Resolution No. 21/NQ-CP dated March 21, 2016 of the Government on decentralization of state management between the Government and People’s Committees of provinces and centrally run cities

RESOLUTION

On decentralization of state management between the Government and People’s Committees of provinces and centrally run cities[1]

THE GOVERNMENT

Pursuant to the June 19, 2015 Law on Organization of the Government;

Pursuant to the June 19, 2015 Law on Organization of Local Administrations;

At the proposal of the Minister of Home Affairs,

RESOLVES:

Article 1.To provide decentralization of state management between the Government and People’s Committees of provinces and centrally run cities.

Article 2.Objectives and principles of decentalization of state management of sectors and fields

1. Objectives

To raise effectiveness and efficiency of state management of sectors and fields on the basis of reasonable and clear decentralization of tasks, powers and responsibilities among the Government, the Prime Minister, ministries, ministerial-level agencies and People’s Committees of provinces and centrally run cities (below referred to as provincial-level People’s Committees), ensuring the unified management of the Government and promoting the initiative, responsibility and creativity of local administrations.

2. Principles of decentralization of state management

a/ Ensuring the unified management by the Government while promoting the initiative and responsibility of provincial-level administrations in performing state management tasks and serving the people;

b/ Abiding by the principle of close combination of sector-based management and territory-based management; clearly determining state management tasks of the Government, the Prime Minister, ministries, sectors and provincial-level administrations;

c/ Clearly decentralizing tasks, competence and responsibilities associated with functions, tasks of each level, ensuring increased publicity, transparency and accountability;

d/ Conforming with the level of socio-economic development of each locality in each period, the particularities of each sector or field, and the development conditions and capacity of each region, territorial area and type of rural or urban area;

dd/ Conforming with the management and administration capacity of each level and conditions and capacity of balancing necessary resources for implementation; ensuring the synchronicity and consistency of legal documents on management of sectors and fields;

e/ Enhancing responsibilities of ministries and central sectors for monitoring, guiding, examining and inspecting the decentralization and handling of responsibility; observing administrative discipline and rules while promoting broad democracy for public participation in the state management.

Article 3.Fields of focused decentralization of state management in the 2016-2020 period

1. State budget management: The state budget management shall be decentralized in association with renewal of decentralization of socio-economic management in conformity with the 2013 Constitution and the 2015 Law on the State Budget, ensuring the leading role of the central budget and the initiative of local budgets and conformity with the management capacity of each level.

2. Exercise of rights and performance of obligations of the state owner toward state enterprises and state capital invested in enterprises

a/ To clearly determine rights, responsibilities and obligations of agencies, organizations and individuals in the exercise of rights and performance of obligations of the state owner toward state enterprises and state capital invested in enterprises on the principle of attachment of responsibility to competence of decision-making authorities;

b/ To raise responsibilities of sector- or field-managing ministries and provincial-level People’s Committees for supervising, examining and inspecting the observance of law; assessing the implementation of objectives, strategies, plans, tasks and results and efficiency of production and business, and managing, using, preserving and developing state capital in enterprises.

3. Investment management (for investment from the state budget and government bonds): To improve the decentralization of public investment management on the basis of ensuring the centralized and unified management of master plans, mechanisms and policies and proactive balance of resources, putting an end to thinned-out and scattered investment in order to raise effectiveness and efficiency of public investment management and use according to the objectives and orientations of national socio-economic development strategies and plans; to prevent loss and waste; to ensure publicity and transparency in public investment management.

4. Management of official duties, cadres, civil servants and public employees: To improve the mechanism of cadre and civil servant management associated with decentralization to meet requirements of administrative reform and official duty and civil servant reform; to recruit, employ and manage public employees in conformity with the autonomy mechanism applicable to public non-business units in each sector or field.

5. Land administration: To ensure the unified land administration at the central level, intensifying inspection, examination, supervision, monitoring, assessment and appraisal by central state land administration agencies of local ones.

