Joint Circular No. 192/2010/TTLT-BTC-BTP-VPCP guiding the preparation of budget estimates, management, use, and settlement of state budget funds to ensure work on drafting normative legal documents and improving the legal system.

JOINT CIRCULAR

Guidelines for preparing budgets, managing, using, and settling accounts for state budget funds to ensure the work of drafting normative legal documents and perfecting the legal system

 to ensure the work of drafting normative legal documents and perfecting the legal system

_______________________________________________

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

Pursuant to Decree No. 24/2009/NĐ-CP dated March 5, 2009, of the Government detailing and providing measures for implementing the Law on Legislative Documents;

Pursuant to 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, promulgated by the Government stipulating the functions, tasks, powers, and organizational structure of the Ministry of Justice;

Pursuant to Decree No. 33/2008/NĐ-CP dated March 19, 2008 of the Government stipulating the functions, tasks, powers, and organizational structure of the Government Office;

The Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Justice, and the Government Office jointly issue guidelines for preparing budgets, managing, using, and settling accounts for state budget funds to ensure the work of drafting normative legal documents and perfecting the legal system as follows:

Article 1. Scope of Regulation

These guidelines provide for preparing budgets, managing, using, and settling accounts for state budget funds to ensure the work of drafting normative legal documents (hereinafter referred to collectively as documents) and perfecting the legal system of agencies and units, including the following documents:

1. Laws, resolutions of the National Assembly;

2. Ordinances, resolutions of the Standing Committee of the National Assembly;

3. Orders, decisions of the President;

4. Decrees of the Government;

5. Decisions of the Prime Minister;

6. Resolutions of the Supreme People's Court Council of Judges; Circulars of the Chief Justice of the Supreme People's Court;

7. Circulars of the Chief Prosecutor of the Supreme People's Procuracy;

8. Circulars of Ministers, Heads of ministerial-level agencies;

9. Decisions of the State Auditor General;

10. Joint resolutions between the Standing Committee of the National Assembly or between the Government and central agencies of political-social organizations;

11. Joint circulars between the Chief Justice of the Supreme People's Court and the Chief Prosecutor of the Supreme People's Procuracy; between Ministers, Heads of ministerial-level agencies and the Chief Justice of the Supreme People's Court, the Chief Prosecutor of the Supreme People's Procuracy; between various Ministers, Heads of ministerial-level agencies.

Article 2. Principles for preparing budgets, managing, using, and finalizing funds

1. Funds ensuring the work of drafting documents and perfecting the legal system are provided from the state budget, consolidated into the regular budget expenditure plan of the agency or unit. In addition to this source of funds, the state budget allocates a certain amount of funds to support the drafting of laws and ordinances, including the legislative program announced and allocated to the leading drafting, reviewing, and examining agencies of laws and ordinances.

2. The preparation of budgets, management, use, and settlement of accounts for funds ensuring the work of drafting documents and perfecting the legal system must be carried out in accordance with the provisions of the State Budget Law, detailed regulations and guiding documents implementing the State Budget Law, and these guidelines.

3. The allocation of funds ensuring the work of drafting documents and perfecting the legal system at agencies and units shall be implemented according to formal programs and plans and supplementary programs and plans within the year, ensuring consistency with the progress of assigned tasks and within the scope of the budget already allocated. In cases where documents need to be issued urgently and are not included in the annual legislative program of the National Assembly and the Government, or where documents are included in the program but are postponed to the next year or temporarily suspended, the leading drafting agencies must promptly notify the Ministry of Finance, the National Assembly Office, the Government Office, and the Ministry of Justice to aggregate, supplement, and adjust the funds accordingly.

4. The use of funds ensuring the work of drafting documents and perfecting the legal system must comply with the purpose, content, financial expenditure regimes, and cost standards as prescribed by laws on financial expenditure regimes and the provisions of these guidelines.

5. Based on the allocated state budget, the complexity of the documents planned to be drafted, and the activities planned to be conducted for perfecting the legal system, the head of the agency or unit entrusted with the main responsibility decides to allocate specific cost standards appropriately.

