Joint Circular No. 157/2010/TTLT-BTC-BTP guiding the preparation of budget estimates, management, use, and settlement of state budget funds to ensure support for businesses' legal work

CONSOLIDATED DOCUMENT JOINTLY ISSUED

GUIDELINES ON THE PREPARATION OF BUDGET ESTIMATES, MANAGEMENT, USE AND SETTLEMENT OF STATE BUDGET FUNDS TO ENSURE LEGAL SUPPORT FOR BUSINESSES

to ensure legal support for businesses

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Pursuant to the State Budget Law;

Pursuant to Decree No. 60/2003/NĐ-CP dated June 6, 2003 of the Government detailing and guiding the implementation of the State Budget Law;

Pursuant to the Decree No. 118/2008/NĐ-CP dated November 27, 2008 of the Government stipulating the functions, tasks, powers, and organizational structure of the Ministry of Finance;

Pursuant to Decree No. 93/2008/NĐ-CP dated August 22, 2008 of the Government stipulating the functions, tasks, powers, and organizational structure of the Ministry of Justice;

Pursuant to Decree No. 66/2008/ND-CP dated May 28, 2008 of the Government on Legal Support for Businesses;

Implementing Decision No. 585/QD-TTg dated May 5, 2010 of the Prime Minister approving the Inter-ministerial Program on Legal Support for Businesses for the period 2010-2014;

To ensure funds for legal support activities for businesses, the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Justice jointly issue guidelines on the preparation of budget estimates, management, use and settlement of state budget funds to ensure legal support activities for businesses as follows:

Article 1. General Provisions

Article 1. This consolidated document provides guidelines on the preparation of budget estimates, management, use and settlement of state budget funds to ensure legal support activities for businesses by ministries, sectors, localities and the Inter-ministerial Program on Legal Support for Businesses.

Article 2. Sources of funds ensuring legal support activities for businesses include:

- State budget allocation;

- Contributions from businesses;

- Grants and sponsorships from domestic and foreign organizations and individuals.

3. Funds for legal support activities for businesses at each level shall be guaranteed by the corresponding level's budget according to the current budget decentralization and allocated in the budget expenditure plan of ministries, ministerial-level agencies, and People's Committees at all levels in accordance with the State Budget Law and other relevant laws.

Article 4. State budget funds for legal support activities for businesses must be used for their intended purposes, economically and effectively; overlapping between funding sources for legal support activities for businesses should be avoided.

Article 2. Contents of Expenditure for Legal Support Activities for Businesses

Article 1. Contents of expenditure for legal support for businesses under Decree No. 66/2008/ND-CP dated May 28, 2008 of the Government on Legal Support for Businesses:

1.1. Expenditure for building and operating legal databases serving business operations:

Expenditure for building, maintaining, and updating legal databases containing regulatory documents within the scope managed by ministries, ministerial-level agencies related to business operations to be published on the official website of the ministry or ministerial-level agency; regulatory documents issued by competent authorities at the local level related to business operations to be published on the official website of the provincial People's Committee or municipal People's Committee directly under the central government.

Specific contents of expenditure for implementing the construction, maintenance, and updating of legal databases related to business operations include: domain registration fees; fees for renting space for the legal support business information website; costs for integrating with existing databases; remuneration for authors of articles, translations, photographs, films, sound recordings; editorial costs; digital processing costs using specialized software; information update costs; information review costs, and other management costs.

1.2. Expenditure for building and compiling materials introducing and disseminating regulatory documents related to business operations:

a) Expenditure for compiling content introducing and disseminating newly issued regulatory documents in various forms: printed materials; electronic data; audio programs; video programs.

b) Expenditure for meetings, comments, and reviews of the content of programs introducing newly issued regulatory documents.

c) Expenditure for printing, binding, and distributing materials.

d) Other reasonable related expenses.

1.3. Expenditure for organizing training courses on legal knowledge and skill guidance for staff engaged in legal support for businesses; legal knowledge training for businesses.

a) For training courses on legal knowledge for businesses and corporate legal officers:

- State budget support expenditures:

+ Expenditure for planning, meeting, commenting, and implementing training plans.

