Circular No. 35/2016/TT-BGTVT dated November 15, 2016 of the Ministry of Transport on prescribing the ceiling road use service price levels to be applied by investment projects on road construction for commercial operation under the management by the Ministry of Transport

CIRCULAR

Prescribing the ceiling road use service price levels to be applied by investment projects on road construction for commercial operation under the management by the Ministry of Transport[1]

Pursuant to November 13, 2008 Law No. 23/2008/QH12 on Road Traffic;

Pursuant to June 20, 2012 Law No. 11/2012/QH13 on Prices;

Pursuant to the Government’s Decree No. 177/2013/ND-CP of November 14, 2013, detailing and guiding a number of articles of the Law on Prices;

Pursuant to the Government’s Decree No. 149/2016/ND-CP of November 11, 2016, amending and supplementing a number of articles of Decree No. 177/2013/ND-CP of November 14, 2013, detailing and guiding a number of articles of the Law on Prices;

Pursuant to the Government’s Decree No. 107/2012/ND-CP of December 20, 2012, defining the functions, tasks, powers and organizational structure of the Ministry of Transport;

At the proposal of the director of the Department of Finance,

The Minister of Transport promulgates the Circular prescribing the ceiling road use service price levels to be applied by investment projects on road construction for commercial operation under the management by the Ministry of Transport.

Chapter I

GENERAL PROVISIONS

Article 1.Scope of regulation and subjects of application

1. This Circular prescribes the ceiling road use service price levels to be applied by investment projects on road construction, including national highways and expressways, for commercial operation under the management by the Ministry of Transport

2. This Circular applies to:

a/ Owners of road motor vehicles and special-use motorcycles, and persons authorized or assigned by these owners to possess and use road motor vehicles and special-use motorcycles (below collectively referred to as vehicle owners);

b/ Investors and project enterprises involved in projects on construction of roads for commercial operation;

c/ Other related agencies, organizations and individuals.

Article 2.Interpretation of terms

In this Circular, the terms below are construed as follows:

1. Road vehicles (below referred to as vehicles) include road motor vehicles and special-use motorcycles.

2. Road use service means a service provided by road vehicles which are invested for commercial operation.

3. Road use service price-collecting booth (below referred to as booth) means a booth where road use service prices are collected from road vehicles.

4. Investor means an organization or individual investing in a project on construction, upgrading and reparation of a road for commercial operation.

5. Project enterprise means an enterprise established by an investor for project implementation.

6. Distance means a distance travelled by a road vehicle, which is calculated in km.

7. Road use service price-collecting unit (below referred to as collecting unit) means an investor, a project enterprise or unit authorized or assigned by an investor or a project enterprise to sell and check road use service tickets.

Article 3.Vehicles and vehicle owners liable to road use service prices

1. Road vehicles liable to road use service prices include:

a/ Group 1: Under-12-seat vehicles, trucks with the loading capacity of under 2 tons; mass transit buses;

b/ Group 2: Vehicles with between 12 seats and 30 seats; trucks with the loading capacity of between 2 tons and under 4 tons;

c/ Group 3: Vehicles with 31 or more seats; trucks with the loading capacity of between 4 tons and under 10 tons;

d/ Group 4: Trucks with the loading capacity of between 10 tons and under 18 tons; 20-feet container trucks;

e/ Group 5: Trucks with the loading capacity of over 18 tons; 40-feet container trucks.

2. Owners of vehicles liable to road use service prices specified in Clause 1 of this Article shall pay road use service prices, except those specified in Article 4 of this Circular.

Article 4.Vehicles eligible for road use service price exemption

1. Ambulances and other vehicles carrying injured persons to intensive care units.

2. Fire engines.

3. Agricultural and forestry machinery vehicles including ploughs, harrows, cultivators, weeders and paddy pluckers.

4. Dike protection vehicles; vehicles employed for flood prevention and control in a state of emergency as mobilized by competent authorities.

5. Vehicles exclusively used for national defense purposes:

a/ Tanks, armored vehicles, artillery tractors, vehicles carrying troops in operation;

b/ Road motor vehicles bearing number plates with a red background and engraved white letters and numbers (below referred to as red-background number plates) and fitted with special-use equipment for national defense (which are not flatbed trucks), such as work vehicles, crane trucks, cistern trucks and power generator units. Vehicles carrying troops in operation mean automobile with 12 or more seats and trucks with seats fitted in the roofed body and bearing red-background number plates (regardless of carrying troops or not).

