Circular No. 224/2010/TT-BTC on the preparation of budgets, management, and utilization of funds for implementing administrative procedure control activities.

CIRCULAR

Regulations on the preparation of budgets, management, and utilization of funds for implementing activities to control administrative procedures

 ___________________________________________________

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. 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. 63//2008/ND-CP dated February 14, 2008 of the Government on receiving and handling complaints and suggestions from individuals and organizations regarding administrative regulations;

Pursuant to Decree No. 20/2008/ND-CP dated February 14, 2008 of the Government on receiving and handling complaints and suggestions from individuals and organizations regarding administrative regulations;

The Ministry of Finance hereby stipulates the preparation of budgets, management, and utilization of funds for implementing activities to control administrative procedures (AP) as follows:

Article 1. Object and Scope of Implementation

1. Objectives:

a) Administrative procedure control agencies under the Office of the Government.

b) Ministries, ministerial-level agencies, government agencies, provincial People's Committees, and centrally governed city People's Committees.

2. Scope:

a) The provisions of this Circular shall apply to activities controlling the establishment, implementation, review, and evaluation of administrative procedures and managing the National Database on Administrative Procedures.

b) This Circular does not include:

- Internal administrative procedure control activities within each administrative agency, between administrative agencies that do not relate to the processing of administrative procedures for individuals and organizations;

- Control activities of administrative violation procedures; inspection procedures and administrative procedures containing state secrets.

Article 2. Sources of Funds

1. Funds ensuring the implementation of administrative procedure control at ministries, ministerial-level agencies, and government agencies shall be guaranteed by the central budget.

2. Funds ensuring the implementation of administrative procedure control at provinces and centrally governed cities shall be guaranteed by local budgets.

3. In addition to funds guaranteed by the state budget, ministries, ministerial-level agencies, government agencies, and provincial People's Committees may mobilize and utilize other legitimate resources to strengthen the implementation of administrative procedure control within their jurisdiction.

Article 3. Content and Levels of Expenditure for Administrative Procedure Control Activities:

The contents and levels of expenditure for administrative procedure control activities shall be implemented according to the current financial expenditure standards and norms applicable to state management agencies.

This Circular guides the implementation of certain contents and levels of expenditure directly related to administrative procedure control activities, specifically as follows:

1. Expenditure for updating data into the national database on administrative procedures; creating links for administrative procedures entered into the national database on administrative procedures, maintaining the national database on administrative procedures (developing website content, writing articles, news, reviewing news, entering news, taking photos, collecting photos, managing electronic news pages...): carried out in accordance with Circular No. 137/2007/TT-BTC dated November 28, 2007 of the Ministry of Finance guiding the level of expenditure for establishing electronic information; Joint Circular No. 43/2008/TTLT-BTC-BTTTT dated May 26, 2008 of the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Information and Communications guiding the management and use of funds for the application of information technology in the operations of state agencies.

2. Expenditure for independent reviews of administrative procedure regulations (filling review forms, checking the quality of reviews, developing proposals for the competent authority on amending, abolishing, or simplifying procedures...); assessing the impact of administrative procedures (filling impact assessment forms for each AP, checking the quality of impact assessments for each AP, calculating compliance costs for administrative procedures); publicly announcing administrative procedures (building lists and forms for announcing APs, controlling the quality of announced APs); building and implementing methods to collect opinions from individuals and organizations through "Feedback Forms" and "Surveys": carried out in accordance with the Circular of the Ministry of Finance guiding the management, use, and settlement of funds from state budget sources for conducting surveys; Joint Circular of the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Justice guiding the management and use of funds supporting legal document inspection work.

3. Expenditure for drafting and commenting on administrative procedure regulations in draft projects and legal documents; building reports on the entry of data into the national database on administrative procedures: carried out in accordance with Joint Circular No. 192/2010/TTLT-BTC-BTP-VPCP dated December 2, 2010 of the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Justice, and the Office of the Government guiding the preparation of budgets, management, use, and settlement of state budget funds for legal document drafting and system improvement work.

4. Organizational System for Meetings:

For specialized meetings, conferences, seminars to seek opinions on administrative procedure regulations and proposals for simplifying administrative procedures, the organizing unit may apply the following expenditure levels:

- Host of the meeting: 150,000 VND per person per session;

- Participants: VND 100,000/person/session.

