Decision No. 58/2003/QĐ-BNN on the issuance of the Regulation on receiving, processing information and documents; drafting, soliciting opinions, reviewing, appraising, signing for approval, issuing, managing and archiving documents of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

DECISION OF THE MINISTER

MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE AND RURAL DEVELOPMENT

Regarding the issuance of the Regulation on receiving, processing information and documents; drafting, soliciting opinions, examining, appraising, submitting for signature, issuing, managing and storing documents of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

soliciting opinions, examining, appraising, submitting for signature, issuing,

managing and storing documents of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

THE MINISTER OF AGRICULTURE AND RURAL DEVELOPMENT

Pursuant to Decree No. 73/CP dated 1/11/1995 of the Government stipulating the functions, tasks, powers and organizational structure of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development;

Pursuant to the Law on Issuing Legal Normative Documents dated November 23, 1996 and Decree No. 142/CP dated September 28, 1963 of the Council of Ministers promulgating the Regulations on Official Correspondence and Paperwork Work and Archiving Work;

The Minister of Industry and Trade promulgates the Circular amending and supplementing certain provisions on the delegation of administrative procedures in fields under the management of the Ministry of Industry and Trade."

DECISION: 

Article 1. This Decision hereby promulgates the Regulation on receiving, processing information and documents; drafting, soliciting opinions, examining, appraising, submitting for signature, issuing, managing and storing documents of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

Article 2.  This Decision shall take effect fifteen days from the date of publication in the Official Gazette and shall replace Decision No. 82/2000/QĐ-BNN-VP dated August 8, 2000 of the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development.

Article 3.  The Director of the Ministry's Office, Heads of subordinate units shall be responsible for implementing this Decision.

REGULATION  REGULATION

Receiving, processing information and documents;

soliciting opinions, examining, appraising, submitting for signature, issuing,

managing and storing documents of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development..

(Issued pursuant to Decision No. 58/2003/QĐ-BNN  dated May 5, 2003

of the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development).

PART I

GENERAL PROVISIONS

Article 1. Object and scope of application.

1. Provisions on procedures, responsibilities for receiving and processing incoming information and documents; drafting documents, soliciting opinions, examining, appraising, submitting for signature, issuing, managing and storing documents of the Ministry.

2. This regulation applies to Departments, Bureaus, the Ministry's Office, the Inspectorate (hereinafter referred to as units)

3. All types of administrative documents bearing the seal of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development when drafted, submitted for signature, issued and stored must comply with these provisions.

Article 2.  In this Regulation, the following terms  are understood as follows.

1. Incoming documents are letters, materials, documents received by the unit.

2. Outgoing documents are letters, materials, documents sent out by the unit.

3. Information is news transmitted by telephone, oral communication, fax, telex, email, computer network, letter, document.

4. Examining documents is investigating and reviewing the legal basis, feasibility and accuracy of the content of draft documents.

5. Appraising documents is the activity of researching, reviewing, evaluating procedures, format and legality of the content; ensuring constitutionality, consistency, and synchronization of draft documents and feasibility of the document.

Article 3. Responsibilities of units.

Heads of units are responsible for supervising and urging the processing of information and documents and managing files and materials of their units; leading the drafting of documents or participating in opinions, examining contents related to their areas of responsibility drafted by other units, ensuring timely compliance and being responsible before the Ministry's leadership and laws regarding the above matters.

Chapter II

RECEIVING AND  PROCESSING INFORMATION AND INCOMING DOCUMENTS.

Article 4. Receiving information and incoming documents.

1. All types of incoming documents must go through the reception procedure at the Secretariat under the Administrative Department of the Ministry's Office, or the Secretariat of the unit.

2. The Administrative Department will return to the sender any documents that do not conform to document format, administrative procedures, are torn, or difficult to read.

3. The Secretariat will not open envelopes  containing confidential, top secret, and absolutely secret documents, and envelopes marked "only the named person may open", documents sent to the Party Cadre Group, complaint letters, personal letters with the name of the sender and recipient.

