Circular No. 76/2013/TT-BTC guides the establishment, tasks, powers, and operational mechanisms of the Lottery Supervisory Board.

CIRCULAR

Guidelines on the establishment, tasks, powers

and operational mechanisms of the lottery supervision council

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Pursuant to the 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. 30/2007/NĐ-CP dated March 1, 2007 of the Government on lottery business and Decree No. 78/2012/NĐ-CP dated October 5, 2012 of the Government amending and supplementing certain provisions of Decree No. 30/2007/NĐ-CP dated March 1, 2007 on lottery business;

At the proposal of the Director of the Department of Banking and Financial Institutions;

The Minister of Finance issues this Circular guiding on the establishment, tasks, powers, and operational mechanisms of the Lottery Supervision Council:

PART I

GENERAL PROVISIONS

Article 1. Scope of Regulation

This Circular guides on the establishment, tasks, powers, and operational mechanisms of the Lottery Supervision Council of the Lottery and Construction Company owned by the People's Committees of provinces and centrally-run cities (hereinafter referred to as the Lottery and Construction Company).

Article 2. Applicability

The objects subject to this Circular include: the Lottery and Construction Company, the Lottery Supervision Council, the Owner of the Lottery and Construction Company, and related organizations and individuals.

Chapter II

COMPOSITION AND OPERATIONAL MECHANISMS

OF THE LOTTERY SUPERVISION COUNCIL

Article 3. Lottery Supervision Council

1. Composition of the Lottery Supervision Council includes:

a) Chairman of the Lottery Supervisory Council: is the representative of the People's Committee of the province or centrally-run city (hereinafter referred to as the Provincial People's Committee);

b) Deputy Chairman of the Lottery Supervision Council: representative of the Department of Finance;

c) Secretary of the Lottery Supervision Council: representative of the Leadership of the Lottery and Construction Company;

d) Members of the Lottery Supervision Council: representatives of the following agencies: Public Security, State Inspectorate, Department of Justice of the province or centrally-run city;

đ) The Provincial People's Committee may invite representatives of the Standing Committee of the Vietnam Fatherland Front Committee of the province or centrally-run city to participate in the Lottery Supervision Council as members of the Lottery Supervision Council.

2. The Lottery Supervision Council shall be established by decision of the Provincial People's Committee upon proposal of the Department of Finance.

Depending on the scale of lottery business operations and actual conditions in each province or centrally-run city, the Provincial People's Committee decides the number of members of the Lottery Supervision Council specified in point d, Clause 1 of this Article with the spirit of streamlining the organization and enhancing work efficiency.

3. Members of the Lottery Supervision Council shall not be related to each other including: spouse, father, adopted father, mother, adopted mother, child, adopted child, brother, sister, half-brother, half-sister, adopted brother, adopted sister.

4. When there is a change in the membership of the Lottery Supervision Council, the Department of Finance shall be responsible for submitting to the Provincial People's Committee to decide on changes in personnel of the Lottery Supervision Council. Cases of personnel changes include:

a) Transfer to another job;

b) Violation of discipline at the workplace;

c) Violation of discipline during the performance of duties of the Lottery Supervisory Council;

d) Resignation or retirement according to regulations;

e) Other cases deemed necessary by the Provincial People's Committee.

Article 4. Operation Mechanism of the Lottery Supervisory Council

1. The Lottery Supervision Council shall perform the tasks and powers stipulated in Articles 8, 9, 10, and 11 of this Circular.

2. The supervision and inspection activities of the Lottery Supervision Council shall be based on the legal regulations on lottery business (Government Decrees, Circulars guiding the Ministry of Finance), the Operation Regulations of the Lottery Supervision Council, and the operation rules and procedures of the Lottery and Construction Company.

3. The Lottery Supervision Council operates under the principle of democratic centralism, majority voting, specifically as follows:

a) Meetings, supervision, and inspection activities of the Lottery Supervision Council must have all components present. In case of objective reasons preventing full attendance of Lottery Supervision Council members, at least the Chairman or Deputy Chairman of the Lottery Supervision Council, the Secretary of the Lottery Supervision Council, and three (03) members of the Lottery Supervision Council must attend;

b) Contents of meetings and supervision, inspection activities of the Lottery Supervision Council must be recorded in minutes. Issues with differing opinions shall be decided or approved when more than 50% of the attending members of the Lottery Supervision Council agree. In case the number of supporters and opposers is equal, the decision shall be implemented according to the plan agreed upon by the Chairman of the Lottery Supervision Council (or the Deputy Chairman authorized if the Chairman is absent).

