Joint Circular No. 1-TTLT guiding certain points on the management and use of forest nurturing funds

CIRCULAR

JOINT MINISTRY OF FINANCE - FORESTRY - STATE PLANNING COUNCIL DECREE NO. 1-TTLT DATED JANUARY 18, 1984 GUIDELINES ON CERTAIN ASPECTS OF THE MANAGEMENT AND USE OF FOREST FEEDING FUNDS.
||| GUIDELINES ON THE MANAGEMENT AND USE OF FOREST FEEDING FUNDS.

Pursuant to Resolution No. 138-HĐBT dated November 19, 1983 of the Council of Ministers on improving the system of budget decentralization for localities, the Joint Ministry of Finance - Forestry - State Planning Council hereby provides specific guidelines on the management and use of forest feeding funds as follows:

2. Individuals who have registered as the principal investigator of a Research Project or Pilot Production Project and those participating in its implementation shall not participate in the Evaluation and Selection Council for that Research Project or Pilot Production Project (hereinafter referred to as the Council). In necessary cases, members of the Council may be staff members of the organization registering as the principal investigator of the Research Project or Pilot Production Project, but not more than one person and they cannot serve as Chairperson, Vice-Chairperson, or reviewing member.

All state-owned economic organizations, state agencies, people's armed forces, collective economies, and individuals permitted to exploit forest products and special forest products (including natural forests and planted forests) must pay forest feeding funds. The forest feeding fund is a component of the national budget revenue and expenditure, used for the protection and development of forest capital.

The forest feeding fund includes revenues from various types of forest products and special forest products extracted from forests (natural and planted), and revenues from the handling of forestry violations.

The forest feeding fund belonging to provinces, cities, and centrally-administered municipalities (hereinafter referred to as provinces) shall be uniformly managed and used by the provincial People's Committee for purposes such as planting, caring for, repairing, improving, managing, protecting forests, and subsidizing people planting trees according to approved planning and tree structure plans. It shall not be used for other purposes.

II. MANAGEMENT OF COLLECTION AND EXPENDITURE OF FOREST FEEDING FUNDS

A. COLLECTION OF FOREST FEEDING FUNDS:

1. The people's forest rangers are the specialized force responsible for managing and protecting forests; they inspect the implementation of technical procedures for logging; and check the products already logged by all entities permitted to exploit forest products and special forest products.

2. The people's forest rangers have the direct responsibility to collect forest feeding funds from state-owned economic organizations (excluding state-owned forest enterprises), state agencies, armed forces, collective economies, and individuals permitted to exploit forest products and special forest products.

3. Local state-owned forest enterprises exploiting forest products and special forest products within a province must remit the forest feeding fund to that province.

Joint forest-industrial associations, central state-owned forest enterprises, and local forestry organizations in regions supplying paper pulp, fiber, and timber poles (financed by the central government) must remit the forest feeding fund to the central government budget. The local government budget will benefit from a redistribution rate of ten percent (10%) of the actual collection of the forest feeding fund.

4. State-owned economic organizations (excluding state-owned forest enterprises), state agencies, armed forces, collective economies, and individuals must pay the forest feeding fund immediately upon receiving the permit and settle it based on the actual volume of forest products logged, with confirmation by the people's forest ranger authority.

For state-owned economic organizations under the health, domestic trade, and foreign trade sectors permitted by the state to purchase forest products and special forest products directly from the forest, they must pay the forest feeding fund to the local people's forest ranger authority before transporting the forest products out of the purchasing location.

5. Each type of forest product and special forest product must only pay the forest feeding fund once. When collecting the forest feeding fund, the people's forest ranger authority must issue a receipt to the payer in accordance with the prescribed regulations.

6. All receipts for collecting the forest feeding fund must be issued by the state financial authority and managed according to the stamp control principles for tax collection as stipulated in Circular No. 15-ST/KT dated January 2, 1958 of the Central Tax Department. Units receiving these receipts for collecting the forest feeding fund must register with the same-level financial authority. Quarterly and annually, these units must compile reports and settle accounts with the issuing authority regarding the number of receipts used and must store them according to the current retention regulations.