+ Expenditure for organizing training: venue rental fees, equipment rental fees for teaching, training materials, lecturer honoraria, travel expenses, accommodation expenses for lecturers, speakers, drinking water, and other related expenses for organizing the course. - Expenditures paid by businesses and individuals: including travel expenses, food expenses, accommodation expenses, and reference material purchase expenses for trainees. For trainees near the training location who do not incur accommodation expenses during the training period, businesses may support travel expenses, food expenses, and reference material purchase expenses for trainees based on their capacity. Businesses can account these expenses as production and business costs for the period. The reasonable expense limit for calculating corporate income tax is implemented according to the Circular of the Ministry of Finance on travel expenses and conference expenses for administrative agencies and public institutions.

b) For training courses on legal knowledge and skill guidance for staff engaged in legal support for businesses, the content of state budget expenditures shall be implemented in accordance with the current regulations of the Ministry of Finance on the management and use of training and development funds for civil servants.

1.4. Expenditure for hiring experts to answer legal questions for businesses:

Specialized agencies under provincial People's Committees and ministries are responsible for answering legal questions from businesses within the scope of industries and fields they manage that relate to business operations. In cases where complex issues involving multiple fields need to be addressed, the head of the agency will decide to seek opinions from experts.

Hiring experts to answer legal questions does not apply to the case stipulated in Clause 6, Article 10 of Decree No. 66/2008/ND-CP dated May 28, 2008 of the Government on Legal Support for Businesses.

1.5. Expenditure for organizing forums, meetings, and dialogues with businesses to receive their suggestions for improving laws.

1.5. Expenses for organizing forums, meetings, and dialogues with businesses to receive their suggestions on improving laws.

2. Content for implementing the inter-ministerial legal support program for businesses under Decision No. 585/QĐ-TTg dated May 5, 2010 of the Prime Minister:

2.1. Costs for drafting the program, meetings, soliciting opinions, and implementing the program;

2.2. Surveying and assessing the current status of legal support work for businesses to determine their legal support needs;

2.3. Costs for supporting the development and maintenance of websites on legal support for businesses by some ministries, sectors, localities serving as pilot areas, and business representative organizations participating in the inter-ministerial program;

2.4. Costs for implementing programs to disseminate basic knowledge about commercial laws through broadcasting and television media: Scriptwriting, program content, editing, directing, actors; providing legal information about business operations to businesses and other directly related costs;

2.5. Costs for organizing seminars, forums, and roundtable discussions on specialized commercial laws to exchange experiences and advise businesses on enforcing laws;

2.6. Costs for training businesses on commercial laws; training business law officers' skills and expertise:

- Costs for developing training program frameworks;

- Costs for compiling training material content;

- Costs for organizing training sessions on skills and knowledge for instructors and speakers;

- Costs for supporting the organization of training sessions on commercial laws for businesses and training business law officers at pilot locations: Venue rental fees, equipment rental fees for teaching purposes, training materials, instructor honoraria, travel expenses, accommodation expenses for instructors, refreshments, and other directly related costs for organizing classes. - Expenses for instructors, speakers, drinking water, and other directly related costs for organizing classes.

2.7. Costs for establishing a network of legal advisory services for businesses in economically disadvantaged and particularly disadvantaged localities:

a) Costs for training and developing volunteers participating in the legal advisory service network:

- Compiling training material content;

- Costs for organizing training courses: Venue rental fees, equipment rental fees for teaching purposes; training materials; instructor honoraria, food and lodging, travel expenses; drinking water, and other directly related costs for organizing classes.

b) Costs for meetings to review and provide feedback on the project proposal for establishing the legal advisory service network; meetings to review and assess the operational regulations of the legal advisory service network.

c) Costs for maintaining and operating the network: Regular operational costs; supporting group activities, seminars on corporate legal affairs.

d) Costs for supporting lawyers, legal advisors, and volunteer legal advisors in providing legal advisory services to small and medium-sized enterprises through the legal advisory service network: Travel expenses, legal advisory training costs.

D) Costs for training corporate legal officers for small and medium-sized enterprises.

2.8. Costs for compiling a handbook on legal support activities for businesses (steps to implement legal support activities for businesses and standards for evaluating the effectiveness of legal support activities for businesses);

2.9. Costs for training business-related commercial laws and legal support skills and expertise for staff responsible for legal support activities for businesses:

- Costs for compiling, printing, and distributing training materials related directly to business operations;

- Costs for organizing training sessions.