In necessary cases, the Chairman of the Lottery Supervision Council shall report to the Provincial People's Committee for consideration and decision.

4. The Lottery Supervision Council operates on a part-time basis, except for the representative of the Leadership of the Lottery and Construction Company.

Article 5. Chairman of the Lottery Supervisory Council

1. Tasks of the Chairman of the Lottery Supervision Council:

a) Be fully responsible for the implementation of the tasks and powers of the Lottery Supervision Council as prescribed in this Circular and the Operation Regulations of the Lottery Supervision Council issued by the Provincial People's Committee;

b) Assign specific tasks to each member of the Lottery Supervision Council, the working group of the Lottery Supervision Council, and coordinate and direct members to fulfill their assigned responsibilities effectively;

c) Report periodically and ad hoc on the activities of the Lottery Supervision Council to the Provincial People's Committee and implement measures to strengthen the organization and activities of the Lottery Supervision Council in compliance with the law and the Operation Regulations of the Lottery Supervision Council.

2. Powers of the Chairman of the Lottery Supervision Council:

a) Require the Lottery and Construction Company and members of the Lottery Supervision Council to comply with the law and the Operation Regulations of the Lottery Supervision Council;

b) Approve the establishment of the District Lottery Supervision Board as provided for in Clause 1, Article 11 of this Circular;

c) Approve the plan for delegating authority to supervise the recovery of unsold lottery tickets; stubs or retained parts of hand-written lottery tickets, and prize number lists of lottery agents as provided for in Clause 2, Article 11 of this Circular;

d) Have the right to reserve personal opinions on matters related to the results of supervision and the results of drawing lottery numbers.

Article 6. Members of the Lottery Supervisory Council

1. Duties of members of the Lottery Supervisory Council:

a) Adhere to regulations when performing tasks according to the prescribed system, operational rules of the Lottery Supervisory Council, and assignments from the Chairman of the Lottery Supervisory Council;

b) Carry out tasks assigned by the Chairman of the Lottery Supervisory Council and be responsible for the results of the assigned work;

c) Timely report to the Chairman of the Lottery Supervisory Council on any violations or suspicious manifestations during the performance of duties so that the Chairman can promptly consider and decide on appropriate measures.

2. Rights of members of the Lottery Supervisory Council:

Members of the Lottery Supervisory Council have the right to reserve personal opinions during the execution of assigned tasks.

Article 7. Allowance for兼任职务补贴

The Chairman, Vice Chairmen, and members of the Lottery Supervisory Council shall enjoy the allowance for兼任职务as stipulated. The level of the allowance for兼任职务shall be approved by the Provincial People's Committee based on the proposal of the Department of Finance.

Chapter III

DUTIES AND POWERS OF THE LOTTERY SUPERVISORY COUNCIL

Article 8. Oversight of the organization of number drawing and prize announcement

1. Duties of the Lottery Supervisory Council:

a) Oversee the organization of number drawing and prize announcement for traditional lotteries, hand-drawn lotteries, and instant lotteries with immediate results.

For the Limited Liability Company of State Lottery Capital Investment in the Capital, the Lottery Supervisory Council also oversees the organization of number drawing and prize announcement for permitted computerized lottery operations as regulated by law;

b) Supervise and inspect the quantity and origin of equipment used for organizing number drawing (number cages, balls, control devices, electronic scales, ball inspection devices), technical specifications of the equipment according to the manufacturer's design, ensuring that the equipment used for organizing number drawing meets the prescribed standards. In necessary cases, the Lottery Supervisory Council may be required to conduct surprise inspections of all or part of the equipment used for organizing number drawing according to the above contents;

c) Supervise and inspect the sealing of the ball container before using it for number drawing;

d) Supervise and inspect the number and satisfaction of conditions of individuals selected to participate in number drawing according to the list and related documents provided by the Lottery Company as stipulated;

đ) Inspect the arrangement of imaging equipment (cameras, television screens) to ensure convenience for the Lottery Supervisory Council and witnesses to observe and monitor the number drawing process;

e) Select members to randomly choose sets of balls used for number drawing;

g) Appoint members to perform sealing and unsealing of equipment used for number drawing (ball cages, containers for sets of balls, electronic scales, ball inspection devices);

h) Supervise the shuffling of tickets before number drawing (for instant lotteries with immediate results);

i) Supervise compliance with regulations regarding time, location, publication of rules for prize announcement, and procedures for organizing number drawing;

k) Supervise the activities of the number drawer when performing the number drawing task;

l) Sign the minutes confirming the supervised results and lottery prize announcement results as the basis for the Lottery Company to implement prize payments and publicly announce them in writing to lottery agents and participants;

