Circular No. 113/2018/TT-BTC dated November 15, 2018 of the Ministry of Finance on regulating prices of planning services

THE MINISTRY OF FINANCE

CircularNo. 113/2018/TT-BTC dated November 15, 2018 of the Ministry of Finance on regulating prices of planning services

Pursuant to the Law on Planning No. 21/2017/QH14 dated November 24, 2017 and other legislative documents elaborating and providing guidance on implementation thereof;

Pursuant to the Law on Prices No. 11/2012/QH13 dated June 20, 2012 and other legislative documents elaborating and providing guidance on implementation thereof;

Pursuant to the Government s Decree No.87/2017/ND-CP dated July 26, 2017 on defining the functions, tasks, powers and organizational structure of the Ministry of Finance;

Upon the request of the Director of the Price Management Authority,

The Minister of Finance hereby promulgates the Circular regulating prices of planning services.

Article 1. Scope of adjustment

1. This Circular elaborates point b of clause 6 of Article 55 in the Law on Planning regarding the determination of prices applied to plan services funded by public sector investments and recurrent state budget expenditures under the provisions of the Law on Planning.

2. Prices of planning services specified herein shall only be applied if entities, organizations or persons having competence in planning activities are allowed to purchase and outsource goods and services to perform duties defined in the Law on Planning and other legislative documents elaborating and providing guidance on implementation thereof.

3. In case where planning services belonging to the list of state-funded public sector services and public utilities are commissioned, ordered or purchased through the bidding for these public sector services and public utilities by competent regulatory authorities, the determination of prices shall be subject to legislative documents on assignment of tasks, placement of orders or bidding for provision of public sector services and public utilities.

Article 2. Subjects of application

1. Bodies having competence in presiding over the formulation of planning schemes or tasked with counseling the Government, the Prime Minister, Ministries, Ministry-level agencies and provincial People s Committees to take charge of formulating planning schemes.

2. Planning bodies which are entities or organizations charged by the Government, the Prime Minister, Ministries, Ministry-level agencies and provincial People s Committees with formulating planning schemes belonging to the national planning system.

3. Organizations and individuals tasked with engaging in planning activities; other organizations or individuals involved.

Article 3. Prices applied in planning activities

1. Prices applied to plan services shall be defined on a basis of costs incurred from hired or purchased planning services. Based on the nature of planning services, activities to be performed in these services and regulations laid down in the Law on Planning and other legislative documents elaborating and providing guidance on implementation thereof, prices of planning services shall be constituted by one or certain costs defined hereunder:

- Costs incurred by hiring consultants.

- Costs incurred by purchasing equipment and machinery.

- Costs incurred by using services and other costs.

2. Planning bodies and bodies presiding over the formulation of planning components under the provisions of the Law on Planning and other legislative documents elaborating and providing guidance on implementation thereof shall be responsible for deciding prices of planning services in order to meet requirements of assigned planning tasks after receipt of written opinions from same-level finance bodies (except in case of planning schemes related to state secrets under the provisions of law).

Article 4. Principles of pricing of planning services

1. Conform to tasks and nature of planning services specified in the Law on Planning No. 21/2017/QH14 and other legislative documents elaborating and providing guidance on implementation thereof.

2. Correspond to the general pricing method applied to goods and services in accordance with the Law on Price No. 11/2012/QH13 and other legislative documents elaborating and providing guidance on implementation thereof.

3. Align with tasks and spending limits of similar services funded by state budget allocations for implementation of these services as provided in legislative documents in force; comply with regulations on limits on planning activities promulgated by the Ministry of Planning and Investment under the provisions of point dd of clause 3 of Article 55 in the Law on Planning.

Article 5. Costs incurred by hiring consultants

1. Costs incurred by hiring of domestic consultants shall be determined under regulations on limits on planning activities issued by the Ministry of Planning and Investment according to the provisions of point dd of clause 3 of Article 55 in the Law on Planning and regulations on pay rates applied to consultants in the Circular No. 02/2015/TT-BLDTBXH dated January 12, 2015 of the Ministry of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs prescribing pay rates for domestic consultants as a basis for making an estimate of costs of the contract for provision of consultancy services in a form of an agreement based on the duration of use of state capital.

