Joint Circular No. 163/2014/TTLT-BTC-BVHTTDL guiding the financial management mechanism for the National Tourism Promotion Program for the period 2013-2020

JOINT CIRCULAR

HGuidelines for the financial management mechanism of the program

Xto promote national tourism for the period 2013-2020

___________________

On the basis of 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. 215/2013/NĐ-CP dated December 23, 2013, promulgated by the Government stipulating the functions, tasks, powers, and organizational structure of the Ministry of Finance;

Pursuant to Decree No. 76/2013/NĐ-CP dated July 16, 2013, promulgated by the Government stipulating the functions, tasks, powers, and organizational structure of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism;

Pursuant to Decision No. 2151/QĐ-TTg dated November 11, 2013 of the Prime Minister approving the National Tourism Promotion Program for the period 2013-2020,

The Minister of Finance and the Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism jointly issue this Circular to guide the financial management mechanism of the National Tourism Promotion Program for the period 2013-2020.

This technical regulation sets out technical requirements, testing methods, sampling procedures; management requirements; responsibilities of organizations and individuals producing, trading, and importing cigarettes.

Article 1. Scope of Regulation

This Circular guides the mechanism for managing and using funds supported from the state budget to implement the National Tourism Promotion Program for the period 2013-2020 as approved by Decision No. 2151/QĐ-TTg dated November 11, 2013 of the Prime Minister (hereinafter referred to as the Program).

Article 2. Applicability

1. Units responsible for the Program: tourism promotion organizations under the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism; ministries, ministerial-level agencies; localities; specialized tourism associations; tourism enterprises and other units specified in Decision No. 2151/QĐ-TTg dated November 11, 2013 of the Prime Minister.

2. Units participating in the Program: ministries, ministerial-level agencies; localities; specialized tourism associations; tourism enterprises and other units.

3. Agencies and units related to the development, implementation, management of the Program and the agency providing funding support.

Article 3. Sources of Funds for Implementing the Program

Funding for implementing the Program is supported from the following sources: central government budget, local government budget, contributions from enterprises, and other legitimate sources of funding.

Article 4. General principles on financial management for the Program

1. The state budget supports the Program through the units responsible for the Program. The units responsible for the Program must use the state budget support funds for their intended purpose, economically, and effectively in accordance with current expenditure regulations and the levels of expenditure for the Program's contents as stipulated in this Circular.

2. For expenditures without established standards, the units responsible for the Program shall be responsible for decisions on expenditures as well as the accuracy and honesty of the expenditures and accompanying documents.

3. For expenditures that must be conducted through public bidding, the provisions of the law on public bidding shall apply.

4. Contributions from enterprises, funds raised from legitimate sources, and revenues from ancillary activities of national tourism promotion programs must be fully reflected in the final accounts of the program. Revenues from ancillary activities of national tourism promotion programs must be deducted from the state budget support.

5. Participating units in the Program that have registered or entered into contracts with the units responsible for the Program but unilaterally cancel their participation must reimburse all costs incurred by the units responsible for the Program such as air tickets, booth fees, and other expenses. The units responsible for the Program must take appropriate measures to ensure recovery of the reimbursement, and the state budget will not support any losses suffered by the units responsible for the Program.

6. The units responsible for the Program must collect and retain original documentation for all expenditures according to the content, time, and location of occurrence. The units responsible for the Program are responsible for the accuracy and honesty of the documentation and invoices. Economic contracts between the units responsible for the Program and service providers must be clear, specific, and specify the value of services excluding commissions.