Article 3. Activities and expenditure for drafting legal documents and perfecting the legal system

1. Activities for drafting documents and perfecting the legal system that are funded by the state budget include:

a) Research and proposal for drafting documents;

b) Proposal for the program to draft laws and ordinances; planning the program to draft decrees of the Government; programs to draft documents of ministries, sectors, and organizations assigned to implement;

c) Investigation, survey, and research, evaluation, and summary of practical experiences during the process of proposing, drafting documents, and enforcing laws;

d) Drafting documents;

đ) Impact assessment of documents;

e) Organizing public opinion on draft projects and draft documents; opinions of those directly affected by draft projects and draft documents;

g) Reviewing and commenting on draft projects and draft documents;

h) Review by the Government Office on draft projects and draft documents;

i) Reviewing and systematizing documents directly serving the work of drafting documents and perfecting the legal system;

k) Publishing documents;

l) Translating documents into foreign languages and ethnic minority languages;

m) Post-enforcement impact assessment of documents;

n) Monitoring and evaluating the enforcement of laws.

2. Based on the nature and complexity level of each activity in drafting legal documents and perfecting the legal system as stipulated in Clause 1 of this Article, the agency or unit assigned the main responsibility for implementing the expenditure shall carry out the following contents:

a) Collecting, reviewing, and evaluating documents;

b) Translating and proofreading foreign language and ethnic minority language documents into Vietnamese and vice versa;

c) Organizing theoretical research and evaluating and summarizing practical experiences related to the process of drafting documents and perfecting the legal system;

d) Investigating and surveying issues related to serve the research process, proposing the drafting of legal documents; proposing and planning the program for drafting legal documents; assessing the impact of the document; drafting the document;

đ) Organizing meetings, seminars, roundtable discussions, and conferences directly serving the activities of drafting documents and perfecting the legal system;

e) Expenditure for preparing various outlines, explanatory notes, proposals; various theoretical research reports and assessments, summaries of practical implementation; various impact assessment reports of the document; draft proposals for drafting legal documents; draft proposals and plans for drafting legal documents and draft documents;

g) Payment of remuneration to those participating in research and advisory activities during the process of establishing documents and perfecting the legal system.

h) Expenses for providing comments and advice on proposals to establish documents; proposed programs for establishing documents; comments, reviews, and verifications of draft projects and documents.

i) Organizing the introduction of draft document contents, soliciting opinions from the public and directly affected entities.

k) Proofreading and finalizing outlines, explanatory notes, submission papers; various types of reports; proposals to establish documents; proposed programs and draft documents for establishing documents.

l) Expenses for publishing laws, ordinances, and other documents that have been signed and issued by competent authorities.

Organizing post-enforcement impact assessments of documents.

Organizing monitoring of the implementation of laws.

Printing, photocopying, purchasing materials, and other necessary expenses directly serving the activities of establishing documents and perfecting the legal system.

Article 4. Budget Standards for Activities in Establishing Documents and Perfecting the Legal System

The standard expenditure levels with special characteristics, guaranteed to be supported from the state budget for certain contents within the activities of drafting legal documents and perfecting the legal system are specified as follows:

1. Expenditure for preparing detailed outlines for draft documents.

a) For laws and ordinances:

Law projects or ordinances newly drafted or replaced: maximum expenditure of 3,000,000 VND per outline;

Law projects or ordinances amending or supplementing certain articles: maximum expenditure of 2,500,000 VND per outline.

b) For resolutions of the National Assembly, joint resolutions of the Standing Committee of the National Assembly, decrees of the Government, joint resolutions between the Standing Committee of the National Assembly or between the Government and central agencies of political-social organizations:

Drafting new or replacement documents: maximum expenditure of 2,000,000 VND per outline;

Amendment and supplementation document drafting involving some articles: maximum expense of VND 1,500,000 per outline.

c) For decisions of the Prime Minister; joint circulars between the Chief Justice of the Supreme People's Court and the Procurator General of the Supreme People's Procuracy; joint circulars between the Ministers, Heads of ministerial-level agencies and the Chief Justice of the Supreme People's Court, the Procurator General of the Supreme People's Procuracy; joint circulars among the Ministers, Heads of ministerial-level agencies:

New or replacement document drafting: maximum expense of VND 1,500,000 per outline;

Amendment and supplementation document drafting involving some articles: maximum expense of VND 1,000,000 per outline.

d) For circulars of the Ministers, Heads of ministerial-level agencies; resolutions of the Supreme People's Court Council; circulars of the Chief Justice of the Supreme People's Court; circulars of the Procurator General of the Supreme People's Procuracy; decisions of the State Auditor General:

New or replacement document drafting: maximum expense of VND 1,000,000 per outline;

Amendment and supplementation document drafting involving some articles: maximum expense of VND 800,000 per outline.

