Circular 06/2022/TT-BKHDT guiding Decree 80/2021/ND-CP detailing and guiding the implementation of the Law on Support for Small- and Medium-sized Enterprises

CIRCULAR

Guiding a number of articles of the Government’s Decree No. 80/2021/ND-CP dated August 26, 2021, detailing and guiding the implementation of a number of articles of the Law on Support for Small- and Medium-sized Enterprises

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Pursuant to the Law on Support for Small- and Medium-sized Enterprises dated June 12, 2017;

Pursuant to the Government’s Decree No. 80/2021/ND-CP dated August 26, 2021, detailing and guiding the implementation of a number of articles of the Law on Support for Small- and Medium-sized Enterprises;

Pursuant to the Government’s Decree No. 86/2017/ND-CP dated July 25, 2017, defining the functions, tasks, powers and organizational structure of the Ministry of Planning and Investment;

At the proposal of the Director of the Enterprise Development Agency;

The Minister of Planning and Investment hereby promulgates the Circular guiding a number of articles of the Government’s Decree No. 80/2021/ND-CP dated August 26, 2021, detailing and guiding the implementation of a number of articles of the Law on Support for Small- and Medium-sized Enterprises.

Chapter
GENERAL PROVISIONS

Article 1. Scope of regulation and subjects of application

1. Scope of regulation: This Circular guides a number of articles of the Government’s Decree No. 80/2021/ND-CP dated August 26, 2021, detailing and guiding the implementation of a number of articles of the Law on Support for Small- and Medium-sized Enterprises (hereinafter referred to as SMEs) regarding support in terms of technology (excluding Clause 5, Article 11 of Decree No. 80/2021/ND-CP); consultancy; human resource development (excluding Clause 4, Article 14 of Decree No. 80/2021/ND-CP); support for innovative startup SMEs; SMEs engaged in industrial clusters or value chains; management of support for SMEs.

2. Subjects of application:

a) Enterprises that are established, organized, and operate in accordance with the law on enterprises as well as satisfy the criteria for being identified as SMEs, prescribed in Chapter II of Decree No. 80/2021/ND-CP.

b) Ministries, ministerial-level agencies, Government-attached agencies, People’s Committees of provinces and centrally-run cities (hereinafter referred to as provincial-level People’s Committees).

c) Agencies and organizations providing support for SMEs.

d) Suppliers of products and services to support SMEs. If the suppliers are organizations, they must be established and operate in accordance with Vietnamese laws.

dd) Agencies, organizations and individuals involved in providing support for SMEs.

Article 2: Interpretation of terms

1. Number of workers covered by social insurance as prescribed in Clause 1, Article 7 of Decree No. 80/2021/ND-CP means the total number of workers who participate in social insurance while signing labor contracts with an indefinite term and a definite term of less than 36 months with the SME. Of them, workers signing contracts with a definite term of less than 36 months may be paid for their social insurance premiums by SMEs or other units.

2. SMEs executive manager means an enterprise manager as prescribed in Clause 24, Article 4 of the Enterprise Law No. 59/2020/QH14.

3. SMEs located in areas with extremely difficult socio-economic conditions mean enterprises whose head offices are located in areas prescribed in Appendix III to the Government’s Decree No. 31/2021/ND-CP dated March 26, 2021, detailing and guiding the implementation of a number of articles of the Law on Investment.

4. Chain-heading enterprises mean enterprises being established and operating in accordance with Vietnamese and foreign laws, satisfying the criteria prescribed in Clause 11, Article 3 of Decree No. 80/2021/ND-CP, and signing contracts to buy products from SMEs.

5. Innovative startup investment funds are funds contributed by domestic and foreign private investors and established in accordance with Vietnamese laws to conduct innovative startup investment.

6. An electronic document means a document in the form of a data message created online or digitized from a paper document, which accurately and completely representing the content of such paper document.

7. Agencies and organizations providing support for SMEs mean agencies, units and public service providers (directly) under ministries, ministerial-level agencies, Government-attached agencies, provincial-level People’s Committees and public service providers belonging to agencies or units (directly) under ministries, ministerial-level agencies, Government-attached agencies, and provincial-level People’s Committees, that have the function of performing activities related to enterprise development support.