4. Documents sent to units but delivered through the Ministry's Office shall be recorded separately in the Administrative Department's tracking book and transferred to the relevant units.

5. Other types of documents shall be recorded in the book and entered into the computer (document number, issuing agency, summary of content) for management and tracking of the processing process and presented to the Office Leadership and Ministry Leadership on the same day. Complaint letters  must retain the envelope (attached) to assist  in necessary searches.  6. For classified telegrams, the Secretariat must immediately transfer them to the Office Director for

submission to the Ministry's leadership, or transfer to the relevant unit for handling. After completion, they must be returned to the Secretariat to be returned to the Central Cryptographic Agency according to regulations.  7. When receiving urgent documents and other information such as: telephone calls, oral communications, fax, telex, email related to the Ministry's directive and operational work, the recipient must immediately report to the Office Director or the responsible person for prompt handling.

Processing incoming documents.

Article 5. 1. Every day, the Office Director records instructions on the "Letter Transfer Form"; the Secretariat records in the tracking book and transfers the incoming documents to the designated

addresses based on the Office Director's and Ministry Leadership's directives.  2. After receiving instructions from the Ministry Leadership, the General Department returns the documents to the Secretariat to transfer to the responsible unit for resolution and is responsible for

tracking the processing process.  3. Upon receipt of documents from various senders, the Head of the receiving unit is responsible for:

a. Reviewing and resolving in accordance with content requirements, timeframes, and prescribed authority.

b. Documents outside the unit's authority shall be returned to the Ministry's Office or the transferring unit.

Supervising the implementation of document processing by units.

Article 6. 1. The Head of the General Department under the Ministry's Office is responsible for supervising and urging units to implement instructions on document processing, reporting daily progress to the Office Director.

2. The Ministry's Legal Department is responsible for supervising and urging the preparation of legal normative documents; documents seeking opinions from government members and reporting daily progress to the Ministry's specialized sector leadership and

the Office Director.  Reporting and seeking instructions on incoming documents.

Article 7. For documents requiring reports or instructions from the Ministry Leadership, units shall submit only one copy to the Deputy Minister in charge of the specialized sector (hereinafter referred to as the Deputy Minister in charge). If urgent issues require instructions while the Deputy Minister in charge is absent, the Office Director shall be responsible for submitting to the on-duty Ministry Leadership for handling. Issues involving multiple units must first seek opinions from related units before presenting to the Ministry Leadership.

DRAFTING, SEEKING OPINIONS,

Chapter III.

EXAMINING, APPRAISING AND SUBMITTING FOR SIGNATURE OF DOCUMENTS

Drafting, seeking opinions, examining, appraising documents..

Article 8. 1. Documents with content within a specialized field and drafted by a responsible unit:

1. Documents that pertain to a specific field and are drafted by a responsible unit:

a- The head of the unit responsible for drafting the document shall be responsible for assigning specific tasks to one civil servant, or a group of civil servants (including one person who will bear primary responsibility), to draft the document in accordance with the plan, content, and time schedule.

b- For draft decrees submitted to the Government; decisions, circulars, directives issued by the Ministry; and documents related to policies, strategies, long-term plans, programs, and state-level and ministry-level projects, it is essential that the content of the document must be discussed and approved by the collective leadership of the unit.

2- Documents whose content involves multiple specialized fields and are drafted primarily by one agency in collaboration with several units:

a- The head of the unit responsible for drafting the document, in addition to implementing the provisions of Clause 1 of this Article, must issue and attach the draft to relevant units (with signatures acknowledged) to solicit opinions and review the content of the draft; at the same time, they must be responsible for fully and accurately consolidating the comments from these units; completing the draft document and bearing full responsibility for the specialized portion they oversee.

b- The heads of the relevant units must directly study and be responsible for providing written comments and reviewing the content according to the requirements of the leading unit in charge of drafting. If the relevant units fail to provide comments within the deadline specified in Clause 6, Article 8 of this Regulation, it will be considered that the units have agreed with the draft, and the head of the unit will bear full responsibility before the Minister and under the law for the specialized content they oversee.