2. Expenditure for drafting documents.

a) For laws and ordinances:

Law projects or ordinances newly drafted or replaced: maximum expenditure of 8,000,000 VND per draft document;

Law projects or ordinances amending or supplementing certain articles: maximum expenditure of 5,000,000 VND per draft document.

b) For resolutions of the National Assembly, joint resolutions of the Standing Committee of the National Assembly, decrees of the Government, joint resolutions between the Standing Committee of the National Assembly or between the Government and central agencies of political-social organizations:

Drafting new or replacement documents: maximum expenditure of 5,000,000 VND per draft document;

Amendment and supplementation document drafting involving some articles: maximum expense of VND 3,000,000 per draft document.

c) For decisions of the Prime Minister; joint circulars between the Chief Justice of the Supreme People's Court and the Procurator General of the Supreme People's Procuracy; joint circulars between the Ministers, Heads of ministerial-level agencies and the Chief Justice of the Supreme People's Court, the Procurator General of the Supreme People's Procuracy; joint circulars among the Ministers, Heads of ministerial-level agencies:

New or replacement document drafting: maximum expense of VND 4,000,000 per draft document;

Amendment and supplementation document drafting involving some articles: maximum expense of VND 2,000,000 per draft document.

d) For circulars of the Ministers, Heads of ministerial-level agencies; resolutions of the Supreme People's Court Council, circulars of the Chief Justice of the Supreme People's Court, circulars of the Procurator General of the Supreme People's Procuracy; decisions of the State Auditor General:

New or replacement document drafting: maximum expense of VND 3,000,000 per draft document;

Amendment and supplementation document drafting involving some articles: maximum expense of VND 2,000,000 per draft document.

3. Expenditure for preparing reports serving the work of drafting legal documents and perfecting the legal system.

a) Summary reports; explanation and adoption of opinions, review reports: maximum expenditure of 1,000,000 VND per report.

b) Report on comments and evaluations by critics, members of the review council, discussion reports according to orders from the drafting agency:

For new or replacement law projects or ordinances: maximum expenditure of 1,000,000 VND per report;

For law projects or ordinances amending or supplementing certain articles: maximum expenditure of 700,000 VND per report;

For other documents: maximum expenditure of 500,000 VND per report.

c) Impact Assessment Reports on Documents:

Preliminary impact assessment reports: maximum expense of VND 4,000,000 per report;

Simple impact assessment reports: maximum expense of VND 5,000,000 per report;

Comprehensive impact assessment reports: maximum expense of VND 6,000,000 per report.

d) Report on monitoring the implementation of laws:

Summary reports on the monitoring of the implementation of laws submitted to the Government by the Ministry of Justice: maximum expense of VND 12,000,000 per report;

Annual monitoring reports on the implementation of laws by Ministries and sectors: maximum expense of VND 8,000,000 per report;

Special topic monitoring reports on the implementation of laws: maximum expense of VND 5,000,000 per report;

Ad hoc monitoring reports on the implementation of laws: maximum expense of VND 3,000,000 per report.

4. Drafting comments, reports for reviewing and examining documents.

a) Comment documents:

For new or replacement law, ordinance projects: maximum expense of VND 1,000,000 per document;

For amendment and supplementation law, ordinance projects involving some articles: maximum expense of VND 700,000 per document;

For other documents: maximum expense of VND 500,000 per document.

b) Examination reports, verification reports:

For law, ordinance projects: maximum expense of VND 1,500,000 per report;

For draft decrees, resolutions, joint resolutions, decisions of the Prime Minister: maximum expenditure of 1,000,000 VND per report;

For draft circulars, decisions of the State Auditor General: maximum expenditure of 500,000 VND per report.

