Circular No. 73/2019/TT-BTC on the management and use of funds to implement the policy of providing some publications for ethnic minority areas and mountainous regions, particularly difficult areas, during the period of 2019-2021.

CIRCULAR

REGULATIONS ON MANAGEMENT AND USE OF FUNDS TO IMPLEMENT THE POLICY OF PROVIDING CERTAIN PRINTED PUBLICATIONS FOR ETHNIC MINORITY AREAS AND MOUNTAINOUS REGIONS, AND EXTREMELY DIFFICULT REGIONS IN THE 2019-2021 PERIOD

Pursuant to the State Budget Law dated June 25, 2015;

Pursuant to the Press Law dated April 5, 2016;

Pursuant to Decree No. 87/2017/NĐ-CP dated July 26, 2017, issued by the Government, stipulating the functions, tasks, powers, and organizational structure of the Ministry of Finance;

Pursuant to Decree No. 32/2019/NĐ-CP dated April 10, 2019 of the Government on assigning tasks, placing orders, or tendering for the provision of public goods and services using state budget funds from regular expenditure;

Implementing Decision No. 45/QĐ-TTg dated January 9, 2019 of the Prime Minister on providing certain printed publications for ethnic minority areas and mountainous regions, and extremely difficult regions in the 2019-2021 period;

At the proposal of the Director of the Department of Administrative and Public Financial Affairs;

The Minister of Finance issues this Circular regulating management and use of funds to implement the policy of providing certain printed publications for ethnic minority areas and mountainous regions, and extremely difficult regions in the 2019-2021 period.

Article 1. Scope of Regulation

This Circular regulates management and use of funds to implement the policy of providing certain printed publications (hereinafter referred to as publications) for ethnic minority areas and mountainous regions, and extremely difficult regions in the 2019-2021 period according to Decision No. 45/QĐ-TTg dated January 9, 2019 of the Prime Minister.

Article 2. Applicability

This Circular applies to agencies, units, organizations, and individuals related to the management and use of funds to implement the policy of providing certain publications for ethnic minority areas and mountainous regions, and extremely difficult regions according to Decision No. 45/QĐ-TTg.

Article 3. Source of Funding

Funds to implement the policy of providing certain publications for ethnic minority areas and mountainous regions, and extremely difficult regions in the 2019-2021 period shall be guaranteed by the central budget and allocated in the annual state budget expenditure plan of the Committee for Ethnic Minorities.

Article 4. Ordering publication and distribution of annual publications

1. Basis for ordering:

a) Budget estimate of funds authorized by the competent authority to be assigned to the Committee for Ethnic Minorities to implement the policy of providing certain publications for ethnic minority areas and mountainous regions, and extremely difficult regions according to Decision No. 45/QĐ-TTg;

b) Order price (including publication costs and distribution costs) of publications: Based on the maximum price levels of publications announced by the Ministry of Finance, the Committee for Ethnic Minorities decides the specific price for each publication;

c) Names of newspapers and magazines participating in publishing publications, recipients of publications, and number of publication issues according to Decision No. 45/QĐ-TTg;

d) Number of recipients of publications and number of publications published and distributed according to Decision No. 45/QĐ-TTg and announced specifically by the Committee for Ethnic Minorities;

đ) Specifications and quality of publications according to regulations of the Committee for Ethnic Minorities.

2. Contents of the contract and adjustment of the order contract for publication and distribution of publications shall be implemented in accordance with Decree No. 32/2019/NĐ-CP dated April 10, 2019 of the Government on assigning tasks, placing orders, or tendering for the provision of public goods and services using state budget funds from regular expenditure (hereinafter referred to as Decree No. 32/2019/NĐ-CP).

