Joint Circular No. 47/2012/TTLT-BTC-BTP stipulates the preparation of budget estimates, management, use, and settlement of state budget funds to ensure the work of drafting and perfecting normative legal documents of People's Councils and People's Committees.

JOINT CIRCULAR

Regulations on the preparation of budgets, management, use, and settlement of funds to ensure activities for popularizing, educating about laws, standardizing access to laws, and grassroots mediation

The state budget ensures funding for the work of drafting and perfecting normative legal documents of the People's Council and People's Committee.

On the basis of Decree No. 91/2006/NĐ-CP dated September 6, 2006, of the Government detailing and guiding the implementation of certain provisions of the Law on Enacting Normative Legal Documents of the People's Council and People's Committee;

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Pursuant to Decree No. 60/2003/NĐ-CP dated June 6, 2003, promulgated by the Government detailing and guiding the implementation of the Law on State Budget;

The Minister of Finance and the Minister of Justice shall jointly issue a Circular stipulating the procedures for preparing budgets, managing, using, and settling accounts for state budget funds ensuring the work of drafting and perfecting normative legal documents of the People's Council and People's Committee.

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. 93/2008/NĐ-CP dated August 22, 2008, promulgated by the Government stipulating the functions, tasks, powers, and organizational structure of the Ministry of Justice;

This Circular stipulates the procedures for preparing budgets, managing, using, and settling accounts for state budget funds ensuring the work of drafting and perfecting normative legal documents of the People's Council and People's Committee (hereinafter referred to as documents), including the following documents:

Article 1. Scope of Regulation

1. Resolutions of all levels of the People's Council.

2. Decisions of all levels of the People's Committee.

3. Directives of all levels of the People's Committee.

Article 2. Principles for preparing budgets, managing, using, and settling accounts for funds for drafting and perfecting documents of the People's Council and People's Committee

1. Funds for drafting and perfecting documents of all levels of the People's Council and People's Committee are guaranteed by the local budget according to the current budget decentralization and are allocated within the annual budget of the agencies and units as prescribed by the State Budget Law and detailed and guiding documents implementing the State Budget Law.

2. The allocation of funds to ensure the work of drafting and perfecting documents of all levels of the People's Council and People's Committee at agencies and units is carried out according to formal programs and plans and supplementary programs and plans during the year, ensuring consistency with the progress of tasks and within the scope of the budget already assigned.

3. Based on the state budget approved by the competent authority, the program and plan for drafting documents, the complexity of the documents to be drafted and perfected, the head of the agency or unit entrusted with the main responsibility must allocate funds appropriately to match the progress of task implementation.

4. The preparation of budgets, management, use, and settlement of accounts for state budget funds to ensure the work of drafting and perfecting documents of the People's Council and People's Committee must comply with the purpose, content, regulations, and expenditure standards as prescribed by current financial expenditure laws and this Circular.

Article 3. Activities for drafting and perfecting documents of the People's Council and People's Committee

1. Research and propose the drafting of documents.

2. Draft, approve, and adjust the program for drafting resolutions of the provincial People's Council; the program for drafting decisions and directives of the provincial People's Committee, and organize the assignment of tasks.

3. Conduct surveys, statistics, investigations, and evaluations of practical experiences during the process of proposing the drafting of documents, drafting documents, and enforcing laws.

4. Draft documents.

5. Organize public consultations from the people, agencies, organizations, and direct subjects affected by the documents.

6. Provide comments on draft documents upon request from the main drafting agency.

7. Organize the review of draft documents.

8. Organize the verification of draft documents.

9. Review and systematize documents directly serving the work of drafting and perfecting documents.

10. Publish, post, and disseminate documents.

11. Translate documents into foreign languages and ethnic minority languages (if necessary).

12. Monitor and evaluate the enforcement of laws.

12. Monitor and assess the situation regarding the enforcement of laws.

Article 4. Contents of expenditures for activities related to drafting and perfecting documents of People's Councils and People's Committees

1. Expenditures for collecting and reviewing documents.

2. Expenditures for translating and revising foreign language and ethnic minority language documents into Vietnamese and vice versa (if applicable).