c- When the leading unit in charge of drafting convenes a meeting to review or seek participation in the draft project or program, the drafting unit must send materials two days (02 days) in advance to the relevant units. Leaders of the relevant units, or staff assigned to attend the review meeting or provide comments on the draft document, must carefully study the relevant contents and participate in providing comments on the draft project or document with the leading unit in charge of drafting. Comments provided during the meeting are considered the opinion of the head of the unit.

d-In cases where necessary, the Minister may decide to establish a Review Board to review and examine draft projects and documents in accordance with the provisions of the law.  

3- For regulatory legal documents and documents seeking opinions from members of the Government:

a- Regulatory legal documents, in addition to soliciting opinions and reviewing according to the above regulations, the Legal Department of the Ministry is responsible for examining the format and legality of the content of the document before submitting it to the Minister. b- For documents seeking opinions from members of the Government, the Legal Department of the Ministry is responsible for organizing the solicitation of opinions from relevant units, consolidating them, and directly submitting them to the Minister. Relevant units are responsible for responding or participating in providing opinions in accordance with Points b and c of Clause 2 of Article 2 of this Regulation.

4- For documents responding to questions raised by National Assembly deputies and citizens' petitions:

a- When there is a questioning document from a National Assembly deputy, the Director of the Ministry's Office is responsible for submitting it to the Deputy Minister in charge for assignment to relevant units to prepare the response content. The General Coordination Department (Ministry's Office) supervises the implementation by the units, consolidates and completes the document, reports to the Deputy Minister in charge for review, before submitting it to the Minister for approval and signature to respond to the National Assembly deputy.

b- For documents responding to citizens' petitions, the Director of the Ministry's Office is responsible for submitting them to the Deputy Minister in charge for assignment to relevant units to prepare the response content. The General Coordination Department supervises the implementation and consolidation by the units, and completes the document for the Deputy Minister in charge to review the specialized content assigned to sign, or sign off to submit to the Minister for signing to respond to the citizens. 5- For documents announcing the instructions of the Ministry's leadership assigned to units to implement tasks assigned by the Party and State leadership to the Ministry: Upon receiving documents from the Central Party Office, the National Assembly Office, the President's Office, and the Government Office announcing instructions from the Party and State leadership assigning tasks to the Ministry, the Director of the Ministry's Office is responsible for submitting to the Ministry's leadership for assignment to relevant units to implement the assigned tasks, and then bears the responsibility for monitoring and urging these units to carry out their tasks.

Depending on the content and requirements of the Notice, the Deputy Minister in charge signs, or the Minister signs the document responding to higher authorities.  6- Time limits for responding and participating in providing opinions and reviews:

a- The time limit for units to respond is clearly stated in the letter from the leading unit responsible for drafting requesting participation in providing opinions or reviewing the content. For urgent documents, the head of the unit is responsible for responding according to the requirements of the Ministry's leadership.

b- For regulatory legal documents within the authority of the Minister to issue, the time limit for responding does not exceed three working days. For documents of the Government, ministries, and sectors, the time limit for responding does not exceed four working days.

c- For documents dealing with basic construction work, the time limit for responding does not exceed four working days. For documents reviewing and examining projects, the review period is carried out in accordance with Decree No. 52/1999/NĐ-CP of the Government: For Group A projects, not exceeding 45 days, Group B not exceeding 30 days, and Group C not exceeding 20 days, from the date of receipt of complete valid files. Regarding tendering results, not exceeding ten days (for small-scale tenders), not exceeding twenty days (for other tenders) from the date of receipt of complete files for approval of tendering results.

Signing documents.

1- General provisions.

a)- Documents for signing must be in correct format; presentation techniques must be clear and neat; comply with the drafting procedures and sequence stipulated by law.

b)- Units may not submit documents directly to the Ministry's leadership. All documents for signing must go through the Ministry's Office.

