Circular 24/2022/TT-NHNN amend Circulars stipulating administrative procedures in foreign exchange control

CIRCULAR

Amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Circulars providing for administrative procedures in the field of foreign exchange management^[1]

Pursuant to the June 16, 2010 Law on the State Bank of Vietnam;

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

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

Pursuant to the Government’s Decree No. 102/2022/ND-CP of December 12, 2022, defining the functions, tasks, powers and organizational structure of the State Bank of Vietnam;

At the proposal of the Director of the Foreign Exchange Management Department,

The Governor of the State Bank of Vietnam promulgates the Circular amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Circulars providing for administrative procedures in the field of foreign exchange management.

Article 1. To amend, supplement or annul a number of phrases, clauses and articles of Circular No. 16/2012/TT-NHNN of 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 trading activities (below referred to as Circular No. 16/2012/TT-NHNN):

1. To amend and supplement Article 16 (which was amended and supplemented under Clause 15, Article 1 of Circular No. 38/2015/TT-NHNN of 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 (below referred to as Circular No. 38/2015/TT-NHNN); and Clause 3, Article 1, and Clause 2, Article 2, of Circular No. 15/2021/TT-NHNN of September 30, 2021, of the Governor of the State Bank of Vietnam, amending and supplementing a number of articles of Circular No. 16/2012/TT-NHNN (below referred to as Circular No. 15/2021/TT-NHNN)), as follows:

 “Article 16. Procedures for grant or modification of certificates of eligibility for manufacture of jewelry and handicraft gold articles and licenses for temporary import of material gold for re-export of products

1. An enterprise wishing to manufacture jewelry and handicraft gold articles or an enterprise having its certificate of eligibility for manufacture of jewelry and handicraft gold articles changed in content shall hand-deliver or send by post 1 set of dossier specified in Article 8 or Article 8a of this Circular to the Single-Window Division of the State Bank’s provincial-level branch in the locality where the enterprise is headquartered.

2. Regarding the procedures for grant of certificates of eligibility for manufacture of jewelry and handicraft gold articles: Pursuant to the provisions on the conditions, dossiers and procedures of the Government’s Decree No. 24/2012/ND-CP of April 3, 2012, on management of gold trading activities (below referred to as Decree No. 24/2012/ND-CP), and this Circular, and based on the results of inspection of the enterprise’s physical foundations and equipment for the manufacture of jewelry and handicraft gold articles, within 30 working days after receiving a complete and valid dossier, the director of the State Bank’s provincial-level branch concerned shall grant or refuse to grant (clearly stating the reason for the refusal) a certificate of eligibility for manufacture of jewelry and handicraft gold articles (made according to the form provided in Appendix 16 to this Circular).

3. Regarding the procedures for modification of certificates of eligibility for manufacture of jewelry and handicraft gold articles: Pursuant to the provisions on the conditions for manufacture of jewelry and handicraft gold articles of Decree No. 24/2012/ND-CP and this Circular, and based on the results of inspection of the enterprise’s physical foundations and equipment for the manufacture of jewelry and handicraft gold articles (in case of relocation of the place of manufacture), within 15 working days after receiving a complete and valid dossier, the State Bank’s provincial-level branch concerned shall consider and issue a decision on modification of the certificate of eligibility for manufacture of jewelry and handicraft gold articles (made according to the form provided in Appendix 21 to this Circular). This modification decision is an integral part of the certificate of eligibility for manufacture of jewelry and handicraft gold articles.

4. Procedures for grant of licenses for temporary import of material gold for re-export of products and procedures for modification of licenses for temporary import of material gold for re-export of products:

a/ An enterprise wishing to temporarily import material gold for re-export of products or modify its license for temporary import of material gold for re-export of products shall send 1 set of dossier specified in Article 11 or Article 11a of this Circular by one of the following three methods:

(i) Sending an e-dossier via the National Public Service Portal or the State Bank’s Public Service Portal;

(ii) Hand-delivering a paper dossier to the Single-Window Division of the State Bank’s provincial-level branch in the locality where the enterprise is headquartered;

(iii) Sending a paper dossier by post.