3. Expenditures for organizing summaries of practical implementation of laws related to the process of drafting and perfecting documents.

4. Expenditures for organizing surveys, statistics, investigations, and evaluations related to serving research, proposal preparation for drafting documents; preparing draft programs for drafting documents; drafting documents and implementing laws.

5. Expenditures for organizing meetings, seminars, workshops, and conferences directly serving activities related to drafting, perfecting documents, and implementing laws.

6. Expenditures for drafting outlines, explanatory notes, proposals; proposals for drafting documents; draft programs for drafting documents; draft documents and reports on monitoring and evaluating the implementation of laws.

7. Expenditures for compensating those participating in research and advisory work during the process of drafting and perfecting documents.

8. Expenditures for proposing opinions on drafting documents, draft programs for drafting documents, and draft documents.

9. Expenditures for reviewing and examining draft documents.

10. Expenditures for organizing the introduction of draft document contents, soliciting public opinions from agencies, organizations, and affected entities.

11. Expenditures for editing and perfecting outlines, explanatory notes, proposals; various types of reports; draft proposals for drafting documents; draft programs for drafting documents, and draft documents.

12. Expenditures for publishing, posting, and disseminating documents that have been signed and issued by competent authorities.

13. Expenditures for organizing monitoring and evaluating the implementation of laws.

14. Other necessary expenditures directly serving activities related to drafting and perfecting documents.

Article 5. Levels of expenditure for contents in activities related to drafting and perfecting documents of People's Councils and People's Committees

1. Expenditures for drafting detailed outlines of draft documents:

a) Resolutions of People's Councils:

New or replacement resolutions: maximum expenditure of VND 900,000 per outline;

Amending or supplementing resolutions: maximum expenditure of VND 600,000 per outline.

b) Decisions of People's Committees:

New or replacement decisions: maximum expenditure of VND 850,000 per outline;

Amending or supplementing decisions: maximum expenditure of VND 550,000 per outline.

c) Directives of People's Committees: maximum expenditure of VND 500,000 per outline.

2. Expenditures for drafting documents:

a) Resolutions of People's Councils:

New or replacement resolutions: maximum expenditure of VND 4,000,000 per draft document;

Amending or supplementing resolutions: maximum expenditure of VND 3,500,000 per draft document;

b) Decisions of People's Committees:

New or replacement decisions: maximum expenditure of VND 3,200,000 per draft document;

Amending or supplementing decisions: maximum expenditure of VND 2,700,000 per draft document.

c) Directives of People's Committees: maximum expenditure of VND 2,000,000 per draft document.

3. Expenditures for drafting various types of reports serving the work of drafting and perfecting documents:

a) Reports/syntheses of opinions on draft documents; maximum expenditure of VND 200,000 per report/synthesis;

b) Reports explaining, adopting opinions; opinions on review and examination: maximum expenditure of VND 300,000 per report;

c) Reports of independent experts' comments, evaluations, and critiques; reports of participants in review and examination; independent discussion reports commissioned by the drafting agency:

For new or replacement draft resolutions of People's Councils, new or replacement draft decisions of People's Committees: maximum expenditure of VND 300,000 per report;

For new or replacement draft directives of People's Committees: maximum expenditure of VND 200,000 per report;

For amended or supplemented documents: maximum expenditure of VND 150,000 per report.

d) Report on monitoring the implementation of laws:

Synthesis reports on monitoring the implementation of laws, prepared by the Department of Justice and submitted to the provincial People's Committee for submission to the Ministry of Justice: maximum expenditure of VND 3,000,000 per report;

Monitoring reports on the implementation of laws, compiled by district-level People's Committees and main departments at the provincial level and submitted to the Department of Justice: maximum expenditure of VND 1,500,000 per report;

Monitoring reports on the implementation of laws, compiled by commune-level People's Committees and main departments at the district level and submitted to the Legal Affairs Office: maximum expenditure of VND 800,000 per report.