6. Vehicles exclusively used for security purposes, including those specified at Point a, Clause 5 of this Article and those of the public security forces (the Ministry of Public Security, public security offices of provinces, cities, districts, etc.):

a/ Patrol cars for traffic control of the traffic police with a turn light on the roof and words “TRAFFIC POLICE “ on both sides of the body;

b/ Cars of the 113 police with words “POLICE 113” on both sides of the body;

c/ Mobile police cars with words “MOBILE POLICE” on both sides of the body;

d/ Cars of police forces on duty using one of the priority signals as prescribed by law in case of performance of an urgent duty;

dd/ Trucks with seats fitted in the roofed body for carrying public security forces on duty.

e/ Special-use vehicles carrying prisoners; rescue and salvage cars.

7. Funeral vehicle processions.

8. Escorted vehicle processions.

9. Cars of the public security and national defense forces using the “national road toll” ticket as prescribed by the Ministry of Finance on road tolls.

10. Vehicles carrying medicines, machinery, equipment, supplies and goods to disasters- and epidemics-hit regions as prescribed by the law on state of emergency caused by big disasters or dangerous epidemics.

11. Two-wheeled motor vehicles, three-wheeled motor vehicles, motorbikes, three-wheeled motorcycles.

Article 5.Conditions for road use service price collection

A road where the organization of road use service price collection is permitted must fully satisfy the following conditions:

1. Having its construction or upgrading completed under a project approved by a competent authority.

2. Having its supporting works to serve the road use service price collection completed with all types of ticket and an apparatus for ticket collection and checking available.

Chapter II

REGULATIONS ON ROAD USE SERVICE PRICES AND TICKETS

Article 6.Maximum road use service price levels

1. The maximum price for a time of road use is the maximum price level prescribed for each of the vehicle groups specified in Clause 1, Article 3 of this Circular (such price is inclusive of value-added tax).

a/ The maximum road use service price per passing vehicle is provided in Appendix I to this Circular.

b/ The maximum road use service price per distance is provided in Appendix II to this Circular.

2. The maximum monthly price is the maximum level to be collected for 30 days of road use by a vehicle passing a booth. The maximum monthly price is 30 (thirty) times higher than the maximum price specified in Clause 1 of this Article.

3. The maximum quarterly price is the maximum level to be collected for 90 days of road use by a vehicle passing a booth. The maximum quarterly price is 3 (three) times the maximum monthly price, and entitled to a discount of 10%.

4. When factors constituting the domestic price change, thereby affecting a project’s financial plan, the Ministry of Transport shall consider and adjust the maximum price in accordance with the law on prices.

Article 7.Specific road use service prices

The specific road use service price for each project shall be agreed upon by the competent state agency and an investor or a project enterprise under the project contract, provided that such price does not exceed the maximum price specified in Article 6 of this Circular.

Article 8.Road use service tickets

1. Road use service tickets used for road vehicles passing collecting booths include one-pass tickets, monthly tickets and quarterly tickets.

a/ A one-pass ticket is printed with a price to be collected for one time of road use by a passing vehicle;

b/ A monthly ticket is issued for 30 days from the date such ticket becomes valid for use with a pre-printed price showing the level to be collected for 30 days for a passing vehicle. The par value of a monthly ticket is 30 (thirty) times that of a one-pass ticket. A monthly ticket is used to collect road use service prices from road vehicles passing a booth during a given period of time, counting from the date the ticket becomes valid for use to the date of expiration of its validity as stated in the ticket;

c/  A quarterly ticket is issued for 90 days from the date such ticket becomes valid for use with the pre-printed price showing the level to be collected for 90 days for a passing vehicle. The par value of a quarterly ticket is 3 (three) times that of a monthly ticket, and entitled to a discount of 10%. A quarterly ticket is used to collect road use service prices from road vehicles passing a booth during a given period of time, counting from the date the ticket becomes valid for use to the date of expiration of its validity as stated in such ticket;

2. A one-pass ticket shall be sold to a vehicle, for which the price printed on the ticket shall be paid, without recording the vehicle’s registration number.