2.10. Costs for piloting certain enhanced legal support activities for businesses in representative regions (Can Tho, Dak Lak, Dong Nai, Quang Binh, Tuyen Quang, Vinh Phuc, and Hanoi).

2.11. Costs for the Steering Committee's activities, the Secretariat's assistance; Costs for monitoring, evaluating, summarizing the implementation of the program.

Article 3. Expenditure Level

1. The expenditure items for legal support activities for businesses shall be implemented in accordance with the current financial expenditure standards, norms, and limits. Specifically, as follows:

a) Costs for drafting legal regulatory documents on legal support activities for businesses shall be carried out according to the current regulations of the Ministry of Finance guiding the expenditure levels for drafting legal regulatory documents.

b) Costs for developing and maintaining websites on legal support for businesses, costs for setting up electronic databases to serve the dissemination and education of laws shall be carried out according to the current regulations of the Ministry of Finance guiding the expenditure levels for creating electronic information under information technology and current regulations on the application of information technology, website construction and management, database systems.

c) Costs for compiling books and instructional materials shall be carried out according to the regulations of the Ministry of Finance regarding the content and expenditure levels for drafting framework programs and compiling programs and textbooks for various subjects.

d) Translation costs from Vietnamese to foreign languages and vice versa shall be carried out according to the current regulations on translation expenditure levels stipulated in the Circular of the Ministry of Finance on the financial expenditure system for hosting foreign guests and organizing international conferences and seminars in Vietnam.

D) Costs for organizing training on legal knowledge and instructing business support skills and expertise for staff engaged in legal support activities for businesses; costs for training businesses on legal knowledge; costs for training instructors, speakers, and volunteers participating in the legal advisory service network shall be carried out according to the current regulations of the Ministry of Finance on the management and use of training and retraining funds for civil servants and public officials. e) Costs for hiring experts to answer legal questions for businesses: from VND 150,000 to VND 400,000 per session (written opinions).

g) Costs for organizing forums, seminars, dialogues with businesses; costs for organizing summary and final meetings on corporate legal affairs; costs for seminars and group activities of the legal advisory network shall be carried out according to the regulations of the Ministry of Finance on conference expenditure.

g) Expenses for organizing forums, seminars, and dialogues with businesses; expenses for organizing review and summary meetings and conferences on corporate legal affairs work; expenses for seminar sessions and group activities of the legal advisory network in accordance with the Ministry of Finance's regulations on conference expenditure.

h) Expenses for surveying, collecting information, and data to develop a legal support program for businesses, carried out in accordance with the Ministry of Finance's regulations on expenditures for conducting investigations from state budget funds.

i) Travel expenses for staff traveling domestically and internationally (including lawyers, legal advisors, and legal consulting collaborators) to implement business legal support activities, conducted in accordance with the Ministry of Finance's regulations on domestic and international travel allowances.

k) Expenses for purchasing assets and equipment; printing and purchasing publications, books, and promotional materials, implemented in accordance with the Ministry of Finance's guidelines on competitive bidding for asset procurement to maintain regular operations of government agencies and must be approved by the competent authority for inclusion in the annual budget estimate.

l) Other expenses to be implemented at the level of expenditure of similar sectors or based on actual costs and must be approved by the competent authority before implementation.

2. Agencies and units responsible for implementing legal support tasks for businesses shall use funds in accordance with the above provisions and current financial expenditure regulations. In addition, this Circular provides additional guidance on certain specific expenses to implement the Legal Support Program for Businesses by Ministries, sectors, localities, and inter-sectoral legal support programs as follows:

2.1. Expenses for developing the Program outline, reviewing, evaluating, building the Program content, and preparing Program reports:

a) Developing the Program outline:

- Detailed development of the Program outline: Maximum VND 900,000 per outline.

- Completing the Program outline comprehensively: Maximum VND 1,500,000 per Program.

b) Expenses for meetings to provide feedback, organize reviews of plans, reports, outlines, and special topics:

- Chairing the meeting: Maximum VND 200,000 per person per session;

- Invited delegates attending the meeting: Maximum VND 100,000 per person per session;

- Submission papers: Maximum VND 300,000 per paper.