4. Expenditures for drafting documents for comments; reports on reviewing and examining documents:

a) Comment documents:

For draft resolutions of People's Councils and decisions of People's Committees: maximum expenditure of VND 200,000 per document;

For draft directives of People's Committees: maximum expenditure of VND 150,000 per document.

b) Examination reports, verification reports:

For draft resolutions of People's Councils and decisions of People's Committees: maximum expenditure of VND 500,000 per review or examination report;

For draft directives of People's Committees: maximum expenditure of VND 400,000 per review report.

5. Expenditures for editing and perfecting research outlines, various types of reports, explanatory notes, proposals, draft documents: maximum expenditure of VND 150,000 per editing session.

6. Expenditures for individuals participating in meetings, seminars, discussions, and conferences:

Chairpersons: maximum expenditure of VND 150,000 per person per meeting;

Participants: maximum expenditure of VND 100,000 per person per meeting;

Written discussion papers of participants: maximum expenditure of VND 200,000 per paper.

7. Expenditures for hiring translation and revision services (if applicable):

Translating documents from foreign languages into Vietnamese: maximum expenditure of 120,000 VND per page (350 words);

Translating documents from Vietnamese into foreign languages: maximum expenditure of 150,000 VND per page (350 words);

Translating documents from Vietnamese into ethnic minority languages: maximum expenditure of 100,000 VND per page (350 words);

Proofreading translated documents: maximum expenditure of 40,000 VND per page (350 words).

For some less common languages, the translation fee may be increased by up to 30% compared to the aforementioned translation fees.

8. In addition to implementing the expenditure levels for the contents specified in Clauses 1 through 7 of this Article, other contents are implemented and applied according to current financial expenditure regulations, including:

a) Travel expenses for officials traveling domestically; expenses for organizing meetings, conferences, discussions, mid-term reviews, and summaries in accordance with the regulations of the Ministry of Finance on travel expense allowances and conference organization expenses for state agencies and public service units.

b) Expenses for organizing surveys, statistics, and evaluations of practical implementation in accordance with the regulations of the Ministry of Finance on managing, using, and settling accounts for statistical survey funds.

c) Expenditures for establishing information technology databases serving the drafting and perfecting of documents, carried out in accordance with the regulations of the Ministry of Finance guiding the expenditure levels for creating electronic information under information technology and current regulations on information technology, drafting and managing databases.

d) Expenditures for research and construction of special topics serving the drafting and perfecting of documents; drafting various explanatory notes and reports; proposing the establishment of documents; preparing anticipated programs for drafting documents; reporting on assessments and summaries of practical implementation of laws, implemented according to the regulations of the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Science and Technology guiding the standards for allocating budget funds for scientific and technological projects using state budgets.

đ) Expenditures for reviewing and systematizing documents directly serving the drafting and perfecting of documents, carried out according to the regulations of the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Justice regarding the preparation, management, use, and settlement of funds ensuring inspection, handling, review, and systematization of normative legal documents.

e) Expenditures for disseminating documents, carried out according to the regulations of the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Justice guiding the preparation, management, use, and settlement of funds ensuring legal education and dissemination activities.

9. The head of the agency or unit entrusted with the main responsibility for drafting and perfecting documents of People's Councils and People's Committees at all levels shall decide the expenditure level for each specific expenditure item within the activities of drafting and perfecting documents, but it must not exceed the expenditure levels prescribed in Clauses 1 to 7 and the current financial expenditure regulations stipulated in Clause 8 of this Article.

Article 6. Standards for allocating funds to ensure the work of drafting and perfecting documents of People's Councils and People's Committees

1. The funding standards for ensuring the work of drafting and perfecting documents must be based on the approved budget estimates, the complexity of each document; activities, expenditure items, and expenditure levels prescribed in this Circular, and allocated as follows:

a) Resolutions of People's Councils and decisions of People's Committees newly issued or replaced:

Provincial level: maximum VND 9,000,000 per document;

District level: maximum VND 7,000,000 per document;

Commune level: maximum VND 5,500,000 per document.