2. Powers of the Lottery Supervisory Council:

a) Require the Lottery Company to equip new, supplementary, remove, and replace equipment that does not meet the required standards for organizing number drawing activities;

b) Randomly select balls for inspection regarding weight and size before number drawing (if necessary);

c) Temporarily suspend number drawing in the following cases:

- Equipment used for number drawing has been tampered with before the Lottery Supervisory Council begins work;

- Equipment that fails to meet the requirements for establishing the objectivity and fairness of lottery prize results;

- Organizing prize announcements not in accordance with the announced schedule (date and time) and location of the Lottery Company;

- There are signs of fraud during number drawing;

d) Require the Lottery Company to redraw numbers in the following situations:

- Organizing number drawing not in the order of each prize category as announced in the number drawing rules;

- During number drawing, balls fall out of the cage or become stuck in the cage;

đ) Require the directly responsible agency to discipline members participating in the Lottery Supervisory Council or propose that the competent authority investigate and handle violations or fraudulent behavior in organizing number drawing according to legal provisions.

Article 9. Supervision of periodic inspection of lottery number drawing equipment

1. The tasks of the Lottery Supervisory Council: Supervise the trial operation inspection of the lottery balls before they are put into use and after each maintenance period as prescribed, ensuring that the equipment used for number drawing meets the prescribed standards.

2. The powers of the Lottery Supervisory Council: Require the State Lottery Enterprise to equip new, supplement, remove, and replace equipment that does not meet the required standards to serve the organization of lottery number drawings.

Article 10. Supervision of the recovery, counting, and invalidation of unsold lottery tickets, stubs, or retained portions of manually drawn lottery tickets

1. Duties of the Lottery Supervisory Council:

a) For traditional lotteries:

- Supervise the recovery and invalidation of unsold tickets (including those not yet put into circulation) to ensure compliance with legal regulations on the recovery of traditional lottery tickets;

- Supervise the counting of tickets at the main office or designated locations for counting, reconcile and compile lists, package recovered tickets;

- Supervise the sealing of tickets, sign confirmation on the seal or stamp the seal before the scheduled time for the number-spinning draw as prescribed;

- Check and supervise the consolidation of the quantity of unsold tickets recovered by the State Lottery Enterprise, sign a summary record of the results of the recovered unsold tickets, determine the number of sold tickets, and sales revenue of each issuance period established by the State Lottery Enterprise.

b) For manually drawn lottery tickets:

- Supervise the process of recovering, counting the stubs or retained portions of manually drawn lottery tickets, compiling a summary list of prizes from each lottery agent and a summary list compiled by the State Lottery Enterprise;

- Supervise the sealing of the stubs or retained portions of manually drawn lottery tickets before the number drawing according to the prescribed procedures, ensuring that no additional stubs or retained portions can be added, adjusted, or supplemented after recovery;

- Supervise the unsealing and extraction of winning stubs or retained portions of manually drawn lottery tickets based on the draw results for each prize category; supervise the re-sealing of the stubs or retained portions of manually drawn lottery tickets before storage;

- Supervise the completion of the recovery and invalidation of unsold manually drawn lottery tickets (if required to be recovered);

- Supervise and check the consolidation of the quantity of winning stubs or retained portions of manually drawn lottery tickets based on the draw results for each prize category (including winning tickets from the summary list of prizes or the list of prizes from collection points outside the main office and lottery agents far from these collection points), sign a confirmation record of the number of tickets sold and sales revenue of manually drawn lottery tickets in the period, the number of winning manually drawn lottery tickets by each prize category, and the value of the prize money paid out in each issuance.

c) For instant result lotteries (scratch-off, peel-off):

- Supervise the completion of the recovery and counting of unsold lottery tickets returned by lottery agents and unsold tickets not yet circulated when they expire;

- Supervise the invalidation of recovered tickets in accordance with the regulations;

- Confirm the quantity of unsold tickets recovered for each ticket series (serial number) issued.

