Circular No. 24/2021/TT-BTTTT stipulates criteria for classification, conditions for establishment, merger, consolidation, and dissolution of public service units under the information and communication sector.

CIRCULAR

REGULATIONS ON CRITERIA FOR CLASSIFICATION, CONDITIONS FOR ESTABLISHMENT, MERGER, CONSOLIDATION, AND DISSOLUTION OF PUBLIC SERVICE ORGANIZATIONS IN THE FIELD OF INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATIONS

Pursuant to Decree No. 120/2020/NĐ-CP dated October 7, 2020 of the Government stipulating the establishment, restructuring, and dissolution of public service organizations;

Pursuant to Decree No. 32/2019/NĐ-CP dated April 10, 2019 of the Government stipulating the assignment of tasks, ordering goods or services, or tendering for the provision of public products and services using state budget funds from regular expenditure;

Pursuant to Decree No. 17/2017/NĐ-CP dated July 17, 2017 of the Government stipulating the functions, tasks, powers, and organizational structure of the Ministry of Information and Communications;

The phrase "or examination" is abolished pursuant to Clause 6, Article 8 of Circular No. 15/2025/TT-BVHTTDL dated November 25, 2025, of the Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism amending and supplementing certain articles of Circulars prescribing job codes, qualification standards, and salary grades for civil servants in the heritage culture, library, grassroots cultural activities, sports, fine arts, art performance, film, and cultural propaganda sectors, which takes effect from January 15, 2026.

The Minister of Information and Communications issues this Circular regulating specific criteria for classification, conditions for establishment, merger, consolidation, and dissolution of public service organizations in the field of Information and Communications, including: press, publishing, printing, distribution, electronic information, basic information, foreign information, postal services, telecommunications, radio frequency, information technology (hereinafter referred to as public service organizations).

PART I

GENERAL PROVISIONS

Article 1. Scope of Regulation

1. Public service organizations in the field of Information and Communications shall be established by competent authorities in accordance with the provisions of the law.

Article 2. Applicability

b) Public service organizations within the management scope of special administrative-economic units shall be implemented in accordance with the provisions of the law and guiding documents applicable to such special administrative-economic units.

2. This Circular does not apply to:

a) Public service units under the Ministry of Public Security and the Ministry of National Defense;

3. Public service organizations under the Vietnam National University, Hanoi, the Vietnam National University, Ho Chi Minh City, public service organizations under public service organizations as prescribed in Clause 1 of this Article, and public service organizations under political organizations and political-social organizations shall apply the provisions of this Circular and relevant regulations of the Party and the law in accordance with their respective circumstances.

CHAPTER II. CRITERIA FOR CLASSIFICATION OF PUBLIC SERVICE ORGANIZATIONS IN THE FIELD OF INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATIONS

Chapter II

Article 3. Classification according to functions and tasks

1. Public service organizations serving state administration include:

a) Public service organizations performing research and application tasks to serve the drafting of legal normative documents, planning, strategies, systems, policies, standards, and norms within the scope of state management of the supervising authority;

b) Public service organizations performing the function of the supervising authority's official media organ;

c) Public service organizations performing tasks to manage information, materials, and data on the field of state management and activities of the supervising authority;

d) Public service organizations performing specialized tasks in information technology as assigned by the supervising authority; managing, operating, and ensuring the security of technical infrastructure systems, information systems, software, applications, databases serving state management; training to enhance digital awareness and skills for state management;

đ) Public service organizations performing tasks to manage and operate postal networks, telecommunications networks, dedicated information systems serving the Party and State agencies;

e) Public service organizations conducting research to establish economic and technical norms as assigned;

g) Public service organizations performing functions and tasks to serve state management such as evaluation, testing, and inspection to ensure quality control of products, goods, and services in the field of Information and Communications;

h) Public service organizations performing other functions and tasks to serve state management (if any).