2. In certain particular cases, when it is necessary to hire foreign consultants with profound professional expertise and special experience in order to meet work requirements, bodies having authority over planning activities shall refer to actual situations, the Circular No. 25/2014/TT-BTC dated February 17, 2014 of the Ministry of Finance prescribing the general method of pricing of goods and services, relevant legislative documents and capabilities of state budget funding for various activities so as to make decisions on costs of hiring of foreign consultants and shall assume responsibility for their own decisions.

Article 6. Costs incurred by purchasing and hiring equipment and machinery

1. Costs incurred by purchasing machinery and equipment shall be used, where necessary, directly for planning activities according to regulations of competent regulatory authorities; costs of purchase of machinery and equipment shall be determined under regulations on limits in planning activities issued by the Ministry of Planning and Investment according to provisions of point dd of clause 3 of Article 55 in the Law on Planning, provisions laid down in the Prime Minister’s Decision No. 50/2017/QD-TTg dated December 31, 2017 prescribing standards for and limits on use of machinery and equipment and provisions of laws on state budget and legislation on bidding.

2. In case of hiring of machinery and equipment, bodies having authority over planning activities shall, based on actual conditions, capabilities of state budget funding and provisions of law on state budget, and legislation on bidding, grant decisions on costs of hiring of machinery and equipment, and shall assume responsibility for their decisions.

Article 7. Costs incurred by using investigation and information collection services

As for investigation and collection of information directly used in planning activities which have the nature similar to a statistical survey defined in the Law on Statistics, costs of investigation and information collection shall be determined under regulations on limits in planning activities issued by the Ministry of Planning and Investment according to provisions of point dd of clause 3 of Article 55 in the Law on Planning and regulations regarding payment amounts for hiring laid down in point a of clause 5 of Article 3 in the Circular No. 109/2016/TT-BTC dated June 30, 2016 of the Ministry of Finance prescribing the cost estimation, use and settlement of funds for carrying out statistical surveys and national censuses.

Article 8. Other costs

1. Other costs are those related to or directly used for carrying out planning activities specified in the Law on Planning and other legislative documents elaborating and providing guidance on implementation thereof.

2. Other costs, in particular cases, shall be determined under regulations on limits in planning activities issued by the Ministry of Planning and Investment according to provisions laid down in point dd of clause 3 of Article 55 in the Law on Planning and the following regulations:

a) Costs of purchase of goods and services intended for conferences or seminars on collection of opinions on draft planning schemes and remunerations paid to consultants (if any) shall be subject to provisions laid down in the Circular No. 71/2018/TT-BTC dated August 10, 2018 of the Ministry of Finance prescribing expenses for receiving foreign guests working in Vietnam, expenses for organizing international conferences and seminars in Vietnam and expenses for receiving domestic guests, and the Circular No. 40/2017/TT-BTC dated April 28, 2017 of the Ministry of Finance prescribing employee business travel costs and seminar expenses.

b) Costs of purchase of stationery supplies, maps, newspapers, magazines and other publications supporting the information study and search, printing services and other goods and services supporting planning activities shall be determined as per laws on state budget and bidding.

Article 9. Implementation organization

1. This Circular takes effect on January 01, 2019.

2. In case where legislative documents used as referents in this Circular are amended, supplemented or replaced by other legislative documents, the latter shall be applied.

3. Based on the actual variation of price-forming elements and changes in socio-economic regulatory policies affecting prices of planning services which are referred to herein, bodies presiding over and formulating planning schemes and bodies formulating planning components shall be responsible for sending feedbacks to the Price Management Authority – the Ministry of Finance for its consolidation, review for assessment, and its general report prepared for submission to the Minister of Finance to seek his/her decision to amend and supplement regulations of this Circular where appropriate.

For the Minister

The Deputy Minister

Tran Van Hieu