Article 3. Guidance on supporting SMEs

1. Agencies and organizations providing support for SMEs shall prioritize allocating funds to support women-owned SMEs, SMEs employing a lot of female workers, and SMEs being social enterprises.

2. Agencies and organizations providing support for SMEs shall base themselves on the provisions of Article 5 of Decree No. 80/2021/ND-CP to select criteria for determining the size of micro-enterprises, small-sized enterprises, and medium-sized enterprises, ensuring that the enterprises enjoy the most favorable level of support.

3. Agencies and organizations providing support for SMEs shall determine the size of SMEs, identify women-owned SMEs, and SMEs employing a lot of female workers based on their declarations as prescribed in Appendix 1 to Decree No. 80/2021/ND-CP. In case it is necessary to compare the information declared by the SMEs, the agencies and organizations providing support for SMEs shall base on the following documents:

a) To determine the size of SMEs:

- Balance sheets and income statements included in the financial statements.

- A list of workers currently employed by the SMEs, together with the corresponding social insurance payment receipts. For workers whose social insurance premiums are paid by other units, the SMEs shall have written certifications that these workers have been paid for social insurance premiums.

b) To identify SMEs that use a lot of female workers: Enterprises that meet the requirements prescribed at Point a, Clause 3 of this Article and have the number of female workers as prescribed in Clause 8, Article 3 of Decree No. 80/2021/ND-CP.

c) To identify women-owned SMEs: Agencies and organizations providing support for SMEs shall search the percentage of capital contributed to the enterprises by female executive managers on the National Business Registration Portal or in the shareholder books, in case of joint stock companies.

4. SMEs may propose multiple support contents in their dossiers of request for support. At the same time with the same support content, SMEs may only send to one agency or organization providing support for SMEs.

5. SMEs shall not be restricted in the number of times of being supported or the number of support contracts for prescribed support contents worth millions of VND/year/enterprise or millions of VND/year but it must not exceed the maximum support rate and levels prescribed in Decree No. 80/2021/ND-CP.

6. Agencies and organizations providing support for SMEs shall publicize SMEs support information as follows:

a) Register accounts on the National Portal on Support for SMEs (hereinafter referred to as the portal) at https://business.gov.vn and disclose information as prescribed at Point d, Clause 5, Article 28 and Clause 6, Article 29 of Decree No. 80/2021/ND-CP.

b) Publicize on their websites the information prescribed at Point a of this Clause and details about the units bearing the prime responsibility, the method of receiving and handling the requests for support from SMEs; a list of products and services to support SMEs provided by their units; database of SMEs that have received support and related contents.

7. Documents and dossiers related to the SMEs’ dossiers of request for support prescribed at Point b, Clause 4, Article 32 of Decree No. 80/2021/ND-CP to be submitted to the agencies and organizations providing support for SMEs are true copies or photos of the originals or the main copies, not required to be authenticated. In case of necessity, the Agencies and organizations providing support for SMEs shall request the SMEs to provide the originals or the main copies for comparison of information.

8. The forms as prescribed in the appendices to this Circular and the dossiers of request for support from SMEs shall be submitted to the competent agencies in the form of paper documents (directly sent) or electronic documents (submitted online) and the originals or the main copies thereof shall be provided for verification upon request. Electronic documents shall be stored in accordance with the law provisions on archives and be presented when necessary.

9. SMEs shall only receive support in terms of consultancy as prescribed in Decree No. 80/2021/ND-CP and this Circular when employing consultants from the network of consultants.

Article 4: Activities to be supported by the State budget

Agencies and organizations providing support for SMEs shall determine the activities to be supported by the State budget as prescribed in Clause 3, Article 32 of Decree No. 80/2021/ND-CP as follows:

1. Support in terms of consultancy: remunerations for providing consultancy for SMEs; field visits, meetings and working trips of individual consultants; interpretation for foreign individual consultants; management conducted by institutional consultants (in case the consultants are organizations).

2. Support contents prescribed in Clause 5, Article 22; Points c, d, dd, Clause 6, Article 22; Clause 1, Article 25; Points d, dd, Clause 3, Article 25 of Decree No. 80/2021/ND-CP: follow the instructions prescribed in Articles 16 and 19 of this Circular.

