Decision No. 27/2003/QD-BTC dated March 13, 2003 of the Ministry of Finance amending import tax rates of a number of commodity items under heading No. 2710 in the preferential import tariff

CIRCULAR

GUIDING THE FINANCIAL MECHANISM APPLICABLE TO ACTIVITIES OF CONSULTANCY, JUDGMENT AND SOCIAL EXPERTISE BY VIETNAM UNION OF SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNICAL ASSOCIATIONS

Pursuant to the Prime Minister's Decision No. 22/2002/QD-TTg of January 30, 2002 on activities of consultancy, judgment and social expertise by Vietnam Union of Scientific and Technical Associations,
After reaching agreement with Vietnam Union of Scientific and Technical Associations, the Ministry of Finance hereby guides the financial management and use of funding for activities of consultancy, judgment and social expertise of socio-economic development, education and training, scientific, technological and environmental schemes of Vietnam Union of Scientific and Technical Associations, as follows:

I. GENERAL PROVISIONS

1. Activities of consultancy, judgment and social expertise by Vietnam Union of Scientific and Technical Associations (hereinafter called the Associations' Union for short), the specialized scientific and technical associations at the central level and the unions of scientific and technical associations of the provinces and centrally-run cities (hereinafter called the member associations for short) are activities of non-profit nature.

2. The determination of funding for activities of consultancy, judgment and social expertise of socio-economic development, education and training, scientific, technological and environmental programs, projects and schemes (hereinafter referred collectively to as schemes) shall be made on the principle of ensuring the coverage of expenses in direct service of such activities.

The schemes subject to the consultancy, judgment and social expertise by the Associations' Union must be of multi-branch or inter-branch nature, while the schemes of specialized nature shall be handled by the specialized scientific and technical member associations.

3. Activities of consultancy and judgment regarding legal documents shall comply with the Finance Ministry's Circular No. 15/2001/TT-BTC of March 21, 2001 guiding the management of allocation and settlement of support funding for compilation of legal documents.

II. CONTENTS AND LEVELS OF EXPENSES FOR CONSULTANCY, JUDGMENT AND SOCIAL EXPERTISE ACTIVITIES

1. Expense contents are determined on the basis of contents, scales and characteristics of schemes and work assignment clauses.

2. Specific expense level for each content of consultancy, judgment and social expertise activities shall comply with the following regulations:

3. Other expenses not specified in this Circular shall comply with the State's current regulations.

III. FUNDING SOURCES FOR CONSULTANCY, JUDGMENT AND SOCIAL EXPERTISE ACTIVITIES:

1. For schemes requested by the ministries, the ministerial-level agencies, the agencies attached to the Government and the People's Committees of the provinces and centrally-run cities to be subject to consultancy, judgment and social expertise activities, and schemes proposed by the Associations' Union and its member associations themselves and accepted by the ministries, the central agencies and the People's Committees, the funding for performance of the consultancy, judgment and social expertise tasks shall be determined on the basis of contracts agreed upon by the two parties in compliance with the expense contents and levels prescribed in this Circular and deducted from the schemes' funding sources. In cases where the schemes are not allocated with separate funding sources, they shall be entitled to use operation funding of the requesting agencies (or accepting agencies), and make settlement thereof directly with the Associations' Union or the member associations under contracts.

2. For schemes requested (or accepted) by the Government, the funding estimates shall be made by the Associations' Union or the member associations on the basis of expense contents and levels prescribed in this Circular, and their funding shall be allocated from the State budget according to their work progress.

IV. MANAGEMENT, ALLOCATION AND SETTLEMENT WORK

The financial management of consultancy, judgment and social expertise activities of the Associations' Union and the member associations must comply with the provisions of the State Budget Law, the current financial management regimes and the following specific regulations:

1. Funding estimation:

Annually, basing themselves on the plans on consultancy, judgment and social expertise activities and the expense contents and levels specified in Section II of this Circular, the Associations' Union and the member associations shall estimate the expenses for such activities, including:

- Estimates of funding for performing activities of consultancy, judgment and social expertise of the schemes requested (or accepted) by the Government.

- Estimates of funding for performing activities of consultancy, judgment and social expertise of the schemes requested (or accepted) by the People's Committees of the provinces and centrally-run cities.

The Associations' Union shall incorporate such estimates in its annual budget estimates, which shall later be sent to the Ministry of Finance , the Ministry of Planning and Investment (for Vietnam Union of Scientific and Technical Associations and the Associations at the central level); or to the provincial/municipal Finance and Pricing Services and the provincial/municipal Planning and Investment Services (for the Associations' Union and the Associations at the local levels) for synthesis and submission to the Government and the People's Committees of the provinces and centrally-run cities.

2. Funding allocation:

On the basis of the annual budget expenditure estimates assigned by the Prime Minister or the People's Committees of the provinces and centrally-run cities as well as their actually assigned tasks, the finance agencies shall allocate funding to the Associations' Union and the associations at the central and local levels according to the budget decentralization for implementation.

3. Funding settlement:

In cases where the funding is not used up at the year end, it shall be handled as follows:

- For estimated funding to be allocated from the State budget to the Associations' Union and the member associations, the settlement thereof shall be made according to the State Budget Law and the guiding documents.

- For funding generated from contracts on performance of activities of consultancy, judgment and social expertise of schemes, the Associations' Union and the member associations shall, after paying expenses in direct service of such activities, use the remainder for consolidating material foundations in service of consultancy, judgment and social expertise activities.

Annually, the Associations' Union and the member associations shall have to report to the finance agencies of the same level on the situation of management, use of revenues from and expenses for consultancy, judgment and social expertise activities.

V. ORGANIZATION OF IMPLEMENTATION

This Circular takes effect 15 days after its publication on the Official Gazette.

Any problems arising in the course of implementation should be promptly reported to the Finance Ministry for study, appropriate amendment and supplement.