Circular 15/2021/TT-NHNN amending Circular 16/2012/TT-NHNN on management of gold business activities

CIRCULAR

Amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Circular No. 16/2012/TT-NHNN dated May 25, 2012, of the Governor of the State Bank of Vietnam, guiding a number of articles of the Government's Decree No. 24/2012/ND-CP of April 3, 2012, on management of gold business activities

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Pursuant to the Law No.46/2010/QH12 on the State bank of Vietnam dated June 16, 2010;

Pursuant to the Law on Credit Institutions dated June 16, 2010, and the Law on Amending and Supplementing a Number of Articles of the Law on Credit Institutions dated November 20, 2017;

Pursuant to the Ordinance on Foreign Exchange dated December 13, 2005, and the Ordinance Amending and Supplementing a Number of Articles of the Ordinance on Foreign Exchange dated March 18, 2013;

Pursuant to the Government’s Decree No. 24/2012/ND-CP dated April 03, 2012, on management of gold business activities;

Pursuant to Government’s Decree No. 85/2019/ND-CP dated November 14, 2019, prescribing the performance of administrative procedures under the national single-window mechanism and ASEAN Single-Window mechanism and specialized inspection of imports and exports;

Pursuant to the Government's Decree No. 16/2017/ND-CP dated February 17, 2017, defining the functions, tasks, powers, and organizational structure of the State Bank of Vietnam;

At the request of the Director of the Department of Foreign Exchange Management;

The Governor of the State Bank of Vietnam hereby promulgates the Circular amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Circular No. 16/2012/TT-NHNN dated May 25, 2012, of the Governor of the State Bank of Vietnam, guiding a number of articles of the Government's Decree No. 24/2012/ND-CP of April 3, 2012, on management of gold business activities (hereinafter referred to as the Circular No. 16/2012/TT-NHNN).

Article 1. To amend and supplement a number of articles of the Circular No. 16/2012/TT-NHNN

1. To add Clause 1b after Clause 1a of Article 15 as follows:

“1b. In case a foreign-invested enterprise wishing to import gold material for the manufacture of gold jewelry and art crafts requests for licensing according to the national single-window mechanism, it shall submit a dossier specified in Article 12 of this Circular to the Vietnam National Single Window portal to obtain a gold material import license.”.

2. To add Clause 5 to Article 15 as follows:

“5. Procedures for grant of gold material import licenses for foreign-invested enterprises for manufacturing gold jewelry and art crafts according to the national single-window mechanism are prescribed as follows:

a) Principles of declaring, sending, receiving, and returning results, exchange and feeding back information about dossiers of request for grant of gold material import licenses for foreign-invested enterprises for manufacturing gold jewelry and art crafts:

- An e-dossier with a digital signature is sent on the Vietnam National Single Window portal. The declaring, sending, receiving, and returning results, exchanging and feeding back information, using digital signatures on the Vietnam National Single Window portal and the specialized processing system of the State Bank of Vietnam shall comply with the Government's Decree No. 85/2019/ND-CP dated November 14, 2019, prescribing the performance of administrative procedures under the national single-window mechanism and ASEAN Single-Window mechanism and specialized inspection of imports and exports, and amending, supplementing or replacing documents (if any);

- In case the Vietnam National Single Window portal or specialized processing system of the State Bank of Vietnam encounters incidents or contains errors, thus making it/them unable to receive and exchange e-information, the declaring, sending, receiving and returning results, exchanging and feeding back information shall be implemented by portal service or directly at the department in charge of receiving and returning results of the State Bank of Vietnam;

- Documents in the e-dossier must be e-documents scanned from the originals (files with PDF, TIF, JPG formats), except for the written requests for grant of gold material licenses declared on the Vietnam National Single Window portal. Documents in the paper dossier must be the originals or duplicates granted from master books, or certified copies as prescribed by law, or copies enclosed with the originals for comparison. In case the applicant submits copies enclosed with the originals for comparison, the comparator shall certify the accuracy of the copies compared to the originals.

b) Order and procedures for grant of gold material licenses to foreign-invested enterprises for manufacturing gold jewelry and art crafts:

- In case of wishing to import gold material for manufacturing gold jewelry and art crafts, an enterprise shall make and send 01 (one) set of the dossier to the State Bank of Vietnam in accordance with Clause 1b and Point a of this Clause;

- Within 15 (fifteen) working days after receiving complete and valid dossiers under Article 12 of this Circular, the State Bank of Vietnam shall consider granting or refuse to grant gold material import licenses (clearly stating reasons) for enterprises according to Appendix 15 attached to this Circular and send them to enterprises according to Point a of this Clause. In case the dossier is incomplete or invalid, the State Bank of Vietnam shall notify the enterprise.”.