Article 9. c)- Documents submitted to the Minister must be jointly signed by the head of the unit and the Director of the Ministry's Office, or the Deputy Director of the Ministry's Office (responsible for general coordination and legal affairs), and must include the opinion of the Deputy Minister in charge recorded on the "Document Submission Form" of the submission file.

d)- The process of submitting documents for signing must follow the sequence stipulated in this Article.

2- Procedure for submitting documents for signing.

a)- Completing the submission file.

c. Documents submitted to the Minister must be jointly signed by the Head of the Unit and the Director of the Office, or the Deputy Director of the Office (in charge of consolidation and legal affairs), and must include the opinion of the Deputy Minister in charge, recorded on the "Document Submission Form" of the submission file.

d. The submission of documents for signature must follow the sequence specified in this Article.

2. Procedure for submitting documents for signature.

a. Completing the submission file.

The entity primarily responsible for drafting decisions (regarding mechanisms, policies, establishment, merger, division, supplementation of functions and tasks for units), circulars, directives, and programs, projects with content related to multiple fields must prepare documents in accordance with Article 10 of this Regulation; clearly state the full name and sign with the drafter specialist, the leader of the entity primarily responsible for drafting, and the leader of related entities on the "Document Submission Form".  This Regulation; clearly state the full name and sign with the drafter specialist, the leader of the entity primarily responsible for drafting, and the leader of related entities on the "Document Submission Form".

For documents whose content does not relate to other entities and are drafted solely by one entity, the leader of the entity primarily responsible for drafting and the drafter specialist must clearly state their full names and sign on the "Document Submission Form".

Documents submitted for signature must have two copies (02 copies), including the signature of the leader of the entity primarily responsible for drafting on the margin of the draft copy submitted for review and a short signature at the end of the final page after the period, including any tables (if any); the drafter specialist must provide a short signature at the bottom of all pages of the draft copy submitted for signature.

b)- Review the documents submitted for signature.

The Director of the Ministry's Office, or Deputy Director of the Ministry's Office (responsible for consolidation and legal affairs), must review the format and administrative procedures one last time. If correct, they must provide a short signature at the end of the document after the period and clearly state the opinion to submit to the Deputy Minister responsible for signing to issue, or seek opinions to submit to the Minister; designate the document to be uploaded to the Ministry's information network and sign on the "Document Submission Form". If it does not meet the conditions to be signed by the Ministry's leadership, then clearly state the reasons to return to the drafting entity, correct according to regulations, and resubmit for signature.

If it is a regulatory legal document, before submitting for signature, it must go through the Ministry's Legal Department for examination regarding format and legality of the content, providing a short signature on all pages of the draft and signing on the "Document Submission Form". If it is a delegated document, examine the scope of delegation and provide a short signature at the end of the document after the period. If it does not meet the conditions to be submitted for signature, then clearly state the reasons and return to the drafting entity, correct according to regulations, and resubmit for signature.

c)- The Ministry's leadership signs to issue.

All guidance opinions of the Ministry's leadership towards subordinate levels must be expressed in writing, and the Ministry's leadership must sign in the designated position according to the legal provisions on document format.

In cases where functional departments have documents seeking opinions on training programs, conferences, sending people on business trips, or reviewing drafts, the Ministry's leadership may, depending on the content, record opinions and sign on the margin of the document.

In cases where entities have documents seeking guidance opinions on mechanisms, policies, state management, related to the entire sector and many entities, the Ministry's Office must draft documents expressing viewpoints and guiding thoughts on the content for the Ministry's leadership to sign and reply to the entity. (No short signatures or margin signatures on the document submitted by the entity seeking opinions from the Ministry's leadership).

Depending on the content of the document and the field assigned by the Minister, the Deputy Minister responsible decides whether to sign to issue, seek the Minister's opinion before signing, or submit to the Minister for signing.      

In cases where the Deputy Minister responsible, or the Minister has not signed and requested corrections to the content, clear guidance opinions about the content that needs correction must be recorded on the "Document Submission Form" and returned to the drafting entity for revision and resubmission for signature according to the procedure.

d)- In cases where opinions are not consistent.

