JOINT CIRCULAR No. 38/TTLT GUIDING THE FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT REGIME IN THE LAND ADMINISTRATION SECTOR

JOINT MINISTERIAL GUIDELINE

JOINT CIRCULAR NO. 38/TTLT OF THE MINISTRY OF FINANCE AND THE GENERAL DEPARTMENT OF LAND MANAGEMENT ON AUGUST 18, 1992 GUIDING THE FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT REGIME IN THE LAND ADMINISTRATION SECTOR

The Council of Ministers issued Decree No. 30/HĐBT dated March 23, 1989; Directive No. 67/CT dated March 23, 1989 on implementing the Land Law throughout the country and Decision No. 168/HĐBT dated May 16, 1992 of the Council of Ministers on amending certain points in Resolution No. 186 on decentralizing management of local budgets. Following the guiding documents No. 210a TC/VP dated April 1, 1990; No. 15a/TCNSNN dated May 28, 1992; No. 18TC/ĐT dated June 5, 1992 of the Ministry of Finance, the Joint Ministries now provide specific guidance on the financial management regime in the land administration sector as follows:

 I. GENERAL PRINCIPLES

1. The land administration sector must closely coordinate with the finance sector and related sectors at the local level to fully and promptly collect all revenues as prescribed by the current regime from land management into the State budget. No additional revenue may be collected arbitrarily from land users.

2. Expenditures must be strictly managed, economized, and strictly adhered to the current financial expenditure norms and standards. Expenditures must be made for their intended purposes, within the plan, and with high efficiency.

Specifically, expenditures for establishing cadastral coordinate networks at various levels and categories, and for surveying cadastral maps with coordinates at various scales must comply with the economic, technical, labor, and material norms established by the competent authority or delegated to the General Department of Land Management. Localities must follow the procedures and regulations issued by the General Department of Land Management when conducting these tasks. Shortening or skipping procedures is strictly prohibited, as it leads to waste of labor, materials, capital, and reduces the progress and quality of projects.

All revenues and expenditures mentioned above must be reflected in the budgets at all levels, including from the planning stage to the annual settlement.

II. CONTENTS OF REVENUES AND EXPENDITURES OF THE LAND ADMINISTRATION SECTOR

1. Revenues include:

a) Compensation for damages to agricultural land and forest land used for other purposes according to Decision No. 186/HĐBT dated May 31, 1990 of the Council of Ministers and Circular No. 18/TC/ĐT dated June 5, 1992 of the Ministry of Finance guiding the implementation of Decision No. 186/HĐBT.

b) Rent for land of foreign organizations and the value of land contributed by Vietnam in joint ventures with foreign enterprises, applied according to Decision No. 210a TC/VP dated April 1, 1990 of the Ministry of Finance regarding rent for land, water surfaces, and sea areas for foreign investment forms in Vietnam.

Land management agencies at all levels base on the procedures and regulations issued by the General Department of Land Management to determine the location, area, shape, and category of land as the basis for calculating rental fees and compensation for land damage accurately.

c) Administrative fines for violations of land management and usage regimes.

Pending specific guidance from the competent authority, based on the actual situation at each place, the People's Committees of provinces and cities temporarily set the fine rates for violating land management and usage regimes to implement locally and notify the Ministry of Finance and the General Department of Land Management. The land management agency directly collecting the fines retains 10% of the fine amount from land users who violate the land management and usage regimes. The remaining 90% must be deposited into the State budget. This retained 10% is used to reward those who have achievements in inspecting, discovering, and handling violations of the land management regime.

d) Land administration fees aimed at compensating part of the costs for local government land administration activities.

The works subject to land administration fees and the maximum and minimum collection rates are as follows:

The General Department of Land Management bases on this provision to guide specific collection rates for each type of land, degree of work, and target group after obtaining the agreement of the Ministry of Finance. These fees do not apply to projects with direct foreign investment in Vietnam.

The People's Committee of provinces and centrally-administered cities sets specific collection rates for their localities according to the guidance of the General Department of Land Management.

Land administration fees are collected by local land management agencies and deposited into the provincial or municipal budget. When collecting land administration fees, receipts must be filled out with the required number of copies and affixed with stamps issued by the Ministry of Finance (General Tax Department).

2. Expenditures and the division of responsibilities between the central budget and local budgets for land management work.

