Joint Circular No. 49/TC-KHCN stipulates the expenditure regime for scientific and technological research and development activities.

CIRCULAR

JOINT MINISTRY OF FINANCE AND SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY AND ENVIRONMENT

REGULATIONS ON EXPENSES

FOR RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT ACTIVITIES

Pursuant to Decree No. 35/HĐBT dated January 28, 1992 of the Council of Ministers (now the Government), the Joint Ministry of Finance and Science, Technology and Environment has issued several joint Circulars guiding financial management for national science and technology programs. These Circulars mainly guide financial management tasks but have not specified specific expense levels, causing difficulties for implementing units with inconsistent expenses among different programs, topics, and projects. To establish a basis for budgeting and approving expenditures for research and development tasks, the Joint Ministry of Finance and Science, Technology and Environment temporarily stipulates certain expense levels for scientific and technological activities as follows:

PART I

GENERAL PRINCIPLES

1. The expense levels prescribed in this Circular apply to national science and technology programs, topics, and projects. Research and development tasks at other levels shall be applied according to a certain ratio depending on product quality and allocated funding.

2. Certain expenditure items of programs, topics, and projects that are already covered by the current state regulations will not be prescribed here (such as purchasing raw materials, equipment, energy, transportation means, purchasing service documents... at market prices).

3. The levels prescribed in this Circular are maximum levels. Program leaders, topic leaders, and project leaders shall base their payment of remuneration to scientific and technical staff on product quality and actual available funds, which may be equal to or lower than 10 - 15% compared to the maximum level.

In the process of managing budget preparation and approval, strictness and thriftiness must be maintained, achieving efficiency, focusing on financing scientific research activities, purchasing raw materials and equipment, and paying remuneration for scientific staff.

PART II

SPECIFIC PROVISIONS

Research and development activities in different fields of science have different expenditure contents and structures. Therefore, the Joint Ministry temporarily guides programs, topics, and projects according to scientific fields and sets expenditure structure orientations as a basis for annual budget preparation.

I. STRUCTURE AND RATIO OF EXPENSES BY SCIENTIFIC FIELD:

1. SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

Clause 1: Payment of labor and contractual hiring 25% - 35%

Clause 2 and 3: Raw materials and equipment 45% - 55%

Clause 4: Minor repairs and construction: if there is a need to prepare a separate description to allocate funds.

Clause 5: Administrative management and other expenses 20%

2. SOCIAL SCIENCES

Clause 1: Payment of labor and contractual hiring 50% - 60%

Clause 2, 3, and 4: Raw materials, equipment, minor repairs and construction: if there is a need to prepare a separate description to allocate funds.

Clause 5: Administrative management and other expenses 40% - 50%

Travel expenses 10%

Purchase of documents, data, document translation, printing 15%

Scientific conferences and seminars 15%

Final acceptance and evaluation 5%

Administrative management 5%

Topics researching scientific bases for policy formulation, sectoral development strategies, planning... shall use the structure and ratio of social science type.

3. NATURAL SCIENCES

Depending on the characteristics and content of each topic, the structure and ratio of one of the above types can be applied.

For topics requiring experimental equipment, materials, and chemicals to produce products and technologies, the structure and ratio of science and technology type should be used.

For theoretical research topics where the product is published works in domestic and international journals, the structure and ratio of social science type should be used.

4. BASIC INVESTIGATION

Clause 1: Payment of labor and contractual hiring 50% - 60%

Clause 2 and 3: Raw materials and equipment 20% - 30%

Clause 4: Minor construction repairs: if there is a need to establish a separate explanation to allocate funds.

Clause 5: Administrative management and other expenses 20%

Research topics with content and products like science and technology or research topics that only study theory such as social sciences shall use the structure and ratio of science and technology or social sciences.

II. SOME SPECIFIC EXPENSE LEVELS

The research process of a scientific topic or project includes many stages depending on each field of science. Below are some main stages as follows:

Establishing and reviewing the research outline

Collecting and analyzing domestic and foreign data.

Field investigation.

Theoretical experimental research.

Pilot testing and field testing.

Scientific seminar.

Writing project reports.

Testing and certification before acceptance.

Evaluation and acceptance summary.

To be consistent with these research stages, the Inter-Ministry temporarily stipulates specific expense levels for national programs, topics, and projects as follows in the Table:

Table:

PART III

IMPLEMENTING PROVISIONS

When market prices fluctuate by 20% or more, the Inter-Ministry will study and adjust the expense levels accordingly.

This Circular takes effect from July 1, 1995.

During implementation, if any issues arise, relevant ministries, sectors, units, agencies, and localities should report to the Inter-Ministry for further study and amendment./.