During the submission process, if the drafting entity's leadership or the Director of the Ministry's Office has different opinions on the content compared to the guidance opinions of the Ministry's leadership, these opinions can be retained (recorded on the "Document Submission Form" or a separate document attached to the file), but still must comply with the guidance opinions of the Ministry's leadership, revise the draft, and resubmit for signature according to regulations.

3- In cases where the Deputy Minister responsible is absent due to work travel.

a)- For documents that do not need urgent issuance,  wait until the Deputy Minister responsible returns to handle them.

b)- If the document requires urgent issuance, the Ministry's Office staff assigned to oversee the field under the Deputy Minister responsible must take responsibility for contacting and sending the draft (via fax) to seek the Deputy Minister's opinion on the draft content.  The Deputy Minister responsible will review, record opinions, and sign the document sent back to the Ministry's Office (via fax) for the staff member to report to the Director of the Ministry's Office to submit to the Minister, or the Deputy Minister currently working at the agency to sign to issue. In case of contact via telephone, if the Deputy Minister responsible agrees to submit for signature, the staff member overseeing the specialized field must provide a short signature on all pages of the draft submitted for signature. The Deputy Minister responsible bears responsibility before the Minister and the law for the content of the document on which they have provided opinions or signed on the draft.

If unable to contact the Deputy Minister responsible, report to the Director of the Ministry's Office to submit to the Minister for consideration and decision.

When the Deputy Minister responsible returns from work travel, the staff member of the Ministry's Office's General Department has the responsibility to report back on the entire handling of the document.

4- In cases where errors in the document are discovered.

Documents already signed by the Ministry's leadership for issuance or already issued, if units or individuals discover errors in format and content, must promptly notify the Director of the Ministry's Office to report to the Ministry's leadership to sign a document for guidance opinions to correct, recall, or issue a new document to replace the previously issued document.

Article 10.  Documents and submission forms for signature.

1- Documents submitted for signature.

a- Document Submission Form (according to the unified model of the Ministry).

b- The latest complete draft of the document.

c- Proposals or reports from the head of the drafting entity.

d- Legal basis documents and opinions on examination, evaluation, and suggestions.

2- Signature submission form.

+ "Document Submission Form" is used for the following types of documents:

- Examination and approval of projects, proposals, programs.

- Regulatory legal documents, decisions of the Minister regarding organizational work, personnel, rewards, and disciplinary actions.

- Requests from superiors to resolve specific issues in the industry;

- Exchanging opinions, coordinating to solve work with Ministries-departments;

- Resolving, responding to requests from subordinates and localities;

- Urging, guiding, inspecting subordinates to implement upper-level regulations.

Article 11. Authority to sign documents of heads of entities.

1- Heads of entities are authorized to sign documents in accordance with the authority recorded in the Prime Minister's Decision when establishing the entity.

2- Documents signed upon delegation from the Minister must be directly approved by the Minister or the Deputy Minister responsible for the content of the draft copy.

3-  Documents signed upon authorization shall be signed by the head of the unit according to the content recorded in the Authorization Decision and shall bear responsibility before the Minister and under the law for the format of the document and the specialized content under their supervision.

4- Only dark ink (blue or black) may be used to sign officially issued documents, and signatures must be placed in the designated position as per the document format requirements.

Article 12. Responsibilities of the parties involved.

The drafting of documents must be undertaken by a Leader and a civil servant of the unit, who are primarily responsible for the content and format. Specific responsibilities are as follows:

1- Responsibilities of the drafter.

The person assigned to draft the document must prepare a program, outline, draft the document, and personally bear responsibility before the head of the unit regarding the specialized content and format of the document, drafting techniques, legal language, and spelling.

2- Responsibilities of the head of the unit leading the drafting process.

The head of the unit leading the drafting process must provide specific guidance, create conditions to complete the project and draft, and personally bear responsibility before the Ministry's Leaders and under the law for the specialized content; organize the solicitation of opinions from related units, ensuring compliance with procedures and regulations for submission for signature.  Conditions for completing the draft project, being personally responsible before the Ministry's leadership, and complying with the law regarding the specialized content; organizing the collection of opinions from related units, ensuring compliance with the prescribed procedures and submission process.

