Circular 38/2023/TT-BTC charge for appraisal of environmental impact assessment reports by central agencies

CIRCULAR

Providing for the rates, collection, remittance, management and use of the charge for appraisal of environmental impact assessment reports by central agencies^[1]

Pursuant to the November 25, 2015 Law on Charges and Fees;

Pursuant to the June 25, 2015 Law on the State Budget;

Pursuant to the June 13, 2019 Law on Tax Administration;

Pursuant to the November 17, 2020 Law on Environmental Protection;

Pursuant to the Government’s Decree No. 08/2022/ND-CP of January 10, 2022, detailing a number of articles of the Law on Environmental Protection;

Pursuant to the Government’s Decree No. 120/2016/ND-CP of August 23, 2016, detailing, and guiding the implementation of, a number of articles of the Law on Charges and Fees (below referred to as Decree No. 120/2016/ND-CP);

Pursuant to the Government’s Decree No. 126/2020/ND-CP of October 19, 2020, detailing a number of articles of the Law on Tax Administration (below referred to as Decree No. 126/2020/ND-CP); and the Government’s Decree No. 91/2022/ND-CP of October 30, 2022, amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Government’s Decree No. 126/2020/ND-CP of October 19, 2020, detailing a number of articles of the Law on Tax Administration (below referred to as Decree No. 91/2022/ND-CP);

Pursuant to the Government’s Decree No. 14/2023/ND-CP of April 20, 2023, defining the functions, tasks, powers and organizational structure of the Ministry of Finance;

At the proposal of the Director of the Department of Tax Policy,

The Minister of Finance promulgates the Circular providing for the rates, collection, remittance, management and use of the charge for appraisal of environmental impact assessment reports by central agencies.

Article 1. Scope of regulation and subjects of application

1. This Circular provides for the rates, collection, remittance, management and use of the charge for appraisal of environmental impact assessment reports by central agencies.

2. This Circular applies to the charge payers and charge-collecting organizations specified in Article 2 of this Circular; and other organizations and individuals involved in collection, remittance of the charge for appraisal of environmental impact assessment reports by central agencies.

Article 2. Charge payers and charge-collecting organizations

1. Charge payers defined in this Circular are project owners that request central competent agencies to appraise environmental impact assessment reports.

2. Charge-collecting organizations defined in this Circular are the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, Ministry of Public Security and Ministry of National Defense or state agencies under these three ministries which are assigned to appraise environmental impact assessment reports.

Article 3. Charge rates

Rates of the charge for appraisal of environmental impact assessment reports by central agencies are provided in the Table of charge rates promulgated together with this Circular.

Article 4. Charge declaration and remittance

1. Charge payers shall pay the charge to charge-collecting organizations within the period from the time of submitting a dossier of request for appraisal to the time which is before the date of holding the meeting of the Appraisal Council. The charge shall be paid in the forms specified in the Minister of Finance’s Circular No. 74/2022/TT-BTC of December 22, 2022, providing for forms of and time limits for collection, remittance and declaration of charges and fees falling within the Ministry of Finance’s competence (below referred to as Circular No. 74/2022/TT-BTC).

2. By the 5^th every month at the latest, a charge-collecting organization shall deposit the charge amount collected in the previous month into its account of charge amounts awaiting remittance into the state budget, which is opened at the State Treasury. Charge-collecting organizations shall conduct charge declaration, collection, remittance and account-finalization under Circular No. 74/2022/TT-BTC. 

Article 5. Charge management and use

1. Charge-collecting organizations shall remit the whole collected charge amounts into the state budget (the central budget). Expenses for appraisal and charge collection activities shall be included in state budget estimates of charge-collecting organizations according to the law-prescribed regime and norms of state budget expenditures.

2. For charge-collecting organizations being state agencies that have their operating expenses covered by charge amounts under Clause 1, Article 4 of Decree No. 120/2016/ND-CP, they may retain 65% of the collected charge amounts to cover appraisal and charge collection expenses under Article 5 of Decree No. 120/2016/ND-CP, and shall remit the remaining 35% of the collected charge amounts into the state budget (the central budget) according to the chapter, item and sub-item of the State Budget Index.

Article 6. Implementation provisions

1. This Circular takes effect on August 1, 2023.

2. This Circular annuls:

a/ The Minister of Finance’s Circular No. 56/2018/TT-BTC of June 25, 2018, providing for the rates, collection, remittance, management and use of the charge for appraisal of environmental impact assessment reports by central agencies.

b/ Article 2 of the Minister of Finance’s Circular No. 91/2021/TT-BTC of October 21, 2021, amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Minister of Finance’s Circular No. 191/2016/TT-BTC of November 8, 2016, providing for the rates, collection, remittance, management and use of the charge for appraisal and evaluation of mineral reserves and the fee for grant of mineral activity licenses, and the Minister of Finance’s Circular No. 56/2018/TT-BTC of June 25, 2018, providing for the rates, collection, remittance, management and use of the charge for appraisal of environmental impact assessment reports by central agencies.

3. Other contents relating to the collection, remittance, management and use of charges, documents for charge collection and publicity of regulations on collection of the charge for appraisal of environmental impact assessment reports by central agencies, that are not mentioned in this Circular, must comply with the Law on Charges and Fees; Decree No. 120/2016/ND-CP; the Law on Tax Administration; Decree No. 126/2020/ND-CP; Decree No. 91/2022/ND-CP; the Government’s Decree No. 11/2020/ND-CP of January 20, 2020, prescribing the State Treasury-related administrative procedures; the Government’s Decree No. 123/2020/ND-CP of October 19, 2020, on invoices and documents; the Minister of Finance’s Circular No. 78/2021/TT-BTC of September 17, 2021, guiding the implementation of a number of articles of the Law on Tax Administration and the Government’s Decree No. 123/2020/ND-CP of October 19, 2020, on invoices and documents.

4. In case the legal documents referred to in this Circular are revised or replaced, the revising or replacing documents shall prevail.

5. Any problems arising in the course of implementation of this Circular should be promptly reported to the Ministry of Finance for study and additional guidance.

For the Minister of Finance
Deputy Minister
CAO ANH TUAN

TABLE OF CHARGE RATES FOR APPRAISAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT REPORTS

(Promulgated together with the Minister of Finance’s Circular No. 38/2023/TT-BTC of June 8, 2023)

Notes:

The project groups mentioned in the above Table are specified as follows:

- Group 1. Civil engineering projects.

- Group 2. Technical infrastructure projects (except transport projects).

- Group 3. Agriculture, forestry, fishery and hydraulic-work projects.

- Group 4. Transport projects.

- Group 5. Industrial projects.

- Group 6. Projects on waste treatment and environmental improvement and other projects (not listed in groups 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 above).

For projects belonging to 2 groups or more, the charge rate for the group of projects with the highest charge rate shall apply.-