3. A monthly or quarterly ticket is sold to a vehicle, for which the price printed on the ticket shall be paid, showing the valid duration and registration number of the vehicle. A monthly or quarterly ticket must be used at the right booth within the valid duration stated in it.

Article 9.Management of road use service tickets

1. The printing, distribution, management and use of tickets must comply with the law on management of goods sale and service provision invoices.

2. A road use service ticket may only be used at the booth for which it is issued.

3. A road user shall produce the vehicle registration certificate (the original or a copy) when buying a monthly or quarterly ticket corresponding to its/his/her vehicle’s type and designed tonnage.

4. Money amounts paid for tickets sold to vehicles shall not be refunded or cleared against price amounts payable by other vehicles (except where a booth is suspended from price collection under a decision of the investor or competent agency).

5. A road use service ticket serves as a document for controlling a vehicle passing a booth and concurrently as a payment invoice.

Chapter III

ORGANIZATION OF IMPLEMENTATION

Article 10.Responsibilities for implementation organization

1. The Directorate for Roads of Vietnam shall examine and supervise the collection of road use service prices by collecting units and report it to the Ministry of Transport in accordance with law.

2. Collecting units shall:

a/ Publicly inform, and post up information on price levels, subjects liable to pay road use service prices, and subjects exempted from road use service prices at ticket-selling places and booths in accordance with law.

b/ Set up ticket-selling places convenient for vehicle owners, thus preventing traffic congestion; promptly and fully sell tickets of all types to those wishing to use road services;

c/ Organize the collection, declaration, remittance, management and use of money amounts collected from the sale of tickets in accordance with law

d/ Comply with the regulations on inspection and examination in accordance with the law on price management, road traffic and relevant regulations.

Article 11.Transitional provisions

1. For collecting booths for which the Minister of Transport has issued Circulars on levels, collection, remittance, management and use of road use service prices for retrieval of capital for road projects before the effective date of this Circular, the price levels specified in such Circulars shall continue to be applied until they are permitted by state competent agencies to be adjusted.

2. The Ho Chi Minh City-Trung Luong expressway project shall continue to apply the price levels specified in the Minister of Finance’s Circular No. 14/2012/TT-BTC of February 7, 2012, and Circular No. 143/2012/TT-BTC of August 31, 2012, from January 1, 2017, until such price levels are permitted by competent state agencies to be adjusted. These price levels are inclusive of value-added tax.

3. For the Hanoi-Hai Phong expressway project and expressway projects of which the Vietnam Expressway Corporation is the owner, the project owner may decide on price levels under the pilot mechanisms and policies decided by the Prime Minister until replacing decisions are issued and on the principle that such price levels do not exceed the maximum prices specified in Article 6 of this Circular.

4. Provisions on the collection, management, use, collection documents and publicization of collected road use service price amounts which are not contained in this Circular may be found in the Law on Tax Administration and relevant guiding documents.

Article 12.Effect

1. This Circular takes effect on January 1, 2017.

2. The Chief of the Secretariat, the Chief Inspector and directors of departments of the Ministry of Transport, the General Director of the Directorate for Roads of Vietnam, heads of related agencies and related organizations and individuals shall implement this Circular.

3. Any problem arising in the course of implementation should be promptly reported to the Ministry of Transport for consideration and settlement.-

Minister of Transport
TRUONG QUANG NGHIA

APPENDIX I

Maximum tariff for road use services per passing vehicle

(To the Minister of Transport’s Circular No. 35/2016/TT-BGTVT of November 15, 2016)

Notes:

a/ The loading capacities of the vehicles subject to the above price levels are designed ones (for loading cargoes), based on the vehicle registration certificates granted by competent agencies.

b/ The price levels applicable to container trucks (including special-use trailers) are for trucks’ gross weight, with or without cargo.

APPENDIX II

Maximum distance-based tariff for road use services

(To the Minister of Transport’s Circular No. 35/2016/TT-BGTVT of November 15, 2016)

Notes:

a/ A distance-based price level is based on the vehicle type and distance actually travelled (km), and the unit price corresponding to each type of vehicle (VND/km).

b/ The loading capacities of the vehicles subject to the above price levels are the designed ones (for loading cargoes), based on the vehicle registration certificates granted by competent agencies.

c/ The price levels for container trucks (including special-use trailers) apply to trucks’ gross weights, with or without cargo.-