3- Responsibilities of the heads of units participating in the drafting process.

The heads of units participating in the drafting process have the responsibility to appoint participants and personally bear responsibility before the Ministry's Leaders and under the law for the specialized content under their unit's supervision.

4- Responsibilities of the Legal Department of the Ministry.

The Legal Department of the Ministry is responsible for monitoring, urging, and inspecting the implementation of normative legal documents and soliciting opinions from members of the Government, or directly participating in the drafting process with units; organizing reviews and bearing responsibility before the Minister and under the law for the format, legality of the content, legal language, and spelling errors of the document before it is reviewed by the Director of the Ministry's Office and submitted to the Ministry's Leaders.

5- Responsibilities of the Head of the Ministry's Office.

The Head of the Ministry's Office bears responsibility for the final review of the document format and drafting procedures, issuance, grammar, and spelling before submitting to the Ministry's Leaders for signature. If they find that the content is not appropriate, the Head of the Office will work again with the drafting unit to make revisions and supplements; if there is no agreement with the drafting unit, the Director of the Office will report to the Ministry's Leaders for consideration and decision.

The specialists of the General Affairs Department (Ministry's Office) monitor each specialized field, bear responsibility for the format and procedures of the document before the Office's Leaders and the Deputy Minister responsible, for all documents submitted for signature.

6- Responsibilities of the Ministry's Leaders.

The Deputy Minister bears personal responsibility before the Minister and under the law for the content and format of the documents they sign.

The Minister bears responsibility before the Government, the Prime Minister, and under the law for the content and format of the documents they sign.

7- Leaders of units tasked by the Ministry's Leaders to draft, request opinions, and review, if the document contains errors in content and format, must bear responsibility before the Ministry's Leaders and under the law, and be subject to handling according to Article 19 of this Regulation or according to the law.

Chapter IV

ISSUANCE, MANAGEMENT, AND EXPLOITATION OF DOCUMENTS.

2. Individuals tasked with coming into contact with state secrets in any form must strictly adhere to legal provisions on protecting state secrets. Issuance of documents.

1- After being signed by the Ministry's Leaders, the document will be returned to the drafting unit to transfer to the Administrative Department (Ministry's Office) for registration, stamping, and issuance procedures.

The person stamping the document must check the "Document Submission Form"; if all required signatures (depending on the type of document) are present, they should assign a number, date, and month for duplication and stamping. If the signatures are incorrect or incomplete, they should request the person collecting the stamp to redo it according to the regulations.

Stamping should not be done on the margin of the document (where the Ministry's Leaders record their comments), except when the document template specifies the stamping location.

2- The main drafting unit shall cooperate with the Administrative Department of the Ministry's Office to issue the document according to the "Recipient" listed in the signed issuance document.

For documents drafted by the Departments, the Inspectorate, and the Ministry's Office and stamped with the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development seal, the Ministry's Office is responsible for duplicating and sending them. For documents within the specialized field authorized by the Ministry, the relevant units are responsible for duplicating and sending them.

3-  The Ministry's Office (Administrative Department) is responsible for archiving the file, which includes: (1) Document Submission Form, (2) Officially signed original for issuance, (3) Draft for submission (with the signature of the leader of the main drafting unit on the margin, and the abbreviated signature of the specialist who drafted the final page of the draft) and implementing the entry of the document into the Ministry's computer network, as designated by the Ministry's Office Leader in the "Document Submission Form".

The main drafting unit retains: (1) The officially issued original, (2) Supporting documents, legal bases, review, audit opinions, and suggestions from related units.

5- The Director of the Ministry's Office is responsible for issuing documents of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development; bears responsibility before the Minister and under the law for providing documents, materials, and information to domestic agencies and press, as stipulated by law.

