Circular No. 158/2010/TT-BTC guiding the financial regime for the Intellectual Property Office

CIRCULAR

Guidelines on financial regime for the Intellectual Property Office

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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 Decree No. 57/2002/NĐ-CP dated June 3, 2002 of the Government detailing the implementation of the Ordinance on Fees and Charges, and Decree No. 24/2006/NĐ-CP dated March 6, 2006 amending and supplementing certain articles of Decree No. 57/2002/NĐ-CP dated June 3, 2002 of the Government detailing the implementation of the Ordinance on Fees and Charges;

Pursuant to Decree No. 43/2006/NĐ-CP dated April 25, 2006 of the Government stipulating the rights of self-management and self-responsibility for the performance of tasks, organizational structure, staffing, and finance for public service units;

Pursuant to the guidance of the Prime Minister regarding the implementation of the financial autonomy mechanism for the Intellectual Property Office (Circular No. 1047/VPCP-KTTH dated February 13, 2010 of the Government Office), and the proposal of the Ministry of Science and Technology;

The Ministry of Finance hereby guides the financial regime for the Intellectual Property Office under the Ministry of Science and Technology as follows:

Article 1. General Provisions

1. The Intellectual Property Office shall apply the financial autonomy regime as prescribed in Decree No. 43/2006/NĐ-CP dated April 25, 2006 of the Government stipulating the rights of self-management and self-responsibility for the performance of tasks, organizational structure, staffing, and finance for public service units, and shall be specified concretely in this Circular. The implementation of the financial management regime of the Intellectual Property Office must ensure the following principles:

- Fulfilling assigned functions and tasks effectively;

- Proactively utilizing allocated financial resources according to the principle of ensuring efficiency, creating conditions for investment in equipment and infrastructure serving professional activities, saving, and preventing waste;

- Proactively investing in human resource development, organizing the organizational structure, building a cadre and civil servant team with appropriate quantity and structure, and high professional qualifications;

- Ensuring the right of the head of the unit to autonomously organize work, utilize labor, and manage financial resources;

- Implementing transparency and democracy in accordance with the provisions of the law, ensuring the legitimate rights of cadres, civil servants, and workers.

2. The Intellectual Property Office shall have the responsibility to open accounting books and organize accounting records to fully track all generated revenues in accordance with the state regulations; timely and fully remit to the state budget the fees and charges that must be paid as prescribed.

3. The Intellectual Property Office has the right to autonomously organize service activities consistent with its specialized field and capacity in accordance with the provisions of the law. Service provision activities of the Intellectual Property Office must be accounted for separately, ensuring profitability, and not using profits from state-assigned activities to offset losses in business service activities.

Article 2. Financial Sources

1. Industrial property fees and charges:

The levels of collection of various industrial property fees and charges shall be implemented in accordance with the regulations of the Ministry of Finance (Circular No. 22/2009/TT-BTC dated February 4, 2009 of the Ministry of Finance prescribing the levels of collection, payment, management, and utilization of industrial property fees and charges). The revenue from fees and charges shall be regulated as follows:

- The Intellectual Property Office retains 85% of the revenue from industrial property fees and charges to serve the activities of the Intellectual Property Office and invest in intellectual property affairs.

- The Intellectual Property Office has the responsibility to remit 15% of the collected industrial property fees and charges to the state budget: Regularly monthly and at the end of each fiscal year, the unit is responsible for declaring, paying, and settling 15% of the collected fees and charges into the state budget according to the corresponding chapters, types, items, and sub-items of the current State Budget Manual.

2. Non-recurring funds provided by the state budget (if any), including:

a) Funds for implementing national-level scientific and technological tasks, ministry-level tasks, and tasks under the national target program;

b) Funds for implementing tasks ordered by competent state agencies (investigation, planning, survey, other tasks);

c) Funds for implementing urgent tasks assigned by competent authorities;

d) Funds for implementing personnel reduction policies in accordance with state regulations;

đ) Funds for implementing training and retraining programs for officials and staff;

e) Centralized state capital for basic construction;

g) Counterpart funds for implementing projects assigned by competent authorities;

3. Foreign aid sources.

4. Revenue from service activities in accordance with the law.

5. Other lawful revenues (if any).

Article 3. Content and amount of expenditure

1.1 Regular expenditures, including:

a) Payments for salaries, wages, honoraria, allowances, contributions based on salaries and wages for officials, civil servants, staff, and workers according to the state-prescribed rank and position; social insurance, health insurance, trade union fees, unemployment insurance, and other individual payments according to the current state regulations;

b) External service rental costs for management and development activities such as renting facilities, technical equipment, office space, outsourcing expertise both domestically and internationally, renting search, translation, information retrieval, and provision services, evaluation, appraisal, and review of intellectual property objects;

c) Costs for training, retraining, seminars, conferences, domestic and international surveys on intellectual property specialties; international cooperation expenses, outgoing and incoming delegations; expenses for disseminating, promoting, and guiding laws, policies, strategies, plans, and intellectual property regulations; costs for developing and implementing research topics aimed at enhancing the intellectual property system and improving professional capabilities;

d) Costs for purchasing, repairing, maintaining, and servicing assets, machinery, equipment, and working tools for performing tasks, services, and collecting fees; depreciation of fixed assets for service activities and fee collection;

e) Expenditure on purchasing supplies and materials such as office supplies, office materials, and other expenditures such as printing, purchasing forms, certificates, intellectual property protection documents, and other publications;

g) External service fees such as electricity, water, fuel, security, environmental sanitation, communication services, and other outsourced services (such as auditing services, renting working locations, renting fixed assets...);