b/ In case of sending an e-dossier via the National Public Service Portal or the State Bank’s Public Service Portal, such e-dossier may bear digital signatures in accordance with regulations on performance of administrative procedures in the electronic environment. In case the National Public Service Portal or the State Bank’s Pubic Service Portal encounters an incident or error, making it impossible to receive or exchange electronic information, the declaration, submission and receipt of dossiers, notification of dossier processing results, exchange of information, and giving of feedback shall be conducted via postal service or directly at the Single-Window Division of the State Bank’s provincial-level branch in the locality where the enterprise is headquartered;

c/ Documents in the e-dossier must be electronic versions (in PDF files) scanned from the primary source documents or original documents or declared on the State Bank’s Public Service Portal;

d/ Documents in the paper dossier may be the primary source documents, original documents or copies from the original documents as certified by the enterprise.

5. Regarding the procedures for grant of licenses for temporary import of material gold for re-export of products, within 15 working days after receiving a complete and valid dossier, the director of the State Bank’s provincial-level branch concerned shall grant or refuse to grant (clearly stating the reason for the refusal) a license for temporary import of material gold for re-export of products in paper form or electronic form (made according to the form provided in Appendix 17 to this Circular). The validity period of a license for temporary import of material gold for re-export of products shall be determined based on the contract on processing of jewelry and handicraft gold articles but must not exceed 12 months. The re-export of products shall be carried out within the validity period of the license. The volume of imported material gold shall be determined based on the processing contract and the enterprise’s plan on manufacture of jewelry and handicraft gold articles.

6. Regarding the procedures for modification of licenses for temporary import of material gold for remanufacturing of products: Based on the modified contract and in pursuance to this Circular, within 15 working days after receiving a complete and valid dossier, the director of the State Bank’s provincial-level branch concerned shall issue or refuse to issue (clearly stating the reason for the refusal) a decision on modification of the license for temporary import of material gold for re-export of products in paper form or electronic form (made according to the form provided in Appendix 21 to this Circular). In case of adjusting the validity period of the license, the to-be-adjusted period shall be determined based on the modified processing contract but must not exceed 12 months from the date of granting the license for the first time. In case of adjusting the volume of imported material gold, the to-be-adjusted volume shall be determined based on the processing contract and its annexes, and the enterprise’s plan on manufacture of jewelry and handicraft gold articles.”

2. To amend and supplement Article 17 as follows:

a/ To amend and supplement Clause 1 (which was amended and supplemented under Clause 16, Article 1 of Circular No. 38/2015/TT-NHNN and Clause 2, Article 2 of Circular No. 15/2021/TT-NHNN) as follows:

“1. An enterprise wishing to import material gold for manufacture of jewelry and handicraft gold articles shall hand-deliver or send by post 1 set of dossier specified in Article 10 of this Circular to the Single-Window Division of the State Bank’s provincial-level branch in the locality where the enterprise is headquartered in order to obtain a material gold import license.”.

b/ To amend and supplement Point b, Clause 2 (which was amended and supplemented under Clause 16, Article 1 of Circular No. 38/2015/TT-NHNN) as follows:

“b. Copies of documents in the enterprise’s license application dossier.”.

3. To amend and supplement Clause 1, Article 18 (which was amended and supplemented under Clause 4, Article 1 of Circular No. 15/2021/TT-NHNN) as follows:

“1. Except license application dossiers under the national single-window mechanism and the cases specified in Clause 4, Article 16 of this Circular, the documents in the dossiers specified in Section 3 of this Circular must be original documents or duplicates issued from master registers or certified copies in accordance with law or copies submitted together with original documents for collation. In case an applicant submits copies and produces original documents for collation, the officer in charge of collation shall certify the accuracy of the copies against the original documents.”.

4. To remove the phrase “Enterprise registration certificate” at Point c, Clause 1, and Point c, Clause 2, Article 9 (which was amended and supplemented under Clause 2, Article 1 of Circular No. 03/2017/TT-NHNN of June 6, 2017, of the Governor of the State Bank, amending and supplementing a number of articles of Circular No. 16/2012/TT-NHNN (below referred to as Circular No. 03/2017/TT-NHNN)).