Article 4.Solutions and organization of implementation

1. Major solutions

a/ To focus on improving legal documents on sectors and fields according to the following contents:

- Reviewing the functions and tasks of state management agencies from the central to local level, removing their overlaps and ensuring that a task must be under the charge of a single agency in conformity with its decentralized work;

- Reasonably reducing licenses and simplifying administrative procedures for licensing; regularly reviewing, supervising and assessing regulations on business investment conditions, strictly handling the drafting and issuance of regulations on business conditions ultra vires; reviewing and slashing administrative procedures and modifying inappropriate processes of settlement of affairs for  people and enterprises;

- Establishing criteria, conditions, standards, regulations and norms in replacement of licensing (or ask-give mechanism) in the performance of state management of sectors and fields. Restricting the state management through issuing written approvals or giving opinions for matters already regulated by criteria, standards, conditions and processes and decentralized management. Only carrying out examination and appraisal for control to ensure unified quality and effective management and prevent waste;

- Ensuring publicity, transparency, proper competence and time limit in the performance of official duties, especially with regard to processes and procedures for serving and settling requirements of people and enterprises;

- Defining the accountability and handling of violations according to decentralized functions and competence and assigned responsibilities.

b/ To speed up application of information technology to official duties, state management and provision of public services;

c/ To intensify inspection, examination, control, supervision and implement necessary coordination by the Government, ministries and sectors with regard to localities after decentralization.

2. Organization of implementation

a/ Sector- or field-managing  ministries

- The Ministry of Finance shall take responsibility for the contents of decentralization of the state management of state budget;

- The Ministry of Planning and Investment shall take responsibility for the contents of decentralization of the state management of public investment under the Law on Public Investment; assume the prime responsibility for, and coordinate with related ministries and sectors in, performing the contents of decentralization in the exercise of rights and performance of obligations of the state owner toward state enterprises and state capital invested in enterprises;

- The Ministry of Home Affairs shall assume the prime responsibility for, and coordinate with related ministries and sectors in, improving mechanisms associated with the decentralization of cadre and civil servant and public employee management;

- The Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment shall take responsibility for the contents of decentralization of the state administration of land.

b/ Ministries and ministerial-level agencies shall:

- Further improve institutions and policies: In 2016, review legal documents and propose or promulgate appropriate amending, supplementing or replacing legal documents according to their competence in conformity with the contents decentralized to localities in combination with clear determination of functions, tasks and powers of each agency at each level in the state administration system;

- Make public and transparent state management activities, especially review, publicize and simplify administrative procedures in sectors and fields under their respective management; raise the quality of cadres and civil servants suitable to  their working positions to meet requirements of state management tasks; create conditions for organizations, enterprises and people to supervise operations of state administrative agencies;

- Annually inspect, supervise and assess the implementation of the contents of state management decentralized to their sectors and fields so as to make prompt amendment, supplementation and adjustment suitable to the capacity and conditions of each area or locality for the implementation of decentralization in each period.

c/ The Ministry of Home Affairs shall monitor and press for the implementation of this Resolution; summarize the implementation of management decentralization of ministries, sectors and localities for adjusting functions, tasks, powers and organizational apparatuses and payrolls of civil servants in conformity with the process of decentralization of state management of each sector or field;

d/ Provincial-level People’s Committees shall take responsibility before decentralizing agencies for decentralized tasks; propose to the Government, the Prime Minister and sector- or field-managing ministries contents to be decentralized in conformity with the conditions, capacity and advantages of their localities; further decentralize the state management to district- and commune-level People’s Committees under the objectives, viewpoints and principles set out in this Resolution.

Article 5.This Resolution takes effect on the date of its signing.

Article 6.Ministers, heads of ministerial-level agencies, heads of government-attached agencies, chairpersons of provincial-level People’s Committees, and related agencies, organizations and individuals shall implement this Resolution.-

On behalf of the Government
Prime Minister
NGUYEN TAN DUNG