Expenditure for implementing services to resolve disputes and complaints regarding industrial property ownership and related commercial disputes involving industrial property;

i) Expenditure for activities related to professional expertise in intellectual property matters;

k) Other expenditures as prescribed by regulations to serve operations and fee collection;

For management and regular business expenditure items that have standard norms and quotas set by competent state agencies, the head of the unit may decide on higher or lower expenditure levels than those prescribed by the state agency and must be stipulated in the Internal Expenditure Regulation of the unit;

For expenditure items with special characteristics or not yet regulated by authorized agencies, the unit must establish norms and expenditure systems in the Internal Expenditure Regulation to ensure continuous operation consistent with the characteristics of intellectual property management and development work across the system and ensure the principle of economical and effective use of funds. The Internal Expenditure Regulation must be approved at the Staff and Employee Conference of the unit, approved and issued by the head of the unit, and sent to the State Treasury where the unit has its transaction account as a basis for expenditure control. Implementing the Internal Expenditure Regulation must ensure legal and valid vouchers and invoices according to regulations, except for those allowed to be paid on a lump-sum basis under current regulations;

1.2. Supplementary income and fund contributions:

After covering the expenditure items specified in Section 1.1, Clause 1, Article 3 of this Circular, the remaining portion of the unit can establish a Development Fund for Public Service Activities, supplement additional income payments to employees, and establish reward, welfare, and income stabilization funds in the following order:

a) Establish a Development Fund for Public Service Activities at a minimum of 50% of the difference between retained fees and charges minus the expenditure items specified in Clause 1.1, Article 3 of this Circular;

b) Pay additional income to employees. The specific level of additional income payment for each employee is determined by the head of the unit based on the principle that those with higher labor productivity and job quality will receive higher additional income;

c) Establish Reward Funds, Welfare Funds, and Income Stabilization Reserve Funds. For the Reward and Welfare Funds, the maximum contribution rate shall not exceed three months' average salary, wages, and additional income for the year;

d) Any remaining funds (if any) shall be added to the Development Fund for Public Service Activities;

The payment of additional income, establishment, and use of funds shall be decided by the head of the unit according to the Internal Expenditure Regulation and must be publicly implemented within the unit as prescribed;

Based on the financial results of the quarter and year of the unit, to promptly motivate employees to complete assigned tasks, the head of the unit may temporarily pay additional quarterly income up to a maximum of 40% of the planned surplus according to the quarterly budget. After the annual settlement is approved by the competent authority and the actual amount spent is determined, if the surplus amount available for spending exceeds the amount already spent on additional income for employees, the unit may continue to pay additional income to employees according to the Internal Expenditure Regulation. If the available surplus is less than the amount already spent on additional income for employees, the unit must use the Income Stabilization Reserve Fund to cover the excess expenditure. If there is still a shortfall after using the Income Stabilization Reserve Fund, the deficit must be deducted from the additional income budget for the next year;

2. Content of expenditure from non-recurring funding sources provided by the state budget (if any):

The unit implements the expenditure system according to current regulations for each non-recurring task (non-self-managed funding);

3. Expenditure from service activity revenue:

Revenue from service activities of the unit, after deducting all costs (including depreciation of assets used for service activities), tax payments, and other financial obligations to the state according to current regulations, the unit may use it to supplement employee income and contribute to the Welfare Fund, Income Stabilization Reserve Fund, and Development Fund for Public Service Activities according to the principles stipulated in Clause 1.2, Point 1, Article 3 of this Circular;

4. Standards, quotas, and expenditure systems must comply with state regulations:

- Vehicle usage standards and quotas;

- Housing standards and quotas;

- Home office and mobile phone equipment standards and quotas;

- Overseas travel expense regulations;

- Regulations on hosting foreign guests and organizing international conferences and seminars in Vietnam;

- Management and use regulations for national target program funds;

- Regulations on the use of funds for urgent tasks assigned by competent authorities;

- Regulations on personnel reduction policies (if applicable);

- Management and use regulations for counterpart project funds and grants from state budget sources;

- Management and use regulations for basic construction investment funds, procurement and major repair expenses for fixed assets according to projects approved by competent authorities. Procurement and major repairs of assets and equipment must be carried out in accordance with current state regulations on bidding.