II. CONTENTS OF EXPENSES AND LEVELS OF STATE BUDGET SUPPORT

Article 5. Content of Expenditure

The implementation of the Program's tasks and solutions as stipulated in Clause 2, Article 1 of Decision No. 2151/QĐ-TTg dated November 11, 2013 of the Prime Minister approving the National Tourism Promotion Program for the period 2013-2020 is guided as follows:

1. Activities for promoting, advertising, and promoting Vietnamese tourism abroad:

a) Organizing tourism destination promotion programs abroad:

- Travel expenses, working expenses, insurance costs: depending on the scale, nature, and actual implementation costs of the Program, the head of the unit responsible for the Program decides, but not exceeding four people for the unit responsible for the Program and not more than one person for participating units;

- Event organization costs: venue rental costs, decoration costs, equipment rental, tea party costs, invitation letter costs, materials (including material transportation costs overseas). In cases where a business networking event needs to be organized, the networking event costs are decided by the Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism.

b) Organizing and participating in international tourism fairs in key and potential markets:

- Travel expenses, working expenses, insurance costs for staff of the unit responsible for the Program:

+ For fairs held in Europe: support for up to three staff members for fairs with 15 or more Vietnamese enterprises participating; support for up to two staff members for fairs with fewer than 15 Vietnamese enterprises participating;

+ For fairs held in other markets: support for up to three staff members for fairs with 20 or more Vietnamese enterprises participating; support for up to two staff members for fairs with fewer than 20 Vietnamese enterprises participating.

In special cases, if organizing fairs is linked to national cultural events to enhance the effectiveness of tourism promotion, the number of staff members participating may be increased. The number of participants is decided by the Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism.

- Renting space and designing, staging booths;

- Costs for organizing a joint booth for Vietnamese tourism at international tourism fairs;

- Costs for organizing the opening ceremony (if it is a separate exhibition of Vietnam): invitation letters, reception, decoration, sound and lighting; costs for performance groups (if any);

- Costs for organizing conferences, seminars (if any at large international fairs): hall rental costs, equipment rental, invitation letter costs, materials (including material transportation costs), tea parties, translation services;

- Expenses for promoting and advertising the organization of trade fairs.

c) Promoting Vietnamese tourism through certain international media channels, including television channels, travel magazines and entertainment publications, large billboards, online advertisements, including production costs for programs and products to promote tourism; broadcasting fees and costs to upload promotional programs on mass media outlets.

d) Organizing foreign tour operators and media representatives to conduct surveys of destinations, products, and services in Vietnam:

- Supporting accommodation and travel expenses within Vietnam for international guests;

- Administrative expenses for staff of the main organizing unit of the Program to welcome and organize surveys;

- Costs for organizing conferences and seminars (if applicable);

- Reception banquet for welcoming delegations (if applicable).

đ) Organizing and participating in international conferences and seminars to promote Vietnamese tourism (organizing conferences and seminars on investment promotion in key and potential markets; participating in international conferences and seminars on tourism promotion in the region and worldwide; utilizing tourism and economic forums to enhance promotional activities for Vietnamese tourism):

- Travel expenses, administrative expenses, insurance costs: depending on the scale, nature, and budget of the Program, the head of the main organizing unit of the Program decides but not exceeding three persons for the main organizing unit and not exceeding one person for participating units;

- Costs for organizing conferences and seminars: venue rental costs, decoration costs, equipment rental, invitation letters, materials (including transportation costs for materials), tea breaks, costs for hiring interpreters (in cases where Vietnam is the organizer of the conference or seminar).

2. Domestic promotional and advertising activities for tourism:

a) Organizing major domestic tourism events such as National Tourism Year, large cultural and sports events.

b) Promoting tourism in reputable domestic newspapers and magazines: costs for writing articles and promotional photos; costs for publishing in the press. The main organizing unit of the Program pays the press agencies after deducting commission fees (if any).

c) Organizing specialized conferences and seminars on tourism promotion to strengthen collaboration among Ministries, sectors, localities, regions; between the State and businesses; organizing specialized conferences on the development and promotion of tourism by international and regional organizations to promote Vietnamese tourism.

d) Constructing, leasing, maintaining, and servicing large billboards to promote the image of national tourism at national tourist sites, international border gates, at some railway stations with high tourist traffic, and major intersections in large cities.

đ) Coordinating the organization of international trade fairs and events within the country; welcoming international tour operators and media representatives:

- For the content of coordinating the organization of international trade fairs and events within the country, the cost items include:

+ Travel expenses, administrative expenses, insurance costs for staff of the main organizing unit of the Program;

+ Venue rental costs, floor space rental and design, staging;

+ Costs for organizing a joint booth for Vietnamese tourism;

+ Costs for organizing the opening ceremony: invitation letters, reception, decoration, sound and lighting, artistic performances (if any);

+ Costs for organizing conferences and seminars: hall rental costs, equipment rental, tea breaks, materials (including transportation costs for materials);

+ Promotion and advertising costs for the organization of trade fairs and events.

