Circular No. 18/2021/TT-BCT amends and supplements certain provisions of Circular No. 40/2019/TT-BCT dated December 10, 2019, issued by the Minister of Industry and Trade guiding the implementation of competition and reward work in the industry and trade sector.

CIRCULAR

AMENDMENTS AND SUPPLEMENTS TO CERTAIN ARTICLES OF THE CIRCULAR NO. 40/2019/TT-BCT DATED DECEMBER 10, 2019 OF THE MINISTER OF INDUSTRY AND TRADE GUIDING THE IMPLEMENTATION OF COMPETITION AND REWARD WORKS IN THE INDUSTRY AND TRADE SECTOR

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Pursuant to the Law on Competition and Reward dated November 26, 2003; the Law Amending and Supplementing Certain Provisions of the Law on Competition and Reward dated June 14, 2005; the Law Amending and Supplementing Certain Provisions of the Law on Competition and Reward dated November 16, 2013;

Pursuant to Decree No. 98/2017/NĐ-CP dated August 18, 2017, of the Government stipulating the functions, tasks, powers, and organizational structure of the Ministry of Industry and Trade;

Pursuant to the Decree No. 91/2017/NĐ-CP dated July 31, 2017 of the Government detailing the implementation of certain provisions of the Law on Competition and Reward;

At the proposal of the Director of the Office of the Ministry;

The Minister of Industry and Trade issues this Circular amending and supplementing certain articles of the Circular No. 40/2019/TT-BCT dated December 10, 2019 of the Minister of Industry and Trade guiding the implementation of competition and reward works in the industry and trade sector.

Article 1. Amend and supplement certain articles of the Circular No. 40/2019/TT-BCT dated December 10, 2019 of the Minister of Industry and Trade guiding the implementation of competition and reward works in the industry and trade sector as follows:

1. Add Point e of Clause 2 of Article 10 as follows:

"e) Units assigned to take the lead in drafting normative legal documents shall not be considered for commendation awards (in the year of application) if they occur in either of the following two situations:

- More than 50% of the documents in the annual program of drafting normative legal documents are submitted to competent authorities for issuance but are delayed by at least two months compared to the plan without valid reasons.

- Normative legal documents are found to contain inappropriate content and are subject to inspection and handling by competent authorities."

2. Amend Point a of Clause 1 of Article 14 as follows:

"a) Individuals currently working in units within the industry and trade sector or who have transferred to other sectors, retired, or left service, with a minimum of 20 years of work experience in the industry and trade sector for males, 15 years for females; 10 years for individuals directly engaged in hazardous or dangerous occupations up to the time of application.

Time spent by individuals in the industry and trade sector on military service, concentrated training programs, and subsequently redeployed back to work in the industry and trade sector shall be counted as continuous work experience in the industry and trade sector; individuals disciplined at or above the level of reprimand by competent authorities shall not have their disciplinary period counted towards seniority for commendation awards."

3. Amending and supplementing Clause 1 of Article 20 as follows:

"1. Procedures and documents for granting commendation awards including Heroic Labor Medal, National Model Worker, Model Worker at various levels, other commendation titles, Flag of Excellence from the Government, Orders, Medals, and Certificates of Merit from the Prime Minister shall be implemented according to the provisions of Articles 45, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, and 57 of Decree No. 91/2017/NĐ-CP and Clause 3 of Article 10 of Circular No. 12/2019/TT-BNV.

Documents of individuals applying for National Model Worker commendation awards, Orders, and Certificates of Merit from the Prime Minister must include a Decision on Outstanding Task Completion and confirmation of innovation from the competent authority or an outstanding task completion confirmation form (Form No. 03) and an innovation confirmation form (Form No. 04).”

4. Amend and supplement Clause 2 and Clause 5 of Article 22 as follows:

"2. Members of the Ministry of Industry and Trade's Competition and Reward Council include:

a) Chairperson of the Council: The Minister of Industry and Trade;

b) Deputy Chairmen of the Council: Comrades Vice Ministers of the Ministry of Industry and Trade and the Chairman of the Vietnam General Confederation of Labor.

c) Council Members: Heads of some units under the Ministry appointed by the Minister of Industry and Trade.

d) Standing Council Members: Leaders of units under the Ministry responsible for competition and reward work.

5. The Council operates according to the Charter issued by the Minister of Industry and Trade. Meetings of the Council are organized when at least three-quarters of its members attend, chaired by the Chairman of the Council or a Deputy Chairman authorized by the Chairman. In cases where direct meetings cannot be held, the Chairman of the Council decides to hold online meetings or delegates the Standing Council to send ballots seeking opinions from Council members.

The Standing Council submits to the Minister a list of collectives and individuals who have received at least three-quarters of the votes from Council members. For the regulations on the titles of Model Workers of the Ministry of Industry and Trade and National Model Workers, the approval rate must be at least 90% of the votes from Council members."

5. Amend and supplement Clause 1 of Article 23 as follows:

"1. Heads of units under or directly subordinate to the Ministry that have separate bank accounts, seals, or legal personality issue decisions establishing the Competition and Reward Council of the unit to advise the Head of the unit on competition and reward work."

6. Amend and supplement Clause 1 and Clause 4 of Article 25 as follows:

"1. Heads of units under or directly subordinate to the Ministry of Industry and Trade that have separate bank accounts, seals, or legal personality issue decisions establishing the Innovation Council of the unit to advise the Head of the unit on the examination and determination of the scope of influence of innovations. Based on the opinion of the Council, the Head of the unit issues a decision recognizing grassroots-level innovations.

4. For units without grassroots-level Innovation Councils, the examination and recognition of grassroots-level innovations are conducted by unit leaders in collaboration with representatives of party organizations and mass organizations. On this basis, the Head of the unit issues a document recognizing grassroots-level innovations."

Article 2. Repeal Clause 5 of Article 13.

Article 3. Implementation Organization

1. The Standing Office of the Ministry of Industry and Trade's Competition and Reward Council assists the Minister of Industry and Trade in guiding, monitoring, inspecting, and urging units in the industry and trade sector to implement this Circular; based on the actual situation of the competition movement each year, it studies and proposes the number and ratio of rewards for the Minister of Industry and Trade to consider and decide.

2. Heads of units organize the implementation of this Circular and concretize standards suitable for the operational conditions of their units.

3. During the implementation process, if there are difficulties, units and individuals are requested to report in writing to the Ministry of Industry and Trade for consideration and resolution.

Article 4. Implementation provisions

This Circular takes effect from January 19, 2022./.