3. Support contents prescribed in Clause 2, Article 11; Clause 1, Article 22; Points b and c, Clause 3, Article 22; Points b and c Clause 4, Article 25; Clause 5, Article 25 of Decree No. 80/2021/ND-CP: comply with the provisions of specialized legal documents guiding economic and technical standards and norms. In the absence of such regulations, they shall be based on the work items stated in the quotation of the suppliers in the market, which must be reasonable, valid, effective, and meet the needs of the SMEs.

Article 5. Procedures to provide support for SMEs

Agencies and organizations providing support for SMEs shall provide support for the SMEs in accordance with Article 32 of Decree No. 80/2021/ND-CP as follows:

1. A dossier of request for support includes:

a) A declaration made using the form prescribed in Appendix 1 to Decree No. 80/2021/ND-CP, clearly stating the contents and budget requested to be supported, and the supplier’s quotation (if any).

b) Documentation related to the requested support contents: Documents identifying innovative startup SMEs prescribed in Clauses 1 and 2, Article 15 of this Circular; SMEs engaged in industrial clusters and value chains in the field of production and processing prescribed in Articles 17 and 18 of this Circular; other directly related documents (if any).

2. Regarding the support in terms of human resource development for SMEs as prescribed in Clauses 1, 2, 3, Article 14 of Decree No. 80/2021/ND-CP: agencies and organizations providing support for SMEs shall comply with the provisions of Section 2, Chapter II of this Circular.

3. Regarding the support in terms of technology and consultancy and the support for innovative startup SMEs, SMEs engaged in industrial clusters and value chains as prescribed in Clauses 1, 2, 3, 4, Article 11, Clause 2, Article 13 and Article 22, Article 25 of Decree No. 80/2021/ND-CP: agencies and organizations providing support for SMEs shall comply with the provisions of Clause 3, Article 32 of Decree No. 80/2021/ND-CP (using the contract form in Appendix 1 to this Circular).

4. Agencies and organizations providing support for SMEs shall check the dossiers, summarize the requested support needs of the SMEs and approve plans to support SMEs on an annual or quarterly basis. The selection of suppliers to implement the plans to support SMEs shall comply with the law provisions on bidding.

Article 6. Management of support for SMEs

1. Overall management

a) Activities related to the overall management: communication activities related to the support, support contents for SMEs; organization of conferences and seminars to guide and review the support for SMEs; sending of delegations to evaluate the implementation of the support for SMEs; organization of surveys of SMEs’ needs for support in order to plan and estimate support for the planning year.

b) The Ministry of Planning and Investment shall be allocated no more than 1% of the total annual funding from the Central budget to support SMEs in order to conduct the overall management of support for SMEs nationwide.

c) The agencies bearing the prime responsibility under the ministries, ministerial-level agencies, and Government-attached agencies (the units assigned to assume the prime responsibility for, and coordinate with relevant units in, formulating mechanisms and policies, organizing the implementation, evaluating, summarizing and reporting on the results of activities to support SMEs) and the Department of Planning and Investment in localities shall be allocated no more than 2% of the total annual funding from the Central budget to support SMEs in order to conduct the overall management of support for SMEs within their respective sectors, fields and localities.

2. Direct management of support

Agencies and organizations providing support for SMEs shall be allocated no more than 5% of the total annual funding from the Central budget to support SMEs in order to conduct the direct management of support activities, including:

a) Activities to support SMEs: business trips; overtime payments; communications; organization of meetings and seminars; hiring experts; organization of surveys directly at enterprises to decide on support; activities directly serving the support of SMEs.

b) Operations of councils for selection of innovative startup SMEs as prescribed in Clause 3, Article 21 of Decree No. 80/2021/ND-CP: review of dossiers and documents of innovative startup SMEs; hiring experts; overtime payments; communications; organization of meetings to evaluate the enterprises’ profiles; meetings to evaluate the results of selection of innovative startup SMEs; other activities directly related to the operations of the councils.

c) Selection of suppliers in accordance with the law provisions on bidding.

