Circular No. 100/2007/TT-BTC guides the management and use of funds for the National Press Award

CIRCULAR

Guidelines for Managing and Using the National Press Award Fund

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Pursuant to the State Budget Law number 01/2002/QH11 dated December 16, 2002;

Pursuant to the Law on Press and the Law Amending and Supplementing Certain Provisions of the Law on Press No. 12/1999/QH10 dated June 12, 1999;

Implementing Article 2 of Decision No. 369/QĐ-TTg dated March 29, 2007 of the Prime Minister approving the National Press Award Project.

The Ministry of Finance issues guidelines for managing and using the National Press Award Fund as follows:

I. GENERAL PROVISIONS

1. The State supports the funding for implementing the National Press Award through the Vietnam Journalists' Association according to the following contents:

2. Source of funds:

- The State budget supports 1.810 billion VND annually and is allocated in the annual state budget estimate for cultural and information affairs of the Vietnam Journalists' Association.

In 2007 specifically, 1.077 billion VND was used from the 2007 state budget estimate for cultural and information affairs of the Vietnam Journalists' Association.

- Legal support from other agencies, organizations, and individuals both domestically and internationally.

II. SPECIFIC PROVISIONS

1. The expenditure items for implementing the National Press Award are as follows:

a) Prize money:

The Vietnam Journalists' Association organizes the award ceremony for authors whose works have won the National Press Award. The amount of prize money for each award is determined by the National Press Award Council based on the balanced budget within the annual state budget allocation and is publicly announced.

b) Stipends for members of the Council conducting the review, evaluation, and scoring of the National Press Award:

- Preliminary round judging council:

Stipends for preliminary round council members who assess, evaluate, and score selected works at the grassroots level, selecting works that meet the preliminary round standards and are eligible to participate in the final round.

- Final round judging council.

Stipends for final round council members who perform tasks such as reading and evaluating printed press works, listening to and watching audio-visual press works and photojournalism, reviewing and evaluating works that have entered the final round, voting secretly to select works that meet the criteria for awards after the final round, and reporting to the National Press Award Council for approval according to regulations.

Based on the allocated budget estimate, the actual situation of implementing the task of reviewing and judging the preliminary and final rounds in the previous year, the Vietnam Journalists' Association will consider and decide on the expenditure for reviewing, evaluating, and judging in the following year for the preliminary and final round judging councils.

c) Expenditure for meetings of the Council to implement the National Press Award work:

- Preliminary round council:

Expenditure for meetings of the preliminary round council to implement the task of reviewing and participating in the drafting of documents: rules of the competition, regulations, and working procedures of the preliminary round council, selection, evaluation, and scoring methods for works participating in the preliminary round competition; discussing, exchanging opinions, evaluating press works, and unanimously selecting works that meet the preliminary round standards and are eligible to participate in the final round.

- Final round council:

Expenditure for meetings of the final round council to implement the task of reviewing and participating in the drafting of documents: rules of the competition, regulations, and working procedures of the final round council, selection, evaluation, and scoring methods for works participating in the final round competition; discussing, exchanging opinions, evaluating press works, and unanimously selecting works that meet the criteria for awards after the final round.

- National Press Award Council:

Expenditure for meetings of the National Press Award Council to implement the task of reviewing, evaluating, participating in opinions, and approving guiding and directing documents for the implementation of the National Press Award according to its authority: rules of the competition, guidance regulations for selection...; reviewing and deciding on the structure and value of awards, deciding to present awards to press works that win awards annually,...

- Meeting expenditure for Councils:

+ Chairperson of the Council: 300,000 VND/day;

+ Council Members: 200,000 VND/day;

+ Secretary: 150,000 VND/day;

+ Invited delegates: 100,000 VND/day.

d) Expenditure for other related activities directly related to the implementation of the National Press Award:

- Expenditure for allowances as prescribed by the State: night shift allowance, overtime allowance; expenditure for labor remuneration of members of the working committees of the National Press Award Council on actual working days to carry out the tasks of the National Press Award; expenditure for labor remuneration for assessing the effectiveness and authenticity of press works (if applicable) to serve the review and judging process of the preliminary and final rounds.

