Circular No. 22/2009/TT-BTC stipulates the levels of collection, collection system, payment, management, and use of fees and charges for industrial property rights.

CIRCULAR

Regulations on the level of collection, collection regime, submission, management, and use of fees for reviewing and approving fire prevention and firefighting design

fees and charges for industrial property

----------------------

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;

Pursuant to Decree No. 24/2006/NĐ-CP dated March 6, 2006 of the Government amending and supplementing certain provisions 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. 103/2006/NĐ-CP dated September 22, 2006 of the Government detailing and guiding the implementation of certain provisions of the Intellectual Property Law regarding industrial property;

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

The Ministry of Finance stipulates the level of collection, the system of collection, payment, management, and use of fees and charges for industrial property as follows:

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

1. Organizations and individuals within Vietnam and abroad submitting applications requesting state agencies responsible for intellectual property to perform tasks and services for the protection of industrial property rights must pay fees and charges according to the provisions of this Circular.

2. Attached to this Circular is the Table of Collection Levels for Fees and Charges for Industrial Property (Annex).

3. State agencies responsible for industrial property have the duty to organize the collection, payment, and management and use of fees and charges for industrial property collected according to the provisions of this Circular (hereinafter referred to as fee collection agencies).

II. SPECIFIC PROVISIONS

1. Procedures for collecting and paying fees and charges for industrial property:

a) The entity required to pay fees and charges must pay the full amount of fees and charges at once according to the collection levels specified in the Table of Collection Levels for Fees and Charges for Industrial Property attached to this Circular when submitting the application and relevant documents requesting the fee collection agency to perform the corresponding tasks and services.

b) When paying fees and charges, the entity required to pay fees and charges has the right to request the fee collection agency to issue and provide a receipt for the fees and charges paid, accurately recording the actual amount paid.

c) Fees and charges stipulated in this Circular shall be collected in Vietnamese Dong.

d) Fee collection agencies are permitted to open a temporary account for "holding fees and charges" at the State Treasury where the collection and payment take place to monitor and manage the collected fees and charges. Each day, they must prepare a list and temporarily deposit the collected fees and charges into the temporary holding account for fees and charges and must organize separate accounting for this revenue according to the accounting regulations applicable to administrative units with income.

2. Management and use of fees and charges: Fees and charges for industrial property as prescribed in this Circular are revenues belonging to the state budget, which are managed and used as follows:

2.1. Fee collection agencies are allowed to retain 35% (thirty-five percent) of the collected fees and charges before remitting them to the state budget, to cover expenses for performing tasks and services and collecting fees and charges as follows:

a) Payment of salaries, wages, honoraria, allowances, and contributions as prescribed based on salary (health insurance, social insurance, and trade union fees) for employees directly performing tasks and services and collecting fees and charges, excluding salary costs for officials and civil servants already receiving salaries from the state budget according to the prescribed regulations.

b) Expenditure on purchasing, repairing, maintaining, and servicing assets, machinery, equipment, and work tools for performing tasks and services and collecting fees and charges; depreciation of fixed assets for performing tasks and services and collecting fees; expenditure on purchasing technology, including the right to use protected intellectual property technology; expenditure on establishing, managing, and operating networks of information databases on intellectual property;

c) Expenditure on purchasing office supplies, raw materials such as stationery, office supplies, telephone, electricity, water, fuel, travel expenses, and other expenditures such as printing, purchasing forms, certificates, diplomas, and other publications;

d) Expenditure on hiring external services to support management and development activities, such as renting physical facilities, office space, specialized outsourcing, hiring search services, translation services, information provision, and reviewing the content of industrial property objects of national or international intellectual property agencies;

đ) Expenditure on training, upgrading, seminar, conference both domestically and internationally on intellectual property expertise and business; expenditure on organizing the dissemination, propaganda, guidance on laws, policies, strategies, planning on intellectual property; expenditure on building and implementing research topics and projects under regular tasks aimed at developing the intellectual property system, enhancing professional expertise in intellectual property;

e) Expenditure on providing services to resolve disputes and complaints about industrial property and commercial disputes related to industrial property;

g) Retaining a bonus fund and welfare fund for staff directly performing tasks and services and collecting fees and charges in the agency according to the principle that the maximum amount retained annually per person should not exceed three months' salary if the current year's revenue exceeds the previous year's, and should be equal to two months' salary if the current year's revenue is lower than or equal to the previous year's after ensuring the expenses as stipulated in points a, b, c, d, đ, and e of this item.

Annually, fee collection agencies must settle accounts according to actual figures. After settling accounts according to regulations, any remaining fees and charges retained in the year that have not been fully spent may be carried over to the next year for continued spending according to the prescribed regulations.

2.2. On a monthly basis, fee collection agencies are responsible for declaring, paying, and settling the remaining fees and charges (65%) into the state budget according to the chapters, types, sections, and items of the current State Budget Classification.

III. IMPLEMENTATION

1. This Circular takes effect 45 days from the date of signature and applies to applications requesting protection of intellectual property rights from the date this Circular comes into force. This Circular replaces Circular No. 132/2004/TT-BTC dated December 30, 2004 of the Ministry of Finance guiding the collection, payment, management, and use of fees and charges for industrial property and Circular No. 115/2006/TT-BTC dated December 29, 2006 of the Ministry of Finance amending and supplementing Circular No. 132/2004/TT-BTC.

2. For industrial property registration applications submitted before the date this Circular takes effect, where the works or services have not been completed and fees and charges have not been paid, if there is now a request and such requests are carried out, then the fees and charges must be paid according to the levels prescribed in this Circular.

3. Other contents related to the collection, payment, management, use, and public disclosure of the system for collecting fees and charges for industrial property not mentioned in this Circular shall be implemented in accordance with Circular No. 63/2002/TT-BTC dated July 24, 2002; Circular No. 45/2006/TT-BTC dated May 25, 2006 of the Ministry of Finance amending and supplementing Circular No. 63/2002/TT-BTC dated July 24, 2002 of the Ministry of Finance guiding the implementation of provisions of laws on fees and charges; and Circular No. 60/2007/TT-BTC guiding the implementation of certain articles of the Law on Tax Administration and guiding the implementation of Decree No. 85/2007/NĐ-CP dated May 25, 2007 of the Government detailing the implementation of certain articles of the Law on Tax Administration.

4. During the process of implementation, if there are difficulties, organizations and individuals are requested to promptly reflect them to the Ministry of Finance for consideration and resolution./.