5. To annul Clause 2, Article 8 (which was amended and supplemented under Clause 1, Article 1 of Circular No. 03/2017/TT-NHNN), Clause 2, Article 8a (which was amended and supplemented under Clause 4, Article 1 of Circular No. 38/2015/TT-NHNN), Clause 2, Article 10 and Clause 2, Article 11 (which were amended and supplemented under Clause 9, Article 1 of Circular No. 38/2015/TT-NHNN).

Article 2. To amend, supplement or annul a number of points, clauses and articles of Circular No. 34/2015/TT-NHNN of December 31, 2015, of the Governor of the State Bank of Vietnam, guiding the provision of foreign currency receipt and payment services (below referred to as Circular No. 34/2015/TT-NHNN)

1. To amend and supplement Article 9 as follows:

“Article 9. Principles of preparing and sending dossiers of application for approval of the provision of foreign currency receipt and payment services

1. An organization shall submit 1 set of dossier for performance of administrative procedures as specified in this Circular, and receive results of administrative procedure settlement by one of the following three methods:

a/ Sending an e-dossier via the National Public Service Portal or the State Bank’s Public Service Portal (except Vietnam Post);

b/ Hand-delivering a paper dossier at the State Bank’s Single-Window Division or the Single-Window Division of the State Bank’s provincial-level in the locality where the enterprise is headquartered;

c/ Sending a paper dossier via postal service.

2. In case of sending an e-dossier via the National Public Service Portal or the State Bank’s Public Service Portal, such e-dossier may bear digital signatures in accordance with regulations on performance of administrative procedures in the electronic environment. In case the National Public Service Portal or the State Bank’s Public Service Portal encounters an incident or error, making it impossible to receive or exchange electronic information, the declaration, submission and receipt of dossiers, notification of dossier processing results, exchange of information and giving of feedback shall be conducted via postal service or directly at the Single-Window Division of the State Bank’s provincial-level branch in the locality where the enterprise is headquartered;

3. Documents in e-dossiers must be electronic versions (in PDF files) scanned from the primary source documents or original documents or declared on the State Bank’s Public Service Portal;

4. Documents in paper dossiers may be the primary source documents, original documents or copies from the original documents as certified by the organization.

5. Vietnamese translations of foreign-language documents must be those translated by the organization itself or by a translation service provider. The organization shall certify the accuracy of the Vietnamese translations and foreign-language contents.

6. The organization shall take responsibility for the accuracy and truthfulness of the information declared in the dossier.”.

2. To amend and supplement Clause 1, Article 12 as follows:

“1. An economic organization wishing to directly carry out foreign currency receipt and payment activities (or change, add or extend the duration of direct foreign currency receipt and payment activities) shall send 1 set of dossier to the State Bank’s provincial-level branch in the locality where the economic organization is headquartered.”.

3. To amend and supplement Clause 1, Article 15 as follows:

“1. A credit institution or an economic organization wishing to carry out foreign currency payment agency activities (or change, add or extend its agency registration duration) shall send 1 set of dossier to the State Bank’s provincial-level branch in the locality where the credit institution or economic organization is headquartered.”.

4. To annul Point b, Clause 2, and Point b, Clause 3, Article 11; and Point b, Clause 2, Point b, Clause 3, Article 14.

Article 3. To amend and supplement a number of articles of Circular No. 12/2016/TT-NHNN of June 29, 2016, of the Governor of the State Bank of Vietnam, guiding foreign exchange management for offshore investment activities (below referred to as Circular No. 12/2016/TT-NHNN)

1. To amend and supplement Article 10 as follows:

a/ To amend and supplement Clause 2 as follows:

“2. An investor shall send 1 set of dossier for registration of offshore investment-related foreign exchange transactions to a competent agency under Articles 8 and 9 of this Circular by one of the following three methods:

a/ Sending an e-dossier via the National Public Service Portal or the State Bank’s Public Service Portal (not applicable to investors being credit institutions);

b/ Hand-delivering a paper dossier at the Single-Window Division of the State Bank (for investors being credit institutions), or at the Single-Window Division of the State Bank’s provincial-level branch concerned (for investors other than credit institutions);

c/ Sending a paper dossier by post.”.