Chapter II

SUPPORT FOR SMES

Section 1

SUPPORT IN TERMS OF TECHNOLOGY AND CONSULTANCY

Article 7. Support in terms of technology

SMEs shall be entitled to technology support in accordance with the content and support levels prescribed in Clauses 1, 2, 3, 4, Article 11 of Decree No. 80/2021/ND-CP. Agencies and organizations providing support for SMEs shall provide support in accordance with the provisions of Articles 4 and 5 of this Circular and a number of specific provisions as follows:

1. SMEs shall be supported with costs to hire and purchase digital transformation solutions that have been announced on the portal or the website of the Ministry of Information and Communications or the websites of the suppliers.

2. SMEs shall assess their readiness for digital transformation to propose appropriate support. SMEs shall use the digital conversion assessment toolkit which may be found at https://digital.business.gov.vn or https://dbi.gov.vn or is issued by agencies and organizations providing support for SMEs.

3. Agencies and organizations providing support for SMEs shall use the results of the digital transformation assessment of SMEs to consider providing support suitable to the SMEs’ receiving capacity.

Article 8. Consultants

1. Consultants prescribed at Point a, Clause 1, Article 13 of Decree No. 80/2021/ND-CP include:

a) Individual consultants who are Vietnamese citizens (other than cadres and civil servants as prescribed by the Law on Cadres and Civil Servants) and foreigners working in Vietnam.

b) Institutional consultants which are organizations with legal status, being established and operating in accordance with Vietnamese laws, and having the function of providing consultancy for enterprises.

2. Registration for joining the network of consultants:

a) Individual and institutional consultants shall send their applications for joining the network to the appropriate ministries or ministerial-level agencies for accreditation. Documents in foreign languages must be sent with certified Vietnamese translations.

b) Consultants shall access the portal, register and have an account granted by the Ministry of Planning and Investment to update information into the consultant network database. The consultants shall take full accountability to the laws for the accuracy of the information updated on the portal.

3. Update of consultants’ information:

a) When there are new documents and information related to the competence and experience, the consultants shall update their profiles on the portal; and at the same time send them to the ministries or ministerial-level agencies to be included in their accredited dossiers.

b) In case of detecting incorrect information which does not alter the consultants’ capacity in terms of educational and professional qualifications as well as consultancy experience, the consultants shall update their correct information on the portal, and at the same time send notices to the ministries or ministerial-level agencies that have accredited such consultants for review and correction of information.

4. Consultants shall be free to participate in training courses on standardization of consulting skills, processes and knowledge organized by ministries and ministerial-level agencies in accordance with the provisions of Clause 3, Article 10 of this Circular.

Article 9. Networks of consultants

1. Forming a network of consultants

a) Based on the sector or field under their management, a ministry or ministerial-level agency shall issue one or several decisions (made using the form in Appendix 2 of this Circular) prescribing the field of consultancy, criteria for consultants to be accredited, cases of being removed from the network of consultants when violating the laws or cases of being removed from the network of consultants in accordance with regulations of such ministry or ministerial-level agency.

Criteria for consultants to be accredited shall include specific educational attainment, professional qualifications, working experience and criteria as prescribed by law provisions regarding their specialization and regulations of the agencies managing them.

b) A ministry and ministerial-level agency shall accredit or authorize one or several affiliated units (hereinafter referred to as consultant-accrediting units) to accredit consultants into the network and review of consultants to be removed from the network.

- Procedures for accrediting consultants into the network: reviewing applications to the network; contacting the consultants and guiding them to complete their profiles; accrediting the consultants into the network; guiding the consultants to register accounts and update information in the consultant database on the portal; confirming the public information of the consultants on the portal.

- Procedures for removing consultants from the network: reviewing the profiles of consultants in the network; contacting and notifying the consultants of their removal from the network; making a list of the consultants who have been removed from the network; removing such consultants’ profiles from the portal.

c) A consultant-accrediting unit shall publicize the consulting fields, the criteria for the consultants to be accredited into the network, and the list of consultants in the network, the list of consultants removed from the network at the website of the ministry or ministerial-level agency or at the website of such consultant-accrediting unit.

d) Every consultant-accrediting unit shall register and be granted one account or several accounts on the portal by the Ministry of Planning and Investment to directly perform the procedures prescribed at Point b, Clause 1 of this Article.

