Joint Circular No. 343-TTLB on the payment of fees for reviewing economic and technical justifications for mineral reserve calculation criteria and geological exploration result reports at the Mineral Reserve Review Board.

JOINT CIRCULAR

DECISION NO. 343-TTLB OF MARCH 5, 1987 ISSUED JOINTLY BY THE MINISTRY OF FINANCE AND THE NATIONAL SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY COUNCIL ON THE COLLECTION OF FEES FOR REVIEWING ECONOMIC AND TECHNICAL JUSTIFICATIONS FOR RESERVE CALCULATION CRITERIA AND GEOLOGICAL EXPLORATION REPORTS AT THE MINERAL RESERVE REVIEW BOARD.

Pursuant to Decision No. 8-CP dated January 13, 1970 of the Council of Ministers on the establishment of the Mineral Reserve Review Board and Decision No. 100-HDBT dated August 25, 1986 on supplementing the tasks, composition, and organization of the Mineral Reserve Review Board. To enhance responsibility and quality in the work of establishing, reviewing, and examining economic and technical justifications for reserve calculation criteria and geological exploration reports, while promoting economic accounting at all stages of work across all Ministries, sectors, and organizations involved in mineral exploration and exploitation, the Ministry of Finance and the National Science and Technology Council hereby jointly stipulate the collection of fees for reviewing economic and technical justifications, reserve calculation criteria, and geological exploration reports at the Mineral Reserve Review Board as follows:

2. Individuals who have registered as the principal investigator of a Research Project or Pilot Production Project and those participating in its implementation shall not participate in the Evaluation and Selection Council for that Research Project or Pilot Production Project (hereinafter referred to as the Council). In necessary cases, members of the Council may be staff members of the organization registering as the principal investigator of the Research Project or Pilot Production Project, but not more than one person and they cannot serve as Chairperson, Vice-Chairperson, or reviewing member.

1. The payment of fees for conducting examination, inspection, evaluation, and preparation of approval documents is mandatory for all Ministries, sectors, and exploration and exploitation agencies that submit geological exploration reports or economic and technical justifications for reserve calculation criteria for review at the Mineral Reserve Review Board.

Agencies submitting geological exploration reports and reserve calculation criteria under decentralized management reviewed by Ministries and sectors are exempt from paying fees according to this Circular.

The fee for reviewing economic and technical justifications and geological exploration reports is the amount of money that the agency submitting the report must pay to the Office of the Mineral Reserve Review Board to organize the work of examination, inspection, preparation of comments, organization of technical meetings, preparation of approval documents, and convening sessions of the Mineral Reserve Review Board to examine geological exploration reports or reserve calculation criteria.

The basis for determining the fee level is based on the average cost per task, including direct costs for conducting inspections and reviews of justifications and reports, and common costs for all activities of the Mineral Reserve Review Board.

3. Based on general regulations regarding procedures for submission and review at the Mineral Reserve Review Board, taking into account the specific volume and complexity of the submitted materials, the agency submitting the report shall negotiate and sign a contract with the Office of the Mineral Reserve Review Board regarding the submission and inspection and review of the report or criteria. If one party breaches the contract causing economic damage and affecting the other party's work plan, it will be subject to penalties.

4. The purpose of collecting fees for submission is to achieve the following requirements and effects:

- For agencies submitting geological exploration reports and economic and technical justifications for reserve calculation criteria, they will be able to fully account for all exploration costs, from surveying, planning, construction, preparing economic and technical justifications for reserve calculation criteria and summary reports to the submission stage at the Board.

- For the Mineral Reserve Review Board, it will transition from budgetary support to self-funding all costs for its operations.

Responsibility in the work will be strengthened, thereby shortening time and saving costs throughout the entire process of establishing, inspecting, and reviewing economic and technical justifications for reserve calculation criteria and geological exploration reports.

II. SPECIFIC PROVISIONS

1. The entities required to pay the fee include all geological exploration organizations, enterprises, joint enterprises, companies, institutes, or agencies under Ministries, sectors, and localities that have economic and technical justifications for reserve calculation criteria or geological exploration reports for submission to the Mineral Reserve Review Board.

2. Payment of the fee shall be made by bank transfer.

3. Time of payment. Upon receipt of the notification of acceptance of the materials from the Office of the Mineral Reserve Review Board based on the signed contract, the agency submitting the justifications shall pay the fee. Only after receiving the bank transfer of the fee will the Office of the Mineral Reserve Review Board commence the inspection and review of the materials.

4. Content and level of the fee. The fee is specified as a percentage of the actual total cost of exploration work, including the approved budgeted cost and adjusted increases or decreases in the budget, which have been approved by the competent authority.

The fee ranges from 0.5% to 2% of the actual total cost of exploration work, depending on the value and complexity of the submitted materials. Specifically:

For economic and technical justifications for reserve calculation criteria, the fee rate is calculated based on the actual cost of preliminary exploration work.

5. If either party breaches the signed contract causing economic damage or affecting the other party's schedule, penalties will apply:

- The agency submitting the material that breaches the contract will have to pay an additional 10% of the fee already paid.

- The Mineral Reserve Review Board that breaches the contract will have its fee reduced by 10% of the fee collected from the submitting agency.

6. The source of funds for agencies to pay the fee to the Office of the Mineral Reserve Review Board is taken from the exploration project costs and recorded separately in the budget according to the ratio specified in Point 4, Part II of this Circular.

7. The Office of the Mineral Reserve Review Board is responsible for collecting and managing fees for geological exploration reports submitted for review at the Mineral Reserve Review Board.

8. The amount of registration fees collected shall be used for the activities of the Reserves Review Board according to the budget approved by the State Science and Technology Council and the Ministry of Finance.

Any unused portion of the registration fees compared to the approved budget and plan shall be deposited into the State Budget, temporarily recorded under Category II, Clause 56, Item 4, other public service revenues in the State Budget. In cases where the actual reasonable expenses of the Reserves Review Board for large mineral reserves exceed the amount of registration fees collected, they will be considered and resolved by the State Science and Technology Council and the Ministry of Finance.

The financial operation regulations of the Office of the Reserves Review Board will be specifically stipulated later.

9. The Office of the Reserves Review Board is permitted to open a separate account and must fully implement the reporting and statistical-accounting system regarding the collection of registration fees, their usage, and the deposit of surplus registration fees to the State Science and Technology Council and the Ministry of Finance.

III. IMPLEMENTATION PROVISIONS

1. This Circular takes effect from the date of signature.

2. All geological exploration reports, economic-technical justifications for reserve calculation criteria, and reserve calculation reports currently being reviewed by the Reserves Review Board must comply with this Circular.

Agencies submitting economic-technical justifications for reserve calculation criteria or reserve calculation reports shall enter into agreements on inspection and review work to pay registration fees as prescribed.

3. The Office of the Reserves Review Board is responsible for completing the procedures for paying registration fees. It shall study the financial operation mechanism of the Office of the Reserves Review Board and submit it to the State Science and Technology Council and the Ministry of Finance for approval and issuance.

4. The level of registration fee deduction will be revised when there are changes in state policies on prices, wages, or other factors affecting the budget for geological exploration work and the operations of the Office of the Reserves Review Board.