2. Powers of the Lottery Supervisory Council:

a) Require the State Lottery Enterprise not to recover tickets from lottery agents in the following cases:

- Unsold lottery tickets; stubs or retained portions of manually drawn lottery tickets, prize lists from lottery agents submitted for return beyond the prescribed time or tickets brought for recovery not on the draw date, not complying with the prescribed submission procedures;

- Stubs or retained portions of manually drawn lottery tickets, prize lists from lottery agents without prize numbers;

- Lottery agents using the payment method of purchasing tickets immediately upon receipt (buying outright).

b) Request disciplinary action or propose relevant authorities to investigate and handle violations or fraudulent practices in the recovery and counting of unsold tickets;

Article 11. Supervision of the recovery, counting, invalidation, and sealing of unsold lottery tickets, stubs, or retained parts of manually drawn lotto tickets recovered from certain areas.

Based on actual business conditions, when necessary, the Lottery Enterprise shall propose to the Lottery Supervisory Council for approval:

1. Establishing a Lottery Supervisory Board in certain areas at the district level. The tasks of the Lottery Supervisory Board in certain areas at the district level shall be stipulated by the Chairman of the Lottery Supervisory Council in the Operational Regulations of the Lottery Supervisory Council.

2. Delegating other Provincial or Central City Lottery Enterprises to recover, count, invalidate, and seal unsold lottery tickets before the draw time outside their province or city prior to transporting them back to headquarters for recounting, while ensuring the following principles:

a) The recovery, counting, invalidation, and sealing of unsold lottery tickets before the draw time must be carried out according to the procedures specified in the Lottery Ticket Recovery Operational Regulations of the Lottery Enterprise and in accordance with the laws governing lottery sales;

b) Clearly defining the responsibilities and authorities of the parties involved during the process of recovering, counting, invalidating, and sealing unsold lottery tickets before the draw time.

Chapter IV

RESPONSIBILITIES OF RELATED AUTHORITIES

Article 12. Responsibilities of the Provincial People's Committee

1. Issuing a decision to establish the Lottery Supervisory Council.

2. Issuing the Operational Regulations of the Lottery Supervisory Council.

3. Issuing a decision to change personnel of the Lottery Supervisory Council based on the proposal of the Department of Finance.

4. Approving the allowance for兼任职务津贴制度 for members of the Lottery Supervisory Council based on the proposal of the Department of Finance.

5. Inspecting and supervising the activities of the Lottery Supervisory Council in accordance with the Operational Regulations of the Lottery Supervisory Council.

Article 13. Responsibilities of the Department of Finance

1. Drafting and submitting to the People's Committee of the province for promulgation legal documents serving as the basis for the activities of the Lottery Supervisory Council, including:

a) Decision on establishing the Lottery Supervisory Council;

b) Decision on issuing the Operational Regulations of the Lottery Supervisory Council;

c) Allowance for兼任职务津贴制度 for members of the Lottery Supervisory Council.

2. Advising the People's Committee of the province in supervising and inspecting compliance with regulations issued by the People's Committee of the province and related provisions in the operations of the Lottery Enterprise.

Article 14. Responsibilities of the Lottery Enterprise

1. Proposing to the Department of Finance regarding the composition, operational regulations, and activity allowances of the Lottery Supervisory Council.

2. Proposing to the Lottery Supervisory Council for approval on establishing a Lottery Supervisory Board in certain areas at the district level or delegating in writing to the Provincial or Central City Lottery Enterprises (where tickets are sold) to supervise the recovery, counting, invalidation, sealing, and handover of unsold tickets in certain areas outside the main office of the Lottery Enterprise.

3. Adhering to state regulations in lottery sales operations and being subject to supervision by the Lottery Supervisory Council during the organization of draws, recovery, counting, sealing of unsold tickets; stubs or retained parts, lists of winning numbers of manually drawn lotto tickets.

4. Ensuring necessary material conditions for the supervision activities of the Lottery Supervisory Council.

Chapter V

IMPLEMENTING PROVISIONS

Article 15. Implementation Provisions

1. This Circular takes effect from October 1, 2013.

2. This Circular replaces Circular No. 74/2007/TT-BTC dated July 4, 2007, of the Ministry of Finance guiding the composition, tasks, and authorities of the Lottery Supervisory Council.

3. The establishment of a new Lottery Supervisory Council with the structure and composition as prescribed in Article 3 of this Circular must be completed no later than October 1, 2013.

During the implementation process, if there are difficulties or obstacles, relevant units are requested to promptly reflect them to the Ministry of Finance for consideration and resolution./.