2. Public service organizations providing public service include:

a) Public service organizations providing publishing services, performing tasks of information dissemination to serve political missions, economic development, cultural, social development; ensuring national defense and security, foreign affairs, youth, children, social policy targets, remote areas, border regions, islands, particularly difficult socio-economic areas, and essential information dissemination;

b) Public service organizations providing services to measure audience access and usage of information to evaluate the effectiveness of information dissemination serving political missions, national defense and security, foreign affairs, and economic development;

c) Public service organizations providing services to ensure information security, prevent spam emails, spam messages, and spam calls for Party and State agencies, political-social organizations;

d) Public service organizations providing measurement, certification, testing, and quality inspection services for products, services, and solutions in the field of Information and Communications;

đ) Public service organizations managing, operating, and maintaining the national domain name system server ".vn" and national Internet transit stations;

e) Public service organizations providing national digital signature certification services;

g) Public service organizations managing, operating, and maintaining mobile number portability systems;

h) Public service organizations providing other public services in the field of Information and Communications as prescribed (if any).

3. Public service organizations serving both state administration and providing public services: These are organizations performing one or more tasks as specified in Clauses 1 and 2 of this Article.

3. A public service unit that serves both state management and provides public services: is a unit that performs one or more tasks specified in Clauses 1 and 2 of this Article.

Article 4. Classification based on the degree of financial autonomy

The determination of the degree of financial autonomy for public service units in the field of Information and Communications shall be carried out in accordance with the provisions of Article 9 of Decree No. 60/2021/NĐ-CP dated June 21, 2021 of the Government stipulating the mechanism of financial autonomy for public service units.

Chapter III

CONDITIONS FOR ESTABLISHING, MERGING, CONSOLIDATING, AND DISSOLVING PUBLIC SERVICE UNITS

Article 5. Conditions for establishing public service units

1. The establishment of public service units in the field of Information and Communications must meet the conditions prescribed in Clause 1 of Article 5 of Decree No. 120/2020/NĐ-CP.

2. In addition to the general conditions prescribed in Clause 1 of this Article, the establishment of public service units in the field of Information and Communications must also meet the conditions prescribed by current specialized laws (if applicable).

Article 6. Conditions for merging or consolidating public service units

1. The merger or consolidation of public service units shall be implemented when meeting the conditions prescribed in Clause 2 of Article 5 of Decree No. 120/2020/NĐ-CP.

Public service units formed after merger or consolidation must satisfy all establishment conditions prescribed in this Circular's Article 6 and relevant laws.

3. The degree of financial autonomy of public service units after merger or consolidation

a) In cases where public service units with the same level of financial autonomy are merged or consolidated, the public service unit after merger must ensure that its level of financial autonomy is not lower than the current level of financial autonomy of the units being merged.

b) In cases where public service units with different levels of financial autonomy are merged or consolidated, the level of financial autonomy of the public service unit after merger shall be implemented according to the decision of the competent authority.

Article 7. Conditions for dissolving public service units

1. The dissolution of public service units in the field of Information and Communications shall be carried out when one of the conditions prescribed in Clause 3 of Article 5 of Decree No. 120/2020/NĐ-CP and current specialized laws (if applicable) is met.

2. Public service units may only proceed with dissolution after completing their financial obligations, property, land, loans, debts payable, and other related matters (if applicable), and obtaining written confirmation from the competent authority.

Chapter III

IMPLEMENTING PROVISIONS

Article 8. Effective Date

During the implementation process, if there are difficulties or obstacles, please promptly reflect them to the Ministry of Health (Health Insurance Department) for consideration and resolution./.

Article 9. Responsibility for implementation

1. The Minister, Head of a ministry-level agency, government agency, person in charge of an agency established by the Government or the Prime Minister, Chairman of the People's Committee of a province or centrally governed city, head of a public service unit, and related agencies and organizations are responsible for implementing this Circular.

2. During implementation, if there are difficulties or obstacles, agencies and units are requested to report them in writing to the Ministry of Information and Communications for guidance on handling or research and amendment for appropriateness./.