b/ To add Clauses 2a, 2b and 2c as follows:

“2a. In case of sending an e-dossier via the National Public Service Portal or the State Bank’s Public Service Portal, such e-dossier may bear digital signatures in accordance with regulations on performance of administrative procedures in the electronic environment. In case the National Public Service Portal or the State Bank’s Public Service Portal encounters an incident or error, making it impossible to receive or exchange electronic information, the declaration, submission and receipt of dossiers, notification of dossier processing results, exchange of information and giving of feedback shall be conducted via postal service or directly at the Single-Window Division of the State Bank’s provincial-level branch concerned according to the competence specified in Article 8 of this Circular.

2b. Documents in e-dossiers must be electronic versions (in PDF files) scanned from the primary source documents or original documents or declared on the State Bank’s Public Service Portal.

2c. The investor shall take responsibility for the accuracy and truthfulness of the information declared in the dossier for registration of offshore investment-related foreign exchange transactions.”.

c/ To amend and supplement Clause 4 as follows:

“4. Within 10 working days after receiving an investor’s complete and valid dossier, the State Bank shall issue or refuse to issue certifications of the registration of offshore investment-related foreign exchange transactions in paper form or electronic form.”.

2. To amend and supplement Article 13 as follows:

a/ To amend and supplement Clause 2 as follows:

“2. An investor shall send 1 set of dossier for registration for change of offshore investment-related foreign exchange transactions specified in Article 12 of this Circular to a competent agency that certifies the registration of foreign exchange transactions, or that certifies the latest registration for change of foreign exchange transactions in case the registration for such change has been made, by one of the following three methods:

a/ Sending an e-dossier via the National Public Service Portal or the State Bank’s Public Service Portal (not applicable to investors being credit institutions);

b/ Hand-delivering a paper dossier at the Single-Window Division of the State Bank (for investors being credit institutions), or at the Single-Window Division of the State Bank’s provincial-level branch concerned (for investors other than credit institutions);

c/ Sending a paper dossier by post.”.

b/ To add Clauses 2a, 2b and 2c as follows:

“2a. In case of sending an e-dossier via the National Public Service Portal or the State Bank’s Public Service Portal, such e-dossier may bear digital signatures in accordance with regulations on performance of administrative procedures in the electronic environment. In case the National Public Service Portal or the State Bank’s Public Service Portal encounters an incident or error, making it impossible to receive or exchange electronic information, the declaration, submission and receipt of dossiers, notification of dossier processing results, exchange of information and giving of feedback shall be conducted via postal service or at the Single-Window Division of the State Bank’s provincial-level branch concerned that certifies the registration of foreign exchange transactions, or that certifies the latest registration for change of foreign exchange transactions in case the registration for such change  has been made.

2b. Documents in e-dossiers must be electronic versions (in PDF files) scanned from the primary source documents or original documents or declared on the State Bank’s Public Service Portal.

2c. The investor shall take responsibility for the accuracy and truthfulness of the information declared in the dossier for registration for change of offshore investment-related foreign exchange transactions.”.

c/ To amend and supplement Clause 4 as follows:

“4. Within 10 working days after receiving a complete and valid dossier for registration for change, the State Bank shall issue or refuse to issue certifications of the registration for change for the investor in paper form or electronic form.”.

Article 4. Responsibility for organization of implementation

The Chief of the Office, the Director of the Foreign Exchange Management Department, and heads of units of the State Bank of Vietnam, credit institutions, foreign bank branches and related organizations and individuals shall implement this Circular.

Article 5. Implementation provisions

1. This Circular takes effect on February 15, 2023.

2. The dossiers received by the State Bank of Vietnam before the effective date of this Circular but not yet considered and processed shall continue to be processed under Circular No. 16/2012/TT-NHNN, Circular No. 34/2015/TT-NHNN and Circular No. 12/2016/TT-NHNN.

3. To annul Clause 15, Article 1 of Circular No. 38/2015/TT-NHNN; and Clauses 3 and 4, Article 1 of Circular No. 15/2021/TT-NHNN.-

For the State Bank Governor
Deputy Governor
PHAM THANH HA