5. Proofreading and finalizing research outlines, various types of reports, explanatory notes, submission documents for texts: maximum expenditure of 500,000 VND per proofreading session.

6. Proofreading draft texts: maximum expenditure of 600,000 VND per proofreading session.

7. Expenditure for individuals participating in meetings, seminars, discussions, conferences, and press conferences:

a) Participating in meetings, seminars, discussions, conferences serving the work of proposing the drafting of planned programs, drafting, impact assessment, comments, review, examination of documents; investigation and survey; monitoring and evaluating the implementation of laws:

Chairperson: the expense level is VND 150,000 per person per meeting;

Participants attending: expenditure of 100,000 VND per person per meeting;

Written discussion papers submitted by participants: maximum expenditure of 500,000 VND per paper.

b) Attending press conferences announcing laws, ordinances, and other texts that have been signed and issued by competent authorities:

Host of the conference: expenditure of 150,000 VND per person per conference;

Participants attending: expenditure of 70,000 VND per person per conference.

8. Expenditure for hiring translation and proofreading services:

Translating documents from foreign languages into Vietnamese: maximum expenditure of 120,000 VND per page (350 words);

Translating documents from Vietnamese into foreign languages: maximum expenditure of 150,000 VND per page (350 words);

Translating documents from Vietnamese into ethnic minority languages: maximum expenditure of 100,000 VND per page (350 words);

Proofreading translated documents: maximum expenditure of 40,000 VND per page (350 words).

For some less common languages, the translation fee may be increased by up to 30% compared to the aforementioned translation fees.

9. Expenditure for obtaining independent expert advice.

In cases where proposals for drafting legal documents; proposals and plans for drafting legal documents; explanations, proposals, draft documents, and specialized reports require independent expert advice and critique, the maximum expenditure is 1,000,000 VND per report.

10. The use of funds ensuring the work of drafting legal documents and perfecting the legal system, in addition to implementing the expenditure levels for the contents specified in Clauses 1 to 9 of this Article, the expenditure for other contents is implemented and applied according to current financial expenditure regulations, including:

a) For travel expenses for officials working domestically, organizing meetings, conferences, discussions, mid-term reviews, and final summaries, carried out according to the regulations of the Ministry of Finance on travel expense allowances and meeting organization costs for state agencies and public service units;

b) For expenses for organizing overseas survey delegations, carried out according to the regulations of the Ministry of Finance on travel expense allowances for state officials and civil servants working abroad for short periods funded by the state budget;

c) For organizing surveys, social surveys, carried out according to the regulations of the Ministry of Finance guiding the management, use, and settlement of funds for surveys from state budget sources;

d) For expenses for establishing electronic information databases serving the work of drafting legal documents and perfecting the legal system, carried out according to the regulations of the Ministry of Finance guiding the expenditure standards for establishing electronic information under information technology and current regulations on information technology, database construction, and management;

đ) For research and construction of topics serving the work of drafting legal documents and perfecting the legal system; constructing various explanatory notes and proposals; proposing the drafting of legal documents; proposing and planning the program for drafting legal documents; reports on assessing and summarizing practical implementation; reports on assessing the impact of documents; reports on monitoring the implementation of laws, carried out and applied according to the regulations of the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Science and Technology guiding the standard expenditure levels and budget allocation for scientific and technological projects using state budget funds.

e) Reviewing and systematizing documents directly serving the work of drafting documents and perfecting the legal system shall be carried out in accordance with the regulations of the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Justice on managing and using funds for inspecting and handling normative legal documents.

Article 5. Allocation standards for funding to ensure work on drafting legal documents and perfecting the legal system

1. The standard allocation of funds to ensure the work of drafting documents and perfecting the legal system must be based on the activities, expenditure items, and expenditure levels prescribed in Article 3 and Article 4 of this Circular and shall be implemented as follows:

a) For draft decrees of the Government, the maximum allocation of funds is 25 million VND per draft document with less complex content, only soliciting opinions from some central ministries and agencies, and up to 40 million VND per draft document with more complex content, requiring opinions from many central ministries and agencies, mass organizations, and localities. In cases where a draft decree requires organizing broad meetings to solicit opinions multiple times over a wide range, the allocation of funds shall be decided by the head of the agency or unit responsible for drafting and building the decision within the scope of the regular budget allocated.

