Decision No. 60/2008/QD-BTC On the regulations regarding the collection, submission, management, and use of fees and charges for quality control, hygiene safety, and veterinary services in aquaculture

Pursuant to …;

Regarding the regulations on the collection, payment, management, and use of fees and charges for quality control, food safety, and veterinary services for aquatic products

THE MINISTER OF FINANCE

Pursuant to the Ordinance on Fees and Charges dated August 28, 2001, and Decree No. 57/2002/NĐ-CP dated June 3, 2002, of the Government detailing the implementation of the Ordinance on Fees and Charges;

Pursuant to the Ordinance on Food Safety dated July 26, 2003, Decree No. 163/2004/NĐ-CP dated September 7, 2004, of the Government detailing the implementation of certain provisions of the Ordinance on Food Safety; certain Articles of the Ordinance on Veterinary Services, the Ordinance on Livestock Breeds, and the Ordinance on Plant Quarantine and Protection;

Pursuant to Decree No. 77/2003/NĐ-CP dated July 1, 2003, of the Government stipulating the functions, tasks, powers, and organizational structure of the Ministry of Finance;

After receiving the opinion of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development at Circular No. 1432/BNN-QLCL dated May 22, 2008;

At the proposal of the Director of the Department of Tax Policy.

DECISION:

Article 1. Issued together with this Decision are the schedules of fees and charges for quality control, food safety, and veterinary services for aquatic products, including:

1. Schedule of Fees for Quality Control and Food Safety Management Work (Annex 1);

2. Schedule of Fees for Veterinary Services for Aquatic Products (Annex 2);

3. Schedule of Fees for Quality Control and Food Safety Management Work (Annex 3);

4. Schedule of Fees for Veterinary Services for Aquatic Products (Annex 4).

Article 2. Vietnamese organizations and individuals, as well as foreign organizations and individuals engaged in production, business, export, import, domestic consumption of aquatic products and related products; production, business of veterinary drugs, feed, chemicals, biological preparations used in aquaculture in Vietnam, when being subject to quality control, food safety, and veterinary services by competent state agencies under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development according to the law must pay fees and charges as prescribed in Article 1 of this Decision.

State management fees for quality control, food safety, and veterinary services for aquatic products shall be collected in Vietnamese Dong. In cases where foreign organizations and individuals wish to pay fees and charges in foreign currency, they shall be collected in US dollars (USD) based on the average inter-bank foreign exchange rate published by the State Bank of Vietnam at the time of payment.

Article 3. State management agencies responsible for quality control, food safety, and veterinary services for aquatic products (including the General Department of Quality Inspection of Agricultural and Forestry Products and Aquatic Products, the General Department of Animal Health, the General Department of Fisheries, subordinate units, and local quality control, food safety, and veterinary services management agencies) performing the tasks specified in Article 2 of this Decision shall be responsible for organizing the collection, payment, management, and use of fees and charges as prescribed in this Decision (hereinafter referred to collectively as fee collection agencies).

Article 4. Fees and charges for quality control, food safety, and veterinary services for aquatic products are revenue items belonging to the state budget, which shall be managed and used as follows:

1. Fee collection agencies may retain 95% of the total actual collected fees and charges to cover expenses for fee collection activities as specifically provided below:

a) Wages, salaries, and other allowances of a similar nature according to current regulations (excluding wage costs for civil servants already receiving salary from the state budget);

b) Costs for labor protection uniforms or work attire according to established regulations;

c) Contributions required by regulations for employees such as social insurance, health insurance, trade union fees;

d) Expenses for public services, office supplies, and communication services supporting fee collection activities;

đ) Regular maintenance costs for buildings, equipment, and office machinery serving quality control, food safety, and veterinary services;

e) Other direct expenses supporting quality control, food safety, and veterinary services management activities;

g) Costs for purchasing receipts, seals, raw materials, chemicals, tools, equipment, and office supplies directly supporting fee collection activities;

h) Major repair costs for assets, machinery, and specialized equipment serving fee collection activities;

i) Rental costs for offices, technical experts, technicians, and technical equipment rental serving fee collection activities (if applicable);

k) Conference, seminar, short-term training, and professional skill enhancement costs serving quality control, food safety, and veterinary services management and fee collection activities;

l) Foreign affairs activity costs directly supporting quality control, food safety, and veterinary services management, such as purchasing technical documents, hosting foreign experts to inspect quality control, food safety management in Vietnam; Travel expenses for staff sent abroad to work with foreign partners according to current regulations;

m) Reward and welfare costs for fee collectors within their unit, averaging no more than three months' salary per person annually if this year's revenue exceeds last year's, or two months' salary per person annually if this year's revenue is equal to or less than last year's.

2. Fee collection agencies under the Departments of Quality Inspection of Agricultural and Forestry Products and Aquatic Products, Animal Health, and Fisheries, based on the amount retained according to the prescribed ratio, shall allocate funds to support fee collection activities and expenditures according to approved budgets (annual budget divided by month or quarter). If the collected amount exceeds the allocated expenditure, the excess amount must be deposited into the accounts of the Departments to be reallocated to subordinate fee collection units (including the Department's Office) to ensure minimum wage funds for fee collectors and other expenses for quality control, food safety, and veterinary services management activities according to established regulations.

3. The Department of Agricultural Product Quality, Plant Protection and Fisheries, the Department of Animal Health, and the Department of Aquaculture shall prepare annual revenue and expenditure budgets, report to the Ministry of Finance for approval; open separate accounts at the State Treasury where transactions take place to monitor income and expenditure related to funds for adjusting fees and charges collected by units that have excess payments to transfer to units with insufficient payments. At the same time, they must maintain separate accounting records; if there are remaining funds not used by the end of the year, such funds may be carried over to the next year for continued use, and annual settlement with the Ministry of Finance is required.

4. The total amount of fees and charges actually collected, after deducting the amount allocated according to the ratio specified in Clause 1 of this Article, the remaining amount (5%) must be paid into the state budget according to the corresponding chapter, type, item, sub-item, and sub-sub-item of the current state budget classification.

Article 5.

1. This Decision takes effect fifteen days from the date of publication in the Official Gazette. This Decision replaces Decision No. 22/2006/QD-BTC dated April 4, 2006 of the Minister of Finance on the regulations for collecting, remitting, managing, and using fees and charges for quality management, food safety, and veterinary services for aquatic products. For costs associated with inspecting conditions ensuring hygiene and safety at production and business establishments for aquatic products, annually, central and local departments responsible for quality management, food safety, and veterinary services for aquatic products shall prepare budgets for inspection activities, submit them to the competent authority for review and approval, and allocate funds according to the provisions of the State Budget Law.

2. Other matters related to the collection, remittance, management, use, payment vouchers, and publicizing the fee and charge collection system not covered in this Decision shall be implemented in accordance with Circular No. 63/2002/TT-BTC dated July 24, 2002, and Circular No. 45/2006/TT-BTC dated May 25, 2006 amending and supplementing Circular No. 63/2002/TT-BTC dated July 24, 2002 of the Ministry of Finance guiding the implementation of laws on fees and charges.

3. Organizations and individuals subject to the obligation to pay fees and charges for quality management, food safety, and veterinary services for aquatic products, the Department of Agricultural Product Quality, Plant Protection and Fisheries, the Department of Animal Health, the Department of Aquaculture, units collecting fees and charges, and relevant agencies are responsible for implementing this Decision.

4. During the implementation process, if there are any difficulties, organizations and individuals are requested to promptly report to the Ministry of Finance for research and supplementary guidance./.