5. Expenditure for organizing training conferences, implementing professional tasks, mid-term and final reviews, regular coordination meetings; expenditure for inspection and urging activities of ministries, sectors, and localities: carried out in accordance with Circular No. 97/2010/TT-BTC dated July 6, 2010 of the Ministry of Finance stipulating travel expenses and expenditure for organizing conferences for state agencies and public institutions.

6. Hiring Professional Consultants:

Based on the necessity of implementing activities and budget capacity, the Ministers of Ministries and Chairmen of Provincial People's Committees (or authorized persons) decide on hiring consultants, with the maximum monthly fee not exceeding VND 4,800,000/person/month. In special cases requiring higher expenditure than stipulated in this Circular, heads of agencies and units decide on the expenditure level and bear responsibility for their decisions.

7. Overtime Pay:

Staff working in administrative procedure control agencies performing tasks according to their assigned functions and duties. In cases where overtime work is required due to job demands, they will be paid overtime pay in accordance with Joint Circular No. 08/2005/TTLT-BNV-BTC dated January 5, 2005 of the Ministry of Home Affairs and the Ministry of Finance guiding the implementation of night shift and overtime payment systems for civil servants, public officials, and employees.

8. Translation Expenses:

In accordance with the regulations on the level of expenditure for translation as stipulated in Circular No. 01/2010/TT-BTC dated January 6, 2010 of the Ministry of Finance regarding the system of expenditures for welcoming foreign guests to work in Vietnam, the system of expenditures for organizing international conferences and seminars in Vietnam, and expenditures for hosting domestic guests.

9. Expenditure for compiling news articles, publications, communication products, special columns on administrative procedure reform on various mass media: carried out in accordance with the regulations of the Ministry of Finance on remuneration systems.

10. Expenditure for rewarding collectives and individuals of civil servants who have achieved success in administrative procedure control activities; the level of expenditure according to current regulations.

11. Expenditure for purchasing goods and services such as graphic design, advertising, printing, equipment procurement, information technology application services...: organized procurement in accordance with the regulations of the Ministry of Finance guiding the implementation of bidding for asset procurement to maintain the regular operation of state agencies with state funds.

12. Other related expenditures directly linked to administrative procedure control activities (if any), at levels according to current systems based on ensuring requirements for vouchers and invoices as prescribed.

Article 4. Authority to decide on expenditure levels

The expenditure levels prescribed in this Circular are maximum levels. Based on actual circumstances, the complexity of each specific task, and budget capacity, Ministers of Ministries, agencies equivalent to Ministries, Heads of government agencies; Chairpersons of People's Committees of provinces and centrally governed cities shall specify appropriate expenditure levels without exceeding those prescribed in this Circular.

Where Ministries, sectors, localities have not issued documents specifying specific expenditure levels, Heads of agencies and units shall determine expenditure levels based on actual expenditure amounts (with valid and lawful invoices) but not exceeding the levels prescribed in this Circular, ensuring economy and avoiding waste within the assigned budget and must be reflected in the internal expenditure regulations of the agency or unit.

Article 5. Preparation, Implementation, and Settlement of Budget Estimates

The preparation, execution of budget estimates, and settlement of accounts for funds shall be carried out according to current regulations, this Circular provides detailed guidance as follows:

1. Budget preparation: Annually, during the time for preparing the state budget in accordance with the State Budget Law, based on plans of activities and tasks assigned, agencies and units responsible for administrative procedure control shall prepare necessary budget estimates for implementing their tasks for the planning year, consolidated in the annual state budget estimate of their own agencies and units, submitted for approval by competent authorities.

2. Allocation and assignment of budgets: Based on the budget allocated by competent authorities, Heads of agencies and units shall be responsible for allocating and assigning budget estimates to subordinate units (including administrative procedure control expenses allocated from non-self-financing revenues) after receiving the audit opinions of the same-level financial agencies.

3. Utilization and settlement of funds:

a) Administrative procedure control expenses shall be utilized and settled according to current regulations.

b) Expenses for implementing administrative procedure control shall be recorded under corresponding expenditure items in the state budget ledger according to current regulations.

c) At year-end, the settlement of funds for administrative procedure control shall be consolidated into the annual budget settlement of the agency or unit in accordance with the regulations.

Article 6. Implementation Provisions

1. This Circular shall take effect 45 days from the date of signature.

2. For workloads that Ministries, sectors, and localities have implemented before the effectiveness of this Circular; Ministries, sectors, and localities shall base their settlement of expenses on the provisions of this Circular and valid expense vouchers in accordance with the State Budget Law.

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