7. Regarding the time and procedures for paying the forest feeding fund into the state budget:

a. For people's forest ranger organizations, every ten (10) days (on the 1st, 11th, and 31st of each month), they must:

- Prepare a list and remit all collected forest feeding funds during the period to the local budget at the nearest bank.

- Once a month, on the last day of the month, the forest ranger stations must prepare a summary list of the forest feeding funds remitted during the month and send it to the Department of Finance and the Forestry Department for reporting.

b. For joint forest-industrial associations and state-owned forest enterprises, they must pay the forest feeding fund twice a month, the first payment from the 1st to the 5th of the month covering 40 to 50% of the monthly plan; the second payment from the 15th to the 20th of the month, covering the remaining percentage and being settled according to actual figures within the first five days of the following month.

8. Financial authorities (Departments of Finance, State-owned Enterprise Revenue Collection and Management Bureaus, and Central Enterprise Financial Management Departments) and Forestry Departments are responsible for supervising joint forest-industrial associations, state-owned forest enterprises, and people's forest ranger stations to ensure timely, full, and accurate collection and remittance of the forest feeding fund in accordance with the prescribed regulations.

B. USE OF FOREST FEEDING FUNDS

The forest feeding fund shall be entirely used for the purpose of afforestation, repair, improvement, management, and protection of forests, specifically:

1. Basic construction investment: Funding for the preparation of economic and technical feasibility studies for forest enterprises, afforestation, care, thinning of forests, creation of seedling forests, repair of natural forests; construction of nurseries, roads, warehouses, houses... to serve forestry operations directly; contribution and support to cooperatives and production groups allocated land and forests in areas planned for concentrated afforestation to provide raw materials for the state; afforestation in areas of permanent settlement, new economic zones.

2. Expenditure on forest management and protection affairs:

- Funding for forest management work including pre- and post-harvest forestry activities.

- Forest management expenses; Forest investigation and planning expenses; Forest business design and small forest area construction expenses; Land allocation and forest allocation expenses, guidance to the people on farming and rotational forest management; management of protected forests, scenic forests, national parks, and protective forests.

- Expenses for fire prevention and pest control such as firebreak roads, firebreak channels, fire lookout towers, pest forecasting; purchase of equipment and pesticides.

- Expenses for scientific experimentation and application of forestry technology advancements.

- Expenses for propaganda and guidance to the people on forest protection.

- To maintain the people's forest rangers force (the people's forest ranger force under provincial management shall be funded from local forestry budget, the people's forest ranger force under central management shall be funded from central forestry budget) and to provide allowances for those engaged in specialized forest management work at commune level.

- To subsidize people's tree planting activities according to current regulations.

3. The needs for developing afforestation programs, managing, protecting forests, and building forest capital of forestry-industrial cooperatives, state-owned forest farms, forestry事业单位法人和其他从事造林任务的单位，特别是重点木浆原料林和木材支柱基地（由中央规定）所属单位的发展需求，由中央财政拨款。

4. The management and allocation of funds, and the expenditure of forestry budgets must comply with the current financial management system of the State, Provincial People's Committees, through the guidance, direction, and inspection of the finance and forestry authorities over forestry-industrial cooperatives, forest farms, forest ranger stations, and other forestry public institutions to ensure that expenditures are made according to regulations and purposes.

C. ESTABLISHING FOREST BUDGET INCOME AND EXPENDITURE PLANS AND FORESTRY DEVELOPMENT PLANS
AND THE FORESTRY DEVELOPMENT PLAN

- During each planning period, forestry-industrial cooperatives, state-owned forest farms, forest ranger stations, and other forestry public institutions shall base their plans for income and expenditure of forestry budgets and protection plans on their own plans for logging, forest product collection, afforestation, care, repair, protection, and management of forests, and people's tree planting activities. They shall submit these plans to the Forestry Department (if they are subordinate to local authorities) or to the Ministry of Forestry (if they are subordinate to central authorities and local units within concentrated afforestation areas supplying pulpwood and timber pillar raw materials funded by the central budget).

- The Forestry Department shall compile the local income and expenditure plans for forestry budgets, report them to the Provincial People's Committee and the Ministry of Forestry, and send them to the Planning Commission and the Finance Department.

