safety according to the following provisions:

- Region I Expertise Center (Hanoi city): 85% (eighty percent).

- Region II Expertise Center (Ho Chi Minh

- Region III Expertise Center (Da Nang city): 80% (eighty percent).

- Other technical safety-expertising agencies (unattached to the Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs Ministry): 80% (eighty percent).

The charge- and fee-collecting agencies shall be allowed to use the amounts deducted according to the above-prescribed percentages for the following spending contents:

a) Payment of salaries, remuneration and allowances according to the prescribed regimes.

b) Payment of contributions prescribed for laborers falling within the responsibility of employers.

c) Payment of allowances for hazardous works and expenses for labor protection for laborers according to the prescribed regimes.

d) Payment of public-service charges.

e) Expenses for purchase of office supplies as well as information, propagation and communication costs.

f) Payment of working trip allowances.

g) Expenses for conferences, seminars and professional training in service of the charge and fee collection.

h) Expenses for regular repair and overhaul of property, machinery and equipment in direct service of the charge and fee collection.

i) Expenses for printing (buying) forms of declarations, permits and receipts in service of the charge and fee collection.

j) Expenses for procurement of working equipment and facilities in direct service of the charge and fee collection.

k) Other regular expenses in service of the charge and fee collection.

l) Deductions for setting up reward funds and welfare funds for officials and employees directly organizing the collection of technical safety-expertising charges and fees. The total annual deduction for setting up reward funds and welfare funds of the units for one person shall not exceed 3 (three) months actually paid salary, if the collected amount of the year is higher than the previous years figure, and be equal to 2 (two) months actually paid salary, if the collected amount is lower than or equal to the previous years figure.

The whole amounts of charges and fees deducted for use for the above-prescribed spending contents must be incorporated in the annual budget estimates and be used for the right purposes with lawful vouchers as prescribed by the Finance Ministry. In cases where the amounts of charges and fees are used for spending contents other than the prescribed ones or used without valid spending vouchers, such spending amounts must be cancelled and fully remitted into the State budget. At the year-end, when making the final settlement of the deducted amounts of charges and fees, if such amounts are not used up, the units shall have to manage and use the remainder in strict accordance with the provisions in the Governments Decree No. 10/2002/ND-CP of January 16, 2002 on financial regimes applicable to non-business units with revenues and documents guiding the implementation thereof.

Annually, the technical safety-expertising agencies shall have to elaborate their cost estimates, make the final settlements of the collected and spent technical safety-expertising charges and fees and send them to the branch-managing agencies, financial offices and tax offices of the same level. After making the final settlement in strict accordance with regimes, the charge and fee amounts which have not yet been spent in the year shall be transferred to the subsequent year for spending according to the prescribed regimes.

3. The technical safety-expertising agencies, which have been allocated adequate funding for the charge and fee collection by the State budget, shall be allowed to make deductions for setting up reward funds and welfare funds for their officials and employees directly organizing the charge and fee collection as prescribed at the above-said Point 2l, Section II; the remainder must be fully remitted into the State budget.

4. For the total collected amounts of technical safety-expertising charges and fees, after substracting the deducted amounts retained at the above-prescribed percentages, the remainder must be remitted into the State budget by the collecting agencies according to the following provisions:

a) Within the first five days of the subsequent month, the technical safety-expertising agencies shall declare with the tax offices directly managing them the numbers of receipts already used, the collected charge and fee amounts, the deducted amounts and the amounts remitted into the State budget of the previous month in the forms prescribed by the tax offices, and take initiative in remitting the money into the State budget according to the declared amounts.

The tax offices, after receiving the declarations, shall check the declarations, determine the amounts to be remitted into the State budget and notify the charge- and fee-collecting agencies of the to-be-remitted amounts and time limits for remittance. The technical safety-expertising agencies shall make payment of the to-be-remitted amounts into the State budget according to the tax offices notices; if such amounts have not yet been adequately remitted, the deficit amounts must be remitted into the budget within the time limits inscribed in the notices; if they have been remitted in excess, the surplus amounts shall be deducted into the to-be-remitted amounts of the subsequent periods.

The amounts of charges and fees must be remitted into the State budget no later than the 15th of the subsequent month and be inscribed in the relevant chapter, category and clause, Section 038 of the prescribed State budget index (the collected amounts managed by central technical safety-expertising agencies shall be assigned to the central budget; the collected amounts managed by local technical safety-expertising agencies shall be assigned to local budgets).

b) The superior managing tax offices shall have to check the declarations and compare them with the collection receipts already issued and used to determine the collected charge and fee amounts and the to-be-remitted amounts and notify them to the technical safety-expertising agencies for the latter to make payments to the State budget as prescribed.

III. IMPLEMENTATION ORGANIZATION

1. This Circular takes effect 15 days after its signing; to annul all regulations on collection, remittance and use of charges and fees for expertising and granting use permits for machinery, equipment, supplies and substances subjects to strict safety requirements prescribed in Decision No. 58/2000/QD-BTC of April 21, 2000, Decision No. 70/2002/QD-BTC of June 4, 2002 and Circular No. 102/2000/TT-BTC of October 19, 2000 of the Finance Ministry.

2. In the course of implementation, if meeting with any difficulties, agencies, organizations and individuals are requested to report them to the Finance Ministry for study and additional guidance.

TABLE OF CHARGE AND FEE RATES

(Issued together with Circular No. 03/2003/TT-BTC of January 10, 2003 of the Ministry of Finance)

A. CHARGES FOR TECHNICAL SAFETY EXPERTISE OF MACHINERY, EQUIPMENT, SUPPLIES AND SUBSTANCES SUBJECT TO STRICT SAFETY REQUIREMENTS