For amended or supplemented documents, the maximum allocation standard shall not exceed 80% of the maximum allocation standard for newly issued or replaced documents.

b) For directives of People's Committees:

Provincial level: maximum VND 3,500,000 per document;

District level: maximum VND 2,500,000 per document;

Commune level: maximum VND 2,000,000 per document.

c) For documents with complex content requiring opinions from multiple agencies or units, or related to multiple levels, sectors, or fields, based on local budget capacity, the provincial People's Committee shall submit to the provincial People's Council for decision on allocating higher funding standards, but the additional funding portion shall not exceed 20% of the standards prescribed in points a and b of this clause.

2. In addition to the allocation standards for funds prescribed in Clause 1 of this Article, based on the availability of budget funds, when necessary, the head of the agency or unit responsible may allocate a portion of the regular budget funds already assigned to support the implementation of related activities during the process of drafting and perfecting documents entrusted to their agency or unit.

Article 7. Establishing budgets, managing, using, and settling accounts for funds to ensure the work of drafting and perfecting documents of People's Councils and People's Committees

1. The establishment of budgets and allocation of funds shall be carried out as follows:

a) Each year, agencies and units shall base on their functions and tasks and the provisions of this Circular to draft programs and plans for drafting and perfecting documents of the same-level People's Councils and People's Committees, and at the same time establish a budget estimate for implementation, which will be integrated into the annual regular expenditure budget of the agency or unit and submitted to the financial authority, the People's Council Office, the People's Committee Office, and the judicial authority at the same level for consolidation into the state budget proposal to be reported to the People's Committee for approval by the People's Council in accordance with the State Budget Law and detailed regulations and guidance documents implementing the State Budget Law.

For commune level, the People's Committee shall establish a budget estimate for drafting and perfecting its own documents, to be submitted to the same-level People's Council for approval.

b) In cases where documents are issued urgently or added to the annual program and plan for drafting and perfecting documents of People's Councils and People's Committees at all levels; or where documents included in the program and plan but are postponed until the following year or temporarily suspended, the main drafting agencies must promptly notify the financial authority, the People's Council Office, the People's Committee Office, and the judicial authority at the same level for consolidation and submission to the competent authority for supplementary or adjusted funding as appropriate.

c) Based on the approved budget estimate for expenditures, agencies and units are responsible for allocating standard amounts for drafting and perfecting each type of document according to the provisions of Article 6 of this Circular, the State Budget Law, and detailed regulations and guidance documents implementing the State Budget Law.

2. The use and settlement of accounts for funds shall be carried out as follows:

a) The use and settlement of accounts for funds to ensure the work of drafting and perfecting documents must comply with the scope and amount of expenditures stipulated in Articles 4 and 5 of this Circular, current financial expenditure regulations, and ensure complete and valid supporting documents.

b) Funds allocated for the work of drafting and perfecting documents in a given year, if not fully utilized, may be transferred to the next year for continued use for the work of drafting and perfecting documents of People's Councils and People's Committees.

c) In cases where documents included in the annual program and plan for drafting and perfecting documents of People's Councils and People's Committees are postponed until the following year or temporarily suspended, the main drafting agencies shall settle accounts based on the completed work and activities.

d) Funds allocated for the work of drafting and perfecting documents shall be recorded under the corresponding expenditure item in the State Budget Classification according to current regulations.

Article 8. Implementation clause

1. This Circular takes effect from May 1, 2012, and replaces Joint Circular No. 09/2007/TTLT-BTP-BTC dated November 15, 2007, issued by the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Justice guiding the management and use of state budget funds to ensure the work of drafting normative legal documents of People's Councils and People's Committees.

2. During the implementation period, if there are difficulties or obstacles, agencies and units are requested to promptly report them to the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Justice for study and appropriate amendments and supplements./.