Article 4. Use of funds

1. The income stabilization reserve fund shall be used to ensure income for workers.

2. The award fund shall be used to provide regular and extraordinary awards to collectives and individuals within and outside the unit based on work performance and contributions to the unit's activities. The level of awards shall be decided by the head of the unit according to the internal expenditure regulations.

3. The welfare fund shall be used to construct and repair welfare facilities, allocate funds for collective welfare activities of workers who contribute to the unit's activities; provide emergency assistance to workers, including those retiring, and additional funding for workers when implementing staff reduction measures. The head of the unit shall decide on the use of the Fund according to the internal expenditure regulations.

a) Expenditure on purchasing assets, equipment, technology, including the right to use protected intellectual property technology;

b) Expenditure on establishing, managing, and operating networks of databases and information on intellectual property;

c) Expenditure on developing physical and technical infrastructure to enhance the operational capacity of the unit and the entire management system supporting the implementation of the unit's tasks (server rooms, data storage and management centers, information technology systems...);

d) Expenditure on supporting and developing the national intellectual property system;

đ) Expenditure on basic and advanced training to develop human resources for the unit and the entire system;

Article 5. Management of State Assets

The Intellectual Property Office shall implement the management of state assets in accordance with the Law on the Management and Use of State Assets and other guiding documents currently in force. For fixed assets used in service operations, depreciation recovery must be carried out in accordance with the provisions applicable to state-owned enterprises. The amount of depreciation of fixed assets and proceeds from the liquidation of assets belonging to the state budget that the unit retains shall be used to supplement the fund for developing public service activities.

Article 6. Opening transaction accounts

The Intellectual Property Office shall open accounts at the State Treasury and commercial banks to reflect the contents of revenue and expenditure, specifically:

1. An account at the State Treasury to reflect the revenue and expenditure of the unit as prescribed (except for items specified in Clause 2 of this Article).

2. An account at a commercial bank to reflect the following revenue and expenditure items:

a) Revenue from fees and charges for industrial property rights for applications from foreign applicants submitted in accordance with international treaties to which Vietnam is a party and direct financial support from international organizations regarding intellectual property;

b) Expenditure on certain special items, including: Refunds to customers for amounts already collected (if any); payment of agency service fees, collection on behalf, annual fees for international organizations; travel expenses; expenditures made in foreign currency to implement projects for purchasing specialized equipment, professional literature, foreign databases, and construction and investment projects with components requiring imported equipment; purchase or rental of working premises, professional outsourcing abroad for the unit's representatives abroad (if any).

The Intellectual Property Office shall be responsible for:

- Controlling expenditure from the deposit account opened at a commercial bank to ensure compliance with prescribed regulations. The State Treasury shall not be responsible for controlling such expenditures.

- Monthly declaration, payment, and settlement of the amount of fees and charges collected (the portion of fees and charges payable to the state budget) into the state budget in accordance with current regulations.

Article 7. Preparing and allocating budgets

Annually, based on assigned tasks and financial guidance from relevant authorities, the Intellectual Property Office shall prepare a financial revenue and expenditure budget and submit it to the Ministry of Science and Technology for consolidation into the ministry's budget according to regulations. Based on the plan and budget approved by the competent authority and the provisions of this Circular, the Minister of Science and Technology shall approve the budget plan for the Intellectual Property Office.

Article 8. Financial reports, audit, and financial transparency

1. Financial Report Preparation Annually, the Intellectual Property Office shall be responsible for preparing a financial report in accordance with current regulations and submitting it to the Ministry of Science and Technology for consolidation into the ministry's final report sent to the Ministry of Finance. The Director of the Intellectual Property Office shall be legally responsible for the accuracy and truthfulness of the report.

2. Review and Approval of Financial Reports

a) Annually, the Intellectual Property Office shall be responsible for auditing accounting and reviewing financial reports of third-level financial units under its jurisdiction.

b) The Ministry of Science and Technology shall be responsible for organizing the review and notifying the approval of the final report to the Intellectual Property Office.

3. Public Disclosure of Financial Reports Based on the annually approved financial report, the Intellectual Property Office shall publicly announce it before the meeting of the unit's civil servants and workers.

Article 9. Implementation Organization

1. This Circular shall take effect 45 days from the date of signature and shall be implemented starting from the 2010 fiscal year; it will remain stable for a period of three years.

Annually and after three years, the Intellectual Property Office shall be responsible for evaluating the implementation results, proposing amendments to the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Science and Technology for consideration and adjustment to suit reality.

2. The provisions of this Circular regarding the management and use of fees and charges replace the provisions at Point 2, Section II of Circular No. 22/2009/TT-BTC dated February 4, 2009, issued by the Ministry of Finance, concerning the rates, collection, payment, management, and use of fees and charges for industrial property rights.

3. During implementation, if there are difficulties, they should be reported to the Ministry of Finance for study, consideration, and resolution.