Point 2, Section I of Circular No. 15a TC/NSNN dated May 28, 1992 of the Ministry of Finance on guiding the implementation of Decision No. 168/HĐBT of the Council of Ministers has specified the works funded by the central budget and those funded by local budgets.

Land management work must first urgently measure, classify, establish cadastral maps based on a unified national cadastral coordinate network, land allocation plans, and grant land use rights to individual households. Establish a system of land records and documents as the basis for short-term and long-term land management and use. Therefore, apart from regular expenditures for local land management work, the central budget will only partially support the establishment of cadastral record files.

a) Expenditures directly covered by the central budget at the General Department of Land Management.

Expenditures for nationwide common tasks such as:

- Maintaining the state management machinery of the General Department;

- Training land management cadres;

- Scientific research activities;

- Economic undertakings of the General Department including:

+ Sectoral conferences;

+ Activities of projects funded by foreign countries and international organizations (Vietnam's contribution).

+ Central and regional land administration file management activities.

+ Construction of national current land use maps.

The expenditures above must comply with the financial standards and norms prescribed by the State.

+ Expenditures for economic public services of the entire sector.

- Surveying and establishing cadastral coordinate grids at all levels.

- Surveying and drawing cadastral maps with coordinates at various scales.

The two aforementioned expenditures will be directly contracted by the General Department of Land Management with organizations at the central and local levels regarding the volume of work to be carried out, unit prices and costs, and the annual value to be settled.

b) Expenditures funded by the local budget:

- Annual land use status statistics.

- Preparation of land administration files.

- Issuance of land use right certificate

- Resolving land disputes

- Adjustment of land changes.

- Land planning.

- Land valuation.

- Organization of data collection and processing for land administration.

- Training of local land management staff.

- Special equipment.

All of the above expenditure items must be implemented strictly according to the economic and technical norms for each stage as decided by the competent authority or delegated to the General Department of Land Management to decide.

III. ESTABLISHING BUDGET ALLOCATION AND SETTLEMENT FOR LAND MANAGEMENT EXPENSES.

1. Regarding planning work:

Based on the plan of assigned workload, economic and technical norms according to the procedures and regulations of each type of work, and unit prices issued by the General Department of Land Management, localities shall prepare plans for land management expenses in their areas (including both centrally allocated funds and direct local budget expenditures).

This plan must be reviewed by the Provincial People's Committee before submission to the General Department of Land Management, which has the responsibility to review, consolidate, and submit for approval by the Chairman of the Council of Ministers while also sending it to the Ministry of Finance for inclusion in the annual budget revenue and expenditure plan.

Based on the 1998 child protection and care program budget estimates broken down by quarter according to the state budget classification prepared by the program fund-using agencies at the local level and confirmed by the Departments of Finance and Prices, the Ministry of Finance will authorize the Departments of Finance and Prices to allocate the child protection and care program funds for 1998 to the localities. Local Departments of Finance and Prices will base on the budgets of the units to distribute the funding limits to the Provincial Child Protection and Care Committees, Health Departments, Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs Departments, and Public Security Departments so that the units can implement the assigned tasks.

a) Based on the previous year's settlement situation and the approved budget plan for the current year, the Finance Department will allocate funds for settlement of the previous year's workload and advance some funds for the first quarter's land management work.

From the second quarter onwards, the land management department must report on the progress of workload implementation and financial usage to have grounds for further allocation for subsequent quarters.

b) Financial authorities have the right to suspend allocations if the land management agency does not provide progress reports on implementation and financial usage, or if localities or land management units violate financial expenditure discipline.

3. Regarding settlement work:

Land management agencies at all levels must implement a unified accounting and bookkeeping system as per the decision of the Minister of Finance.

Settlement of financial expenditure situations quarterly, semi-annually, and annually must be conducted in accordance with Circular No. 15 TC/HCVX dated May 19, 1992, issued by the Ministry of Finance, and other enterprises must follow the settlement regulations stipulated in Circular No. 03 TC/VKH dated February 27, 1992, issued by the Ministry of Finance.

Local land management agencies must settle all sources of funding (including central and local budgets) and send them to the General Department of Land Management for consolidation and reporting, and for settling the central budget portion with the Ministry of Finance.

This circular takes effect from the date of issuance. During implementation, any difficulties should be promptly reported to the Joint Ministries for study and resolution.