- The Ministry of Forestry shall compile the national income and expenditure plans for forestry budgets together with technical economic plans and report them to the Council of Ministers, and send them to the State Planning Commission and the Ministry of Finance.

- The income from forestry budgets, expenditures for basic construction of afforestation, and other expenses directly serving the above forestry activities shall be recorded as statutory indicators corresponding to the volume of work and ensuring balance with labor, materials, and equipment plans.

- During the process of balancing income and expenditure of forestry budgets, if a locality has less income from forestry budgets than the planned needs for developing afforestation programs and managing and protecting forests assigned by the state plan, then the state budget will invest additional funds to meet the needs. When there is a large seasonal need for expenditure exceeding the income from forestry budgets during the same period, it can be covered by advance funding from the state budget.

D. SETTLING FOREST BUDGET INCOME AND EXPENDITURE

Each item of income and expenditure from forestry budgets must be settled quarterly and annually according to the current reporting and settlement system for public service expenses, basic construction investment, and forestry budget income.

The system of reports and reporting times shall be guided by the Ministry of Forestry after obtaining the agreement of the Ministry of Finance.

Local Forestry Departments shall review and consolidate the settlements of subordinate units and report them to the Provincial People's Committee.

Local financial authorities shall be responsible for checking the reports and settlements of grassroots units, assisting the Provincial People's Committee in approving the consolidated settlements of income and expenditure from forestry budgets before submitting them to the Joint Ministries of Finance, Forestry, and the State Planning Commission.

III. INCENTIVES AND PENALTIES

In addition to incentives and penalties stipulated by the state for production and business units and public services, units implementing income and expenditure from forestry budgets that achieve tangible results measurable in specific values may use part of this value to establish three funds.

1. For state-owned economic units.

- If they complete the afforestation, care, repair, improvement, management, and protection of forests according to technical procedures, ensuring survival rates as prescribed while also saving costs (compared to cost standards or technical economic standards), they may allocate 70% of the savings to establish three funds.

- Units that ensure closed canopy forest areas within the specified time, have high survival rates, ensure uniformity across the area, exceed the prescribed forest formation rate, and can measure the increased value confirmed by relevant agencies and accepted by the Provincial People's Committee (for local units) or the Ministry of Forestry (for central units) may allocate between 30% and 50% of the increased value to establish three funds, with the funding coming from the forestry budget.

The amount allocated for incentives shall be distributed among the three funds as follows: 60% for the reward fund, 20% for the welfare fund, and 20% for the fund to encourage production development.

2. For the people's forest ranger force.

People's forest ranger units that achieve outstanding results in forest management and protection, completing forest protection plans and forestry budget income (considering both protection and income targets, particularly focusing on forest fires and illegal deforestation) may be considered for rewards, with the maximum reward not exceeding three months' salary (average rank pay and temporary allowance as per Decision No. 219-CP).

3. For individuals who discover and participate in apprehending forestry violations (including people's forest rangers and financial managers), they may be considered for rewards according to Decree No. 46-HĐBT dated May 10, 1983 of the Council of Ministers.

State-owned economic units that fail to complete forestry budget income plans or submit payments late shall be penalized by reducing the allocation for establishing three funds as per Circular No. 21-TC/CNA dated September 1, 1982 of the Ministry of Finance.

IV. IMPLEMENTATION PROVISIONS

This circular takes effect from January 11, 1984, replacing previous circulars guiding the management and use of forestry funds.

To ensure the complete and accurate transfer of management of income and expenditure for forest nurturing funds to the budget, the Departments of Forestry and Finance must promptly guide, direct, and inspect units that have income or expenditure for forest nurturing to settle and finalize their 1983 income and expenditure for forest nurturing, clearly determine the amount of forest nurturing funds to be paid, the amount already paid, the shortfall to be paid, the excess to be refunded; the allocated expenditures, the shortfall needing allocation, while handling cases of misappropriation of forest nurturing funds, unreasonable expenditures, and reporting the results to the inter-ministry.

The Departments of Finance and Forestry, and the Provincial Planning Committee, within their respective functions, assist the Provincial People's Committees in organizing and implementing this Circular in accordance with its provisions.

During the implementation process, if local bases encounter any difficulties, they should promptly reflect them to the inter-ministry for research and resolution.