2. Management, operation and maintenance of networks of consultants

a) Procurement and development of software to manage the networks or consultants; procurement, upgrading and maintenance of hardware, infrastructure, transmission line services, servers and other related services to host and operate the networks of consultants; development, maintenance and updating of data about the networks of consultants.

b) Organization of conferences, seminars, meetings to review and evaluate the formation, management, operation and maintenance of the networks of consultants.

c) Procedures of accrediting and removing consultants from a network of consultants as prescribed at Point b, Clause 1 of this Article. The funding for conducting the procedures of accrediting or removing consultants from a network of consultants must not exceed VND 300,000/consultant and shall be paid in the form of a contract to the consultant-accrediting unit.

3. Fostering and training consultants to develop the networks of consultants

a) A consultant-accrediting unit shall directly conduct or coordinate with the supplier to organize training courses to standardize skills, processes and knowledge for consultants in its network.

b) Contents of training courses for consultants:

Article 10. Support in terms of consultancy

SMEs are entitled to support in terms of consultancy with the contents and levels prescribed in Clause 2, Article 13 of Decree No. 80/2021/ND-CP. Agencies and organizations providing support for SMEs shall provide support as prescribed in Articles 4 and 5 of this Circular.

Section 2

SUPPORT IN TERMS OF HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT

Article 11. Support in terms of human resource development

Support in terms of human resource development as prescribed in Clauses 1, 2, 3, Article 14 of Decree No. 80/2021/ND-CP means the support in terms of training for SMEs. Agencies and organizations providing support for SMEs shall provide support in accordance with the provisions of Clauses 1 and 2, Article 5 of this Circular and a number of specific regulations as follows:

1. Training unit means an agency or organization that supports SMEs (when directly providing training services) or a supplier (when the agency or organization providing support for SMEs does not directly provide training services).

2. Face-to-face training courses on corporate governance as prescribed at Point a, Clause 1, Article 14 of Decree No. 80/2021/ND-CP includes basic corporate governance training courses and intensive corporate governance training courses.

3. Online training courses using available online teaching tools such as Zoom Cloud Meeting, Microsoft Teams, Google Classroom and other similar tools:

a) Based on the plan to organize online training courses in the year, the training unit shall purchase accounts of available online teaching tools and accounts of ancillary software (hereinafter referred to as tools); rent specific equipment for online training courses (hereinafter referred to as specific equipment) suitable to the scale of the training courses.

b) In case of purchasing or renting specific tools and equipment for each course, the cost thereof shall be calculated based on the costs incurred by each course. In case of purchasing or renting service packages by month, quarter or year, the cost thereof shall be allocated based on the costs for organizing each training course.

4. The training unit may organize training courses prescribed in Clauses 1 and 3, Article 14 of Decree No. 80/2021/ND-CP in the form of a combination of face-to-face and online training through available online teaching tools (hereinafter referred to as combined training), provided that the support level from the State budget remains constant and 30% or more of the trainees participate in face-to-face training, as follows :

a) 100% of the trainees participating in face-to-face training: the instructors may teach online all the time or combine face-to-face teaching with online teaching.

b) 30% or more of the trainees participating in face-to-face training, the rest learning online: the instructors may teach face-to-face/online all the time or combine face-to-face teaching with online teaching.

c) Based on the form of combined training selected in accordance with Points a and b, Clause 4 of this Article, the training unit shall make corresponding cost estimates.

Article 12. Face-to-face training in business startup and corporate governance

Support for face-to-face training as prescribed in Clauses 1 and 3, Article 14 of Decree No. 80/2021/ND-CP shall comply with the following provisions:

Article 13. Online training on business startup and corporate governance

Support for online training as prescribed in Clause 2, Article 14 of Decree No. 80/2021/ND-CP shall comply with the following provisions:

Section 3

SUPPORT FOR INNOVATIVE STARTUP SMES

Article 14. Selection of innovative startup SMEs

1. Agencies and organizations providing support for SMEs shall select innovative startup SMEs to provide support as prescribed in Clause 1, Article 21 of Decree No. 80/2021/ND-CP based on one of the following documents:

a) The certificates of achievement of national and/or international awards for innovative startups or innovative products and projects. The certificates must be valid for no more than 5 years by the time the SMEs submit the dossiers of request for support;

b) Their protection certificates for inventions or certifications as science and technology enterprises, high-tech enterprises or hi-tech application enterprises, provided that such documents are still valid by the time the SMEs submit their dossiers of request for support.