- For welcoming international tour operators and media representatives: the cost items are similar to those stipulated in Point d Clause 1 Article 5 of this Circular.

3. Developing electronic marketing to serve the promotion and advertising of tourism:

a) Costs for building and maintaining a tourism promotion and transaction information portal;

b) Costs for creating electronic publications;

c) Advertising on social media platforms and other forms of internet-based promotion: costs for producing programs and articles for promotion, costs for posting and advertising on social media platforms and the internet;

d) Costs for building databases to serve internet-based promotion and advertising of tourism;

đ) Costs for developing promotional tools for mobile devices (smartphones, tablets, and other devices);

e) Costs for developing other forms of electronic marketing to serve promotion and tourism promotion.

4. Organizing the production of publications and items for tourism promotion:

a) Selecting and designing tourism promotion items:

- Costs for organizing contests to select tourism promotion item designs: compiling contest questions, marking contest papers, announcing contest results, training members of the organizing committee, award costs, and organizing prize-giving ceremonies;

- Costs for renting design services for tourism promotion items.

b) Production costs for various types of tourism promotion publications and items in different formats, materials, and languages.

c) Production costs for documentary films, advertisements, and other types such as art programs about Vietnamese tourism in the form of programs, video tapes, DVDs, and mobile memory cards.

Article 6. Level of financial support from the state budget

1. Support 100% of funding for activities led by central agencies (for projects with sideline revenue such as advertising income, commissions, sponsorships, which must be deducted from the state budget support funding).

2. Support up to 70% of funding for activities led by central agencies, involving localities, tourism associations, travel businesses, and other units.

3. Support up to 50% of funding for activities led by specialized tourism associations, travel businesses, and other units.

Article 7. Budgetary Standards

1. Expenses for domestic tourism promotion conferences and seminars, and travel expenses for domestic work trips according to the decision of the approving agency and the leading unit of the Program shall be implemented in accordance with Circular No. 97/2010/TT-BTC dated July 6, 2010, issued by the Ministry of Finance, stipulating the travel expense system and conference organization expense system for state agencies and public service units (or any amended or supplementary documents if applicable).

2. Expenses for organizing domestic conferences and seminars with international characteristics, and inviting foreign guests, international delegations to Vietnam (foreign tour operators, media, and press organizations coming to Vietnam to survey destinations, products, and services) shall be implemented in accordance with Circular No. 01/2010/TT-BTC dated January 6, 2010, issued by the Ministry of Finance, stipulating the reception expense system for foreign guests working in Vietnam, the expense system for organizing international conferences and seminars in Vietnam, and the expense system for hosting guests within the country (or any amended or supplementary documents if applicable).

3. Travel expense payments for individuals going abroad to participate in tourism promotion programs shall be implemented in accordance with Circular No. 102/2012/TT-BTC dated June 21, 2012, issued by the Ministry of Finance, stipulating the travel expense system for state employees and civil servants on short-term overseas assignments funded by the state budget (or any amended or supplementary documents if applicable).

4. Expenses for building and maintaining a tourism promotion and transaction information portal, creating electronic publications, establishing databases to serve online tourism promotion activities shall be implemented in accordance with Circular No. 194/2012/TT-BTC dated November 15, 2012, issued by the Ministry of Finance, guiding the expenditure standards for creating electronic information to maintain the regular operations of agencies and units using state funds, and Joint Circular No. 19/2012/TTLT-BTC-BKHĐT-BTTTT dated February 15, 2012, issued by the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Planning and Investment, and the Ministry of Information and Communications, regarding the management and use of funds for the National Program on the Application of Information Technology in State Agency Operations (or any amended or supplementary documents if applicable).