Article 5. Advance payment and settlement of the order contract for publication and distribution of publications

1. Based on the approved budget estimate; the order contract for publication and distribution of certain publications for ethnic minority areas and mountainous regions, and extremely difficult regions between the Committee for Ethnic Minorities and newspapers, magazines, and distribution units; the Committee for Ethnic Minorities shall implement:

a) Advance payment of 30% of the value of the annual contract to newspapers, magazines, and distribution units immediately after signing the contract;

b) Subsequent advance payments to newspapers, magazines, and distribution units: The number of advance payments, time of advance payments, and amount of advance payments shall be carried out according to the agreement in the contract based on the progress of implementing the contract but the total amount of advance payments (including the first advance payment and subsequent advance payments) shall not exceed 80% of the contract value and shall not exceed the approved annual budget estimate.

2. Contract settlement:

a) At the end of the implementation year, newspapers, magazines, and distribution units shall compile the implementation status of the contract before January 10 of the following year and submit it to the Committee for Ethnic Minorities. Within 10 working days from the date of receiving all documents from newspapers, magazines, and distribution units, the Committee for Ethnic Minorities shall be responsible for organizing acceptance, settlement of the contract, and payment of the remaining contract value (if any) to newspapers, magazines, and distribution units.

b) Settlement of the order contract for publication and distribution of publications shall be carried out in accordance with Decree No. 32/2019/NĐ-CP.

3. The Committee for Ethnic Minorities shall be responsible for providing documents and vouchers to the State Treasury at the transaction location when requesting payment in accordance with Circular No. 161/2012/TT-BTC dated October 2, 2012 of the Ministry of Finance on the control and payment of state budget expenditures through the State Treasury and Circular No. 39/2016/TT-BTC dated March 10, 2016 amending and supplementing some articles of Circular No. 161/2012/TT-BTC dated October 2, 2012 of the Ministry of Finance.

4. Newspapers, magazines, and distribution units directly implement the retention of relevant expenditure vouchers in accordance with current regulations.

Article 6. Establishment, allocation, management, utilization, and settlement of budget estimates

1. The establishment, allocation, transfer, management, utilization, and settlement of funds for implementing policies to provide certain publications to ethnic minority regions and mountainous areas, and particularly difficult regions shall be carried out in accordance with the provisions of the State Budget Law and guiding documents.

2. Annually, the Committee for Ethnic Minorities shall establish a budget estimate for the implementation of publication provision at the same time as establishing the state budget estimate and consolidate it within the state budget expenditure estimate of the Committee for Ethnic Minorities, then submit it to the Ministry of Finance for consolidation and submission to the Government and the National Assembly for decision.

For the year 2019, the Committee for Ethnic Minorities shall establish a budget estimate for the implementation of publication provision in accordance with Decision No. 45/QĐ-TTg, and send it to the Ministry of Finance to request the Prime Minister to supplement the state budget expenditure estimate of the Committee for Ethnic Minorities for the year 2019.

3. Based on the provisions of Clause 1, Article 4 of this Circular, the Committee for Ethnic Minorities shall implement contracts for ordering the publication and distribution of certain publications in the year for ethnic minority regions and mountainous areas, and particularly difficult regions with newspapers, magazines, and distribution units.

4. The settlement of funds for implementing contracts for ordering the publication and distribution of publications shall be carried out in accordance with Decree No. 32/2019/NĐ-CP. The Committee for Ethnic Minorities shall be responsible for reviewing the settlement of funds for implementing the policy stipulated in Decision No. 45/QĐ-TTg and consolidating it into the annual settlement of state budget expenditures of the Committee for Ethnic Minorities in accordance with regulations.

Article 7. Effective Date

1. This Circular takes effect from December 9, 2019.

2. Circular No. 99/2017/TT-BTC dated September 29, 2017 of the Ministry of Finance regarding the management and utilization of funds for implementing policies to provide certain newspaper and magazine publications to ethnic minority regions and mountainous areas, and particularly difficult regions during the period 2017-2018 shall cease to be effective from the date this Circular takes effect.

3. In cases where legal normative documents cited in this Circular are amended, supplemented, or replaced by other legal normative documents, the provisions of the amended, supplemented, or replacing documents shall apply.

Article 8. Implementation organization

1. Agencies and units specified in this Circular and related agencies, units, and individuals shall be responsible for implementing this Circular.

2. During the implementation process, if there are difficulties, they should be reported to the Ministry of Finance for study and appropriate amendment and supplementation.