- Review and feedback papers: Maximum VND 200,000 per person per draft.

c) Expenses for developing Program special topics: Maximum VND 300,000 per topic.

d) Soliciting evaluations of the Program: Maximum VND 300,000 per submission.

D) Preparing Program reports: Maximum VND 500,000 per report.

2.2. Expenses for meetings to provide feedback on the proposal to establish a legal advisory network; meetings to provide feedback and evaluate the operation rules of the legal advisory network; expenses for meetings of the Steering Committee and the Secretariat of the Program: Implemented according to the levels specified in point b, Clause 2.1 above.

2.3. Training fees for lawyers, legal advisors, and legal consulting collaborators participating in legal advice: VND 20,000 – 30,000 per hour of consultation.

2.4. Other expense levels for implementing the Program are carried out in accordance with Clause 1 of this Article.

Article 4. Budget preparation, execution, and settlement of funds to ensure legal support for businesses:

The preparation, allocation, management, and settlement of funds to ensure legal support for businesses shall be carried out in accordance with the State Budget Law, Accounting Law, and related guiding documents. This Circular provides additional guidance on certain specific points for the Legal Support Program for Businesses by Ministries, sectors, localities, and inter-sectoral legal support programs as follows:

1. For the legal support program for businesses by Ministries, sectors, and localities:

Based on the legal support program for businesses of Ministries, sectors, and localities that have been approved by the Ministers of Ministries and the Chairmen of Provincial People's Committees, the agency assigned the main responsibility to organize and implement legal support activities for businesses under the provisions of Decree No. 66/2008/ND-CP dated May 28, 2008 of the Government shall prepare the budget for implementing the program to be included in the annual budget estimates of Ministries, sectors, and localities and report to the competent authorities in accordance with the State Budget Law and related guiding documents.

2. For the inter-sectoral legal support program:

a) Funds for implementing the inter-sectoral legal support program for businesses (from the central budget) are allocated in the annual budget estimates of central Ministries and sectors responsible for the program's activities.

Annually, based on the implementation plan of the program established within the scope of the program's activities and approved by the Prime Minister, the agency responsible for the program's activities shall prepare detailed budgets for implementation and consolidate them into their own annual budget estimates and submit them to the competent authorities in accordance with the State Budget Law and related guiding documents.

b) Localities shall base their budget estimates for activities assigned to coordinate in implementing the program in their areas on the guidance of the program's steering committee and consolidate them into their local budget estimates.

c) Principles for mobilizing and using funds to implement the inter-sectoral legal support program are carried out in accordance with point b, Clause 5, Section IV of the program issued together with Decision No. 585/QĐ-TTg dated May 5, 2010 of the Prime Minister.

For supporting the establishment of legal advisory networks for businesses in localities with difficult socio-economic conditions: Based on the proposals of localities, the program's steering committee is responsible for reviewing and proposing specific support contents and amounts annually for each locality to be consolidated into the local budget estimates and submitted to the Ministry of Finance.

d) The allocation of the budget to implement the inter-sectoral legal support program must ensure that it does not overlap with the funds allocated for legal support activities of Ministries, sectors, and localities and funds from other sources of aid and sponsorship (if any) for business legal support work.

e) For funds to implement the legal support program for businesses by Ministries, sectors, and localities and the inter-sectoral legal support program for businesses in 2010, the relevant Ministries, central agencies, and localities are requested to arrange within the scope of the budget estimates assigned by the competent authorities for implementation.

Article 5. Implementation:

1. This Circular shall take effect forty-five days from the date of signature.

2. The Ministers, heads of ministerial-level agencies, and People's Councils at all levels shall base on the contents and expenditure limits prescribed in this Joint Circular to issue guiding documents for implementation in accordance with actual conditions and budget capabilities of ministries, sectors, and localities, but shall not exceed the maximum expenditure limits stipulated in this Joint Circular. In cases where ministries, sectors, and localities have not issued specific regulations on expenditure limits, agencies and units may apply the provisions of this Joint Circular for implementation.

3. During the process of implementation, if there are any difficulties, agencies, organizations, and individuals are requested to promptly report to the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Justice for research and supplementary guidance as appropriate./.