5. For competitions to select and design tourism promotion models and items, implementation shall be in accordance with Joint Circular No. 43/2012/TTLT-BTC-BLĐTBXH dated March 14, 2012, issued by the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs, stipulating the content and expenditure standards for skill competition activities at various levels (or any amended or supplementary documents if applicable).

6. Special nature expenses such as: promoting and advertising Vietnam's tourism through domestic and international media; organizing domestic and international tourism events; translation services abroad, developing promotional tourism utilities; developing electronic marketing methods to serve tourism promotion; selecting and designing tourism promotion item models; producing tourism promotion publications and items; producing documentary films and advertisements about Vietnam's tourism in video tape, DVD, and mobile memory card formats; The leading unit of the Program shall implement in accordance with the laws on bidding. The head of the leading unit of the Program shall decide and bear responsibility for approving the bidding results and the funding amount for the contents specified in this clause.

Article 8. Regarding local tourism promotion activities

Provincial People's Committees and centrally governed city People's Committees shall base themselves on the guidelines regarding content and expenditure limits stipulated in this Joint Circular to develop tourism promotion projects, draft plans, allocate funds from local budgets and other lawful financial sources to implement these projects in accordance with the State Budget Law and the provisions of this Joint Circular.

III. ESTABLISHING PLANS, ALLOCATING, ADJUSTING PROPOSED BUDGETS, TEMPORARY ADVANCES, SETTLING ACCOUNTS, INSPECTING AND SUPERVISING

Article 9. Establishing Plans and Allocating Proposed Budgets

1. Planning

a) Before June 30 each year, units subject to Article 2 of this Joint Circular shall propose tasks and funding for the following year based on the national tourism promotion program plan and orientation issued by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, and submit them to the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism;

b) The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism shall compile the funding support requirements for the Program from the main implementing units including subordinate units under the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, relevant ministries and sectors, tourism associations, travel enterprises, and localities (where localities have national tourism promotion project proposals selected by the Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism to be implemented from the national tourism promotion program budget), and other units, and submit them together with the annual state budget estimate to the Ministry of Finance;

c) Based on the state budget's balancing capacity, the Ministry of Finance shall report to the Government to present to the National Assembly for decision on the portion of the central government budget supporting the Program and allocate it in the annual state budget estimate of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism (including funds allocated for subordinate units under the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and funds allocated for other units).

2. Allocating Proposed Budgets:

a) Based on the central government budget allocation for the national tourism promotion program, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism shall send detailed proposed funding allocation schemes for each project along with explanatory notes from the implementing units to the Ministry of Finance for review and provide written comments;

b) After reaching a consensus with the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism shall approve the national tourism promotion program for the fiscal year, decide on the proposed budget allocation for the main implementing units under its jurisdiction, and notify the funding support plan according to the project for the main implementing units not under its jurisdiction.

Article 10. Adjusting Proposed Budgets

1. For main implementing units under the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism: If adjustments change the name or primary content of the project or the funding limit for each project without altering the total funding already allocated to subordinate units (which has been reviewed by the Ministry of Finance and approved by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism through a decision on proposed budget allocation), the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism must seek the agreement of the Ministry of Finance before making such adjustments.

2. For main implementing units not under the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism: If adjustments change the name or primary content of the project or the funding limit for each project without altering the total funding already allocated to each unit (the proposed budget plan has been reviewed by the Ministry of Finance and the funding support has been notified by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism), the main implementing unit may only proceed with the adjustment after obtaining the agreement of both the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Ministry of Finance.

Article 11. Advance payments, settlement and finalization of accounts, consolidation of finalization of accounts, and transfer of funding sources

1. Advance payments and settlement and finalization of accounts for funding for units responsible for the Program that are subordinate units under the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism:

a) Advance payments:

- Units shall withdraw advance payments from the State Treasury at the location where the unit has an account to implement approved tourism promotion tasks.

- The State Treasury shall control and make payments for each task of the program according to the regulations of the Ministry of Finance on management, disbursement, and payment of state budget expenditures through the State Treasury, current expenditure regulations, and provisions in this Joint Circular.