2. Agencies and organizations providing support for SMEs shall select innovative startup SMEs to provide support as prescribed in Clause 2, Article 21 of Decree No. 80/2021/ND-CP based on one of the following documents:

a) The capital contribution contracts or written certifications of investment by innovative startup investment funds, which shall be worth at least VND 01 billion; the time of investment must not exceed 05 years by the time the SMEs submit the dossiers of request for support;

b) The written commitments of innovative startup investment funds to invest at least VND 500 million, which shall be made in no more than 01 year by the time the SMEs submit the dossiers of request for support;

c) The written confirmations or contracts showing that the innovative startup SMEs are currently being supported, made by co-working zones, innovative startup support organizations, service providers, incubators, business promotion establishments, innovation centers; or written commitments/contracts showing that the innovative startup SMEs will be supported. The confirmations/commitments shall be made in no more than 06 months by the time the SMEs submit the dossiers of request for support.

3. Agencies and organizations providing support for SMEs shall select innovative startup SMEs as prescribed Clause 3, Article 21 of Decree No. 80/2021/ND-CP based on the councils’ decisions on innovative startup SMEs eligible for support.

Article 15: Support for innovative startup SMEs

Innovative startup SMEs shall be provided support with the contents and levels prescribed in Article 22 of Decree No. 80/2021/ND-CP. Agencies and organizations providing support for SMEs shall provide support in accordance with the provisions of Articles 4 and 5 of this Circular and a number of specific provisions as follows:

1. Support for trainees from the SMEs to participate in domestic and foreign intensive training courses as prescribed in Clause 5, Article 22 of Decree No. 80/2021/ND-CP includes: tuition fees, learning materials, accommodation, travel (including airfare).

Contents of domestic and foreign short-term intensive training courses: product research and development; product commercialization; e-commerce development; capital raising; marketing; startup network connectivity and other contents based on the needs of the innovative startup SMEs.

2. Support for the SMEs to maintain accounts on e-commerce platforms prescribed at Point c, Clause 6, Article 22 of Decree No. 80/2021/ND-CP includes:

a) Domestic e-commerce platforms: payment fees, fixed fees and service fees that must be paid by the merchants to the e-commerce platforms.

b) International e-commerce platforms: merchant account fees, introduction fees, order completion fees, storage fees, product barcode registration fees, costs for product design and photography, and advertisement on the e-commerce platforms.

3. Support for the SMEs to participate in international competitions on innovative startups prescribed at Point dd, Clause 6, Article 22 of Decree No. 80/2021/ND-CP includes: fees and charges for participating in the competitions; accommodation in the host country; travel (including airfare); transport of documents, products, equipment to the competitions.

Section 4

SUPPORT FOR SMES ENGAGED IN PRODUCTION-PROCESSING INDUSTRIAL CLUSTERS, VALUE CHAINS

Article 16. Selection of SMEs engaged in production-processing industrial clusters

1. Forms of association between SMEs and other enterprises in an industrial cluster as prescribed in Clause 2, Article 23 of Decree No. 80/2021/ND-CP include:

a) Joint purchase of input materials: The SMEs and at least one other enterprise in the cluster enter into a contract on joint purchase of input materials from one supplier.

b) Joint sale of products: The SMEs and at least one other enterprise in the cluster enter into a contract on joint sale of products to a purchaser.

c) Purchase and sale, cooperation and association with other enterprises in the industrial cluster in one of the following cases:

- The SMEs enter into a contract on purchase and sale of products with at least one other enterprise in the cluster;

- The SMEs enter into a contract on cooperation and association with at least one other enterprise in the cluster.

d) Jointly creating and using brands with other enterprises in one of the following cases:

- The SMEs and at least one other enterprise in the cluster jointly use a recognized collective trademark, certification mark or geographical indication in accordance with the law provisions on intellectual property;

- The SMEs and at least one other enterprise in the industrial cluster jointly produce products and goods (excluding community-based tourism services and tourist attractions) rated three or more stars in the National Program “One Commune One Product” (OCOP).