b) For draft decisions of the Prime Minister, draft resolutions of the Supreme People's Court Council, and joint resolutions, the maximum allocation of funds is 20 million VND per draft document with less complex content or fewer meetings to solicit opinions, and up to 35 million VND per draft document with more complex content or requiring multiple meetings to solicit opinions.

c) For draft circulars, joint circulars, and decisions of the State Audit Office, the maximum allocation of funds is 15 million VND per draft document with less complex content and a narrow scope of regulation, and up to 30 million VND per draft document guiding the implementation of laws and ordinances, with complex content and a wide scope of application nationwide, requiring multiple meetings to solicit opinions.

2. In addition to the allocation standards for funding stipulated in Clause 1 of this Article, depending on the availability of financial resources, if necessary, the head of the agency or unit responsible may arrange a portion of funding from the regular budget already allocated to support related activities during the process of drafting legal documents and perfecting the legal system.

2. In addition to the standard allocation of funds prescribed in Clause 1 of this Article, based on the financial capacity, in necessary cases, the head of the agency or unit responsible may arrange a portion of funds from the regular budget already allocated to support related activities during the process of drafting documents and perfecting the legal system.

Article 6. Preparation of Budget Estimates, Management, Utilization, and Settlement of Funds Ensuring Legislative Work and Legal System Improvement

a) Annually, based on their functions and tasks, agencies and units shall prepare detailed budgets for funding to ensure work on drafting legal documents and perfecting the legal system according to the activities and expenditure items specified in Article 3 and the expenditure levels specified in Article 4 of this Circular, consolidate them into the annual regular budget estimate, submit to the Ministry of Finance for review and consolidation, and then submit to the Government for presentation to the National Assembly for approval in accordance with the provisions of the State Budget Law.

a) Annually, based on their functions and tasks; the activities, expenditure items prescribed in Article 3 and the expenditure standards prescribed in Article 4 of this Circular, agencies and units shall prepare detailed budgets for funds ensuring the work of drafting documents and perfecting the legal system, which will be consolidated into the annual regular budget submitted to the Ministry of Finance for review and consolidation to be presented to the Government for decision in accordance with the State Budget Law.

b) The allocation of funds to ensure the work of drafting documents and perfecting the legal system shall be carried out in accordance with the State Budget Law and the detailed regulations and guidance for implementing the State Budget Law.

c) For the funds supporting agencies assigned the main responsibility for drafting, reviewing, and examining Laws and Ordinances in the annual legislative program approved by the National Assembly, it shall be implemented as follows:

Based on the proposed allocation of funds supporting agencies assigned the main responsibility for drafting, reviewing, and examining Laws and Ordinances in the annual legislative program approved by the National Assembly, the Office of the National Assembly; the Ministry of Finance shall submit to the Prime Minister for consideration and approval. After being approved by the Prime Minister, the Ministry of Finance shall notify the funds supporting the construction of Law and Ordinance projects for relevant ministries and agencies to implement.

a) The payment of funding to ensure work on drafting legal documents and perfecting the legal system shall be made on a product-based basis accompanied by a detailed list of expenditure items and levels as specified in this Circular, without the need for invoices or supporting documents.

a) The use and settlement of funds to ensure the work of drafting documents and perfecting the legal system must have complete legal and valid vouchers according to current legal provisions. In cases where the funds are not fully utilized by the end of the year, they can be transferred to the next year for continued use in the work of drafting documents and perfecting the legal system.

Funds to ensure the work of drafting documents and perfecting the legal system shall be accounted for under the corresponding expenditure item in the State Budget Manual.

Article 7. Implementation Provisions

1. This Circular takes effect 45 days from the date of signature and replaces Circular No. 100/2006/TT-BTC dated October 23, 2006, issued by the Ministry of Finance, guiding the management and use of state budget funds to ensure the work of drafting normative legal documents.

2. For the funds for drafting documents and perfecting the legal system in 2010, agencies and units shall proactively arrange within the scope of the 2010 state budget already allocated by the competent authority to implement.

3. During the implementation process, if there are difficulties or obstacles, it is recommended that agencies and units promptly reflect them to the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Justice, and the Government Office for study and appropriate amendments./.