The amount of advance payment: based on the Decision approving the detailed budget estimate and related documents, the State Treasury shall provide advance payments to the leading unit of the Program according to the implementation progress of the project but not exceeding 70% of the approved state budget support estimate. In cases of expenses incurred abroad, the State Treasury shall consider the advance payment ratio based on contracts signed with foreign service providers, reasonable and valid documents (maximum not exceeding the approved detailed budget estimate).

b) Settlement and finalization of accounts:

Within thirty working days from the end of the project, the leading unit of the Program shall report the finalization of accounts for the project's funding (including sideline funding obtained during the implementation of the program) to the competent authority for approval.

Within fifteen working days from the date of receiving the project's finalization report and related supporting documents, the competent authority shall review and issue a Decision approving the finalization of accounts for the project's funding support.

Based on the Decision approving the finalization of accounts by the competent authority and related documents, the State Treasury shall provide the remaining funding for the project's implementation to the leading unit of the Program.

2. Advance payments and finalization of accounts for units responsible for the Program that are not subordinate units under the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism (tourism associations, tourism enterprises, and other entities...):

a) Advance payments:

Based on the notification of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism regarding the state budget support funding for the unit's project, the leading unit of the Program shall submit the project for approval by the competent authority, detailed budget estimates, and send them to the Ministry of Finance for consideration of advance funding to implement the project.

The deadline for submitting the application for advance funding must be consistent with the project implementation schedule but no later than November 30 of the reporting year. Within ten working days from the date of receiving the complete application for advance funding from the leading unit of the Program, the Ministry of Finance shall review and provide advance funding support to the implementing unit.

- The advance funding application documents include:

+ Letter requesting advance funding;

+ Decision approving the project and detailed budget estimates by the competent authority;

+ Approved project and detailed budget estimates;

+ Project implementation schedule and timeline according to the plan.

- The maximum advance payment is 70% of the state budget support funding according to the approved detailed budget estimate. In cases of expenses incurred abroad, based on contracts signed with foreign service providers, reasonable and valid documents shall be considered for the advance payment ratio (maximum not exceeding the approved detailed budget estimate).

b) Finalization of accounts:

- Finalization of individual projects: Within a maximum of thirty working days after the end of the project, the leading unit of the Program shall collect all supporting documents to prepare the finalization report for the project's funding and submit it to the competent authority for approval and send it to the Ministry of Finance for further funding or recovery of previously advanced funding support.

Within fifteen working days from the date of receiving the project's finalization report and related supporting documents, the Ministry of Finance shall review and issue a Decision approving the project's funding support. The funding support according to the finalization shall not exceed the approved funding support plan for the Program.

- Annual finalization: The leading unit of the Program shall be responsible for compiling the annual finalization report for the Program's funding support and submit it for approval by the competent authority and send it to the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism before January 15 of the following year.

3. Consolidation of finalization of accounts and transfer of funding sources:

By no later than January 31 of the following year, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism shall consolidate the finalization of accounts for the National Tourism Promotion Program of the year according to the leading units of the Program and the Program content and submit it to the Ministry of Finance. Within thirty working days, the Ministry of Finance shall review and consolidate it into the state budget finalization, and simultaneously notify the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism.

The transfer of funding sources for the National Tourism Promotion Program of the year shall be carried out in accordance with current laws.

Article 12. Inspection and Supervision

1. The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism shall be responsible for supervising the tourism promotion activities of the leading units and participating units in the Program.

2. The leading units and participating units in the Program shall have the responsibility to provide complete documentation and be subject to inspection, examination, and supervision by management agencies regarding the use of state-supported funds according to their functional regulations.

3. In cases where funds need to be recovered due to inspections by competent authorities, the leading unit of the Program shall have the obligation to repay the state budget and report to the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism on the implementation results in accordance with the provisions of the law.

4. Leading units of the Program that delay settlement of supported funds will have their temporarily advanced funds recovered, ongoing tourism promotion support halted, and will not be considered for new program support.

IV. IMPLEMENTATION

Article 13. Effective Date

1. This Circular takes effect from December 27, 2014.

2. During the implementation process, if there are difficulties or obstacles, it is recommended that relevant agencies and units reflect these issues to the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism for coordination and guidance research./.