2. Agencies and organizations providing support for SMEs shall select SMEs in the industrial clusters prescribed in Clause 1 of this Article to provide support based on the following documents:

a) For the form of association prescribed at Point a, Clause 1 of this Article: at least 01 contract on purchase of input materials between the SMEs with a supplier, and such supplier’s certification (or contract) proving that it is supplying input materials to other enterprises in the cluster.

b) For the form of association prescribed at Point b, Clause 1 of this Article: at least 01 contract on sale of products signed by the SMEs with the purchaser, and such purchaser’s certification (or contract) proving that it is purchasing products from at least one other enterprise in the cluster.

c) For the form of association prescribed at Point c, Clause 1 of this Article: at least 01 contract om purchase and sale of products or cooperation between SMEs and another enterprise in the cluster.

d) For the form of association prescribed at Point d, Clause 1 of this Article: the collective trademark, certification mark, geographical indication, or trademarks of OCOP products that the SMEs are using.

dd) In addition to the cases prescribed at Points a, b, c, d, Clause 2 of this Article, the agencies and organizations providing support for SMEs shall coordinate with the suppliers or the purchasers to determine the list of SMEs that are purchasing input materials or selling products and services; and, on that basis, select eligible SMEs to support.

Article 17. Selection of SMEs engaged in production-processing value chains

1. SMEs engaged in a value chain as prescribed in Clause 2, Article 24 of Decree No. 80/2021/ND-CP include:

a) SMEs being chain-heading enterprises which are established and operate in accordance with Vietnamese laws.

b) SMEs entering into contracts on purchase and sale, cooperation and association with chain-heading enterprises.

c) SMEs Being evaluated by chain-heading enterprises or agencies and organizations providing support for SMEs as being potential to become suppliers for chain-heading enterprises.

Agencies and organizations providing support for SMEs shall use the SMEs assessment toolkit introduced on the portal by the Ministry of Planning and Investment, or select SMEs based on the list of potential SMEs posted on the portal.

2. Agencies and organizations providing support for SMEs shall select SMEs engaged in value chains prescribed in Clause 1 of this Article based on the following documents:

a) For those prescribed at Point a, Clause 1 of this Article: Documents determining that the size of the enterprises is that of SMEs.

b) For those prescribed at Point b, Clause 1 of this Article: at least 01 contract on purchase and sale of products or cooperation and association with the chain-leading enterprises.

c) For those prescribed at Point c, Clause 1 of this Article: certifications of the chain-leading enterprises.

Article 18. Support for SMEs engaged in production-processing industrial clusters and value chains

SMEs engaged in industrial clusters and value chains shall be provided support with the contents and levels prescribed in Article 25 of Decree No. 80/2021/ND-CP. Agencies and organizations providing support for SMEs shall provide support in accordance with the provisions of Articles 4 and 5 of this Circular and a number of specific provisions as follows:

1. Support for training at enterprises as prescribed at Point a, Clause 1, Article 25 of Decree No. 80/2021/ND-CP shall comply with Clause 4, Article 12 of this Circular.

2. Support for SMEs’ trainees to participate in domestic and foreign training courses as prescribed at Point b, Clause 1, Article 25 of Decree No. 80/2021/ND-CP include: tuition fees; learning materials; accommodation; travel (including airfare).

The contents of the training courses shall comply with the provisions of Section 3, Appendix 3.1 of this Circular.

3. Support for SMEs to maintain accounts on e-commerce platforms as prescribed at Point d, Clause 3, Article 25 of Decree No. 80/2021/ND-CP shall comply with Clause 2, Article 15 of this Circular.