- Expenditure for draft document preparation:

+ Expenditure for drafting documents: rules, regulations, decisions, and working procedures with content guiding the implementation of the National Press Award, submitted to the competent authority for approval. The expenditure does not exceed 700,000 VND/document;

+ Expenditure for individuals participating in conferences and seminars contributing opinions to draft documents; completing documents for submission to the competent authority for approval. The expenditure is:

Host of the meeting: 100,000 VND/person/session

Participants: 50,000 VND/person/session;

+ Expenditure for preparing review and verification reports, editing documents, at 80,000 VND/document;

+ Expenditure for hiring reference material translation services (if applicable), at 45,000 VND/page to 50,000 VND/page (350 words);

- Expenditure for drafting interim and final reports, summaries, submitted to the competent authority for approval; based on the task of drafting interim and final reports, summaries of the National Press Award and the actual implementation situation annually, within the scope of the allocated state budget estimate.

||| Pay for electricity, water, fuel, office supplies and other necessary office materials, domestic telephone charges, postal service fees, fax services, renting conference halls to organize meetings (if any), printing expenses, reproducing works submitted for the preliminary round and final round of the competition to be sent to the Preliminary and Final Round Award Committees (photocopying printed works; printing images of works submitted for the final round; recording audio and video works for radio and television reports), making award certificates, making award symbols, paying contracts with external parties for necessary tasks serving the evaluation and awarding process.

||| The Vietnam Journalists' Association shall proactively implement these expenditures based on the requirements of the National Press Award evaluation and awarding work, the actual situation of implementing the previous year's evaluation and awarding tasks, aiming for thriftiness, effectiveness, and alignment with the actual operational activities arising from the implementation of the National Press Award tasks.

||| Pay for travel expenses; professional training to serve the National Press Award work; conferences, seminars to review, summarize, and evaluate the results of the National Press Award implementation. The expenditure level is implemented according to Circular No. 23/2007/TT-BTC dated March 21, 2007, issued by the Ministry of Finance, stipulating travel expense regulations and regulations on organizing conferences for state agencies and public service units.

||| e) Expenses for the National Press Award presentation ceremony:

||| Renting conference halls, decorating conference halls, providing drinking water, etc., based on the contract between the Vietnam Journalists' Association and the service provider, and the actual situation at the time of the award ceremony.

||| Based on the provisions of this circular and current state regulations, the Vietnam Journalists' Association is responsible for drafting and promulgating the "Regulations on the Expenditure of the National Press Award Fund." The President of the Vietnam Journalists' Association decides to issue the "Regulations on the Expenditure of the National Press Award Fund" after obtaining the opinion of the National Press Award Committee and reaching consensus within the Executive Board of the Vietnam Journalists' Association. The "Regulations on the Expenditure of the National Press Award Fund" shall be publicly disseminated to all members, members of the National Press Award Committee, relevant agencies, and sent to the Ministry of Finance for monitoring, management, and supervision of implementation; sent to the State Treasury where the unit has its transaction account as a basis for controlling expenditures. The content of drafting the "Regulations on the Expenditure of the National Press Award Fund" follows the guidelines in the appendix attached to this circular.

||| Any unspent support funds at the end of the fiscal year shall be carried over to the next year in accordance with current regulations.

||| 2. Budget preparation, budget execution, accounting, and final settlement of the National Press Award funds shall be carried out in accordance with the provisions of the State Budget Law and current guiding documents.

||| 3. Inspection, audit, and auditing work shall be conducted in accordance with current laws.

||| 4. This circular shall take effect from the 2007 fiscal year.

||| 5. For the contents of work and related costs associated with organizing selection and assessment at the selection round (conducted by branch associations and provincial-level associations under the central association), the provisions and expenditure levels set forth in this circular shall be applied without exceeding the stipulated limits, and shall be balanced within the annual budget allocated to each unit.

III. IMPLEMENTATION ORGANIZATION

||| This circular shall take effect fifteen days after its publication in the Official Gazette.

||| During the implementation period, if there are difficulties or obstacles, it is requested that relevant agencies and units report to the Ministry of Finance for research, amendment, and supplementation to ensure compliance./.