The International Cooperation Department Director bears responsibility before the Minister and under the law for providing documents, materials, and information to foreign agencies and press, as stipulated by law.

Heads of units under the Ministry bear responsibility before the Minister and under the law for the documents, materials, and information within their specialized field provided to domestic agencies and press.

1. Destruction of materials containing state secrets classified as Top Secret or Confidential that are no longer in use shall be decided by the Governor of the State Bank.  Management of files and materials.

1- The management and preservation of files and materials to prevent loss is the responsibility of the head and every officer and civil servant in the agency and unit.  unit.

2- Files and materials managed by the agency, unit, and individual must be stored carefully. Confidential files and materials must be managed according to the Regulations on State Secrets Protection.  confidential  When necessary to photocopy or provide outside the agency and unit, written approval from the authorized person is required.

3. At the end of the year or when transferring to another location, officials and civil servants must return their files and documents (including research topics funded by the state budget implemented by units) to the unit. Units that have been authorized by competent state agencies to establish separate archives shall comply with legal regulations. The remaining units must implement archiving.  documents at the Ministry's Archive Storage according to the provisions.

4. The Ministry's Office is responsible for classifying documents and storing them in the Archive Storage and on the Ministry's computer.

5. The Computer Department (Ministry's Office) is responsible for coordinating with units to collect, compile, and retain basic data on area, population, economy, society, culture, education of each province and city nationwide; programs, projects, and construction works managed and implemented by the Ministry within each province and centrally-administered city to serve leadership, guidance, and management work of the Ministry's Leadership and research work.

Article 15- Utilizing files and documents.        

Organizations and individuals who need to utilize and use archived files and documents at the Ministry (managed by the Ministry's Office) must have an introduction letter or a request document and obtain the consent of the Ministry's Office Leadership. Utilization must comply with national regulations on archival work and the Ministry's file management regulations.

Civil servants engaged in archival work must be responsible for guiding units and individuals to access file and document contents in accordance with file and document management regulations; they may not allow units and individuals to access file and document contents beyond the permitted scope without authorization.

Chapter V

IMPLEMENTATION ORGANIZATION.

Article 16. For units under the Ministry.

Unit heads are responsible for disseminating to officials and civil servants in their units to thoroughly understand and strictly implement the provisions of this Regulation. Monthly meetings should be held to review implementation, promptly promote good practices, draw lessons from actions that do not comply with the regulation to correct and adhere to the regulations.

Article 17. For Departments of Agriculture and Rural Development and provincial-level administrative agencies under the People's Committees of centrally-administered cities.

Based on this regulation, the Directors of Departments of Agriculture and Rural Development and Chiefs of provincial-level administrative agencies under the People's Committees of centrally-administered cities shall develop regulations  on receiving and processing internal documents of the Departments and agencies; procedures for preparing normative legal documents in the field of sectoral management at the local level to be submitted to the People's Councils, Provincial People's Committee Chairmen, and City People's Committee Chairmen for issuance in accordance with the scope of their legal authority.

Article 18- For the Ministry's Office.

The Head of the Ministry's Office is responsible for checking the receipt and submission for approval of documents from units in accordance with this Regulation; assisting the Minister in providing guidance,  inspecting the implementation of this Regulation in units; periodically reviewing, drawing lessons, and reporting results to the Minister and Ministry Leadership.

Article 19- Rewards and disciplinary actions.

a. Units and individuals who perform well under this Regulation will be commended and rewarded regularly or unexpectedly.

b. If errors are discovered in issued documents, the organizations and individuals involved must be reviewed and individual responsibilities clarified; depending on the scope and severity of the error, the violating units and individuals will be subject to disciplinary action or criminal liability as prescribed by law.

Article 20- Implementation clause.

This Regulation replaces the Provisions issued pursuant to Decision No. 82/2000/QĐ-BNN-VP dated August 8, 2000, of the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development.

During the implementation process  if there are any issues encountered, units must promptly report to the Ministry's Office for reporting to the Minister to proceed with amendments, supplements, and adjustments.

DOCUMENT SUBMISSION FORM