Section 5

FORMULATING, SUMMARIZING, ASSIGNING TASKS IN PLANS TO SUPPORT SMES; EVALUATING AND MAKING REPORTS ON THE RESULTS OF SUPPORTING SMES

Article 19. Formulating, summarizing, assigning tasks in plans to support SMEs, making estimates of support for SMEs to be covered by the State budget; evaluating and making reports on the results of supporting SMEs

1. The Ministry of Planning and Investment shall:

a) Guide ministries, ministerial-level agencies, Government-attached agencies and localities to formulate plans to support SMEs and make estimates of the support to be covered by the Central budget (using the forms in Appendix 4 to this Circular); summarize the needs to provide support for SMEs of ministries, ministerial-level agencies, Government-attached agencies and localities that have not yet balanced the budget; send to the Ministry of Finance the proposed plans and estimates of support for SMEs to be covered by the Central budget in the year of planning.

b) Develop a plan to assign tasks of providing support, covered by the Central budget, for SMEs to ministries, ministerial-level agencies, Government-attached agencies and localities that have not yet balanced their budgets, based on the total estimated amount covered by the Central budget to support SMEs; send it to the Ministry of Finance to request the competent authority to decide on the allocation of budgets to the units.

c) Notify the tasks of providing support to be covered by the Central budget for SMEs to ministries, ministerial-level agencies, Government-attached agencies and localities that have not yet balanced their budgets.

d) Assume the prime responsibility for, and coordinate with relevant agencies in, evaluating the support for SMEs; summarizing and making reports to the Government and the Prime Minister in accordance with regulations.

2. Ministries, ministerial-level agencies, Government-attached agencies shall:

a) Formulate plans and make estimates of the support to be covered by the Central budget for SMEs in the year of planning and send them to the Ministry of Planning and Investment; at the same time include them in the general budget estimates of such ministries, ministerial-level agencies and Government-attached agencies.

b) Formulate plans to assign tasks of providing support to be covered by the Central budget for SMEs to agencies and organizations providing support for SMEs (directly) under their management; send copies of such plans to the Ministry of Planning and Investment for coordination and monitoring of implementation.

c) Organize activities to support SMEs in accordance with the assigned objectives and tasks; self-inspect, self-evaluate, and take responsibility for the implementation of the plans to support SMEs within their respective sectors, fields and localities; make and send reports on the results thereof to the Ministry of Planning and Investment for it to summarize and report to the Government and the Prime Minister.

3. Provincial-level People’s Committees shall:

a) Assign the provincial-level Departments of Planning and Investment to act as the agency bearing the prime responsibility for:

- Formulating plans and making estimates of support to be covered by the Central budget (for localities where the budgets have not been balanced yet) and the local budgets for SMEs; request the provincial-level People’s Committees to send reports to the Ministry of Planning and Investment for summarization; at the same time, send such estimates to the provincial-level Departments of Finance to include them in the local budget estimates, which are then submitted to the competent authorities for decision;

- Formulating plans to assign tasks of providing support to be covered by the Central budget (for localities where the budgets have not been balanced yet) and the local budgets (based on the estimated amount covered by the local budgets) for SMEs to the local agencies and organizations providing support for SMEs, and submit them to the provincial-level People’s Committees for decision; send copies of such plans to the Ministry of Planning and Investment for coordination and monitoring of implementation.

b) Perform the tasks prescribed at Point c, Clause 2 of this Article.

Chapter III

ORGANIZATION OF IMPLEMENTATION

Article 20. Effect

1. This Circular takes effect from June 25, 2022.

2. Circular No. 05/20 19/TT-BKHDT dated March 29, 2019 of the Ministry of Planning and Investment guiding the support in terms of human resource development for SMEs and Circular No. 06/2019/TT-BKHDT dated March 29, 2019 of the Ministry of Planning and Investment guiding the organization and operation of networks of consultants and the support in terms of consultancy for SMEs through networks of consultants shall be annulled.

3. In case the documents referred to in this Circular expire and are replaced by other documents, the latter shall prevail.

Article 21. Transitional provisions and implementation

1. From the effective date of this Circular, the plans to provide support for SMEs approved before the effective date hereof may continue to be conducted in accordance with the approved contents and tasks, or new plans may be submitted to competent authorities for re-approval (if necessary).

2. Ministries, ministerial-level agencies, Government-attached agencies, and provincial-level People’s Committees shall provide support for SMEs in accordance with this Circular and current regulations. In the course of implementation, if any problems arise, they should be promptly reported to the Ministry of Planning and Investment (via the Enterprise Development Agency) for it to find solutions thereto./.