3. To amend and supplement Clause 6, Article 16 as follows:

“6. For the procedures for adjusting a gold material import license for re-manufacturing products, the Director of the State Bank branch of province or city shall, based on the adjusted contract and provisions provided in this Circular, within 30 (thirty) working days after receiving a valid and complete dossier, grant or refuse to grant (clearly stating reasons) the decision on adjusting a gold material import license for re-manufacture of products (using the form provided in Appendix 21 attached to this Circular). In case of adjusting the term of the license, the adjustment term shall be determined based on the adjusting processing contract but must not exceed 12 (twelve) months after the date of granting the adjusting license. In case of adjusting the volume of imported gold material, the adjustment volume shall be determined based on the processing contract, contract appendices, and plans for manufacturing gold jewelry and art crafts of the enterprises.”.

4. To amend and supplement Clause 1, Article 18 as follows:

“1. Documents in the dossier specified in Section 3 of this Circular, except for dossier for licensing according to the national single-window mechanism, must be the originals or duplicates granted from master books, or certified copies as prescribed by law, or copies enclosed with the originals for comparison. In case the applicant submits copies enclosed with the originals for comparison, the comparator shall certify the accuracy of the copies compared to the originals.”.

5. To amend and supplement Clause 1a, Article 20 as follows:

“1a. On a quarterly basis, enterprises, credit institutions licensed for trading gold bars that change the enterprise information on their gold bar trading licenses or change their gold bar trading locations (including changing name and addresses of the trading locations, adding trading locations, or terminating the gold bar trading activities at the licensed locations or reporting the State Bank according to this Circular) shall send reports on above changes and adjustments in the reporting period (using Appendix No. 10b attached to this Circular). To be specific:

a) Enterprises and credit institutions shall send reports of the entire system to the State Bank of Vietnam (the Foreign Exchange Management Department) and the State Bank branches of provinces and cities where head offices of such enterprises and credit institutions are located;

b) Enterprises and credit institutions shall send reports of the branches or trading offices that have changes to the State Bank branches of provinces and cities where such branches or trading offices are located.”.

Article 2. To replace several phrases and appendices of the Circular No. 16/2012/TT-NHNN

1. To replace the phrase “reconciliation slip certified by the customs office” by the phrase “reconciliation slip printed from the customs information system certified by the enterprise for the document’s accuracy” in Clause 4, Article 10; Clause 4, Article 11; Clause 3, Article 11a; Clause 3, Article 12; Clause 5, Article 13; Clause 4, Article 14; Appendix 6; Appendix 7; Appendix 8; Appendix 9 of the Circular 16/2012/TT-NHNN.

2. To replace the phrase “submit directly or by post” by the phrase “submit directly at the Single-window section or postal service” in Clause 1, Article 15; Clause 1, Clause 2, Article 16; Clause 1, Article 17 of the Circular 16/2012/TT-NHNN.

3. To replace Appendix 10b attached to the Circular No. 16/2012/TT-NHNN (amended and supplemented by the Circular No. 29/2019/TT-NHNN dated December 27, 2019, of the Governor of the State Bank of Vietnam, amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Circular No. 16/2012/TT-NHNN, hereinafter referred to as the Circular No. 29/2019/TT-NHNN) by Appendix 10b attached to this Circular.

Article 3. Implementation organization responsibility

The Chief of Office, Director of the Foreign Exchange Management Department, Chief Inspector of the Banking Supervision Agency, and heads of units affiliated to the State Bank of Vietnam, directors of the State Bank branches of provinces and centrally-run cities, credit institutions, and enterprises engaged in gold business activities shall organize the implementation of this Circular.

Article 4. Implementation provisions

1. This Circular takes effect on November 20, 2021.

2. This Circular repeals:

a) Clause 17, Article 1 of the Circular No. 38/2015/TT-NHNN dated December 31, 2015, of the Governor of the State Bank of Vietnam, amending and supplementing a number of articles of Circular No. 16/2012/TT-NHNN;

b) Clauses 1, 2, and 4 Article, 1 of the Circular No. 29/2019/TT-NHNN;

c) Appendix 10b attached to the Circular No. 29/2019/TT-NHNN./.

* All Appendices are not translated herein.