Decree No. 79/2013/ND-CP on administrative sanctions for violations in the field of statistics

DECREE

Regulations on Administrative Sanctions for Violations in the Field of Statistics

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Pursuant to the Law on Organization of the Government dated December 25, 2001;

Pursuant to the Law on Handling Administrative Offenses dated June 20, 2012;

Based on the Statistics Law dated June 17, 2003;

At the proposal of the Minister of Planning and Investment,

The Government promulgates this Decree stipulating administrative penalties for violations in the field of statistics.

PART I

GENERAL PROVISIONS

Article 1. Scope of Regulation

1. This Decree stipulates acts of administrative violations; forms of administrative sanctions, levels of fines, measures to remedy consequences for each act of administrative violation; authority to impose sanctions, specific fine amounts according to each position and authority to issue administrative violation reports in the field of statistics.

2. Administrative violations in the field of statistics as prescribed in this Decree include:

a) Violations of regulations on statistical surveys;

b) Violations of regulations on statistical reporting;

c) Violating regulations on disseminating and using statistical information;

d) Violating regulations on storing statistical documents.

1. Organizations and individuals committing administrative violations related to plant seeds, plant protection, and plant quarantine within the territory of Vietnam.

1. Individuals and organizations implementing statistical reporting systems, statistical surveys;

2. Individuals and organizations disseminating and using statistical information;

3. Individuals and organizations subject to statistical surveys.

4. In cases where civil servants, public officials, or employees commit acts of violation within their official duties or tasks in the field of statistics, they shall not be subject to administrative sanctions but shall be handled in accordance with laws on civil servants, public officials, and employees;

5. State agencies committing acts of violation within their state management tasks in the field of statistics shall not be subject to administrative sanctions but shall be handled in accordance with laws on administrative management;

Article 3. Measures to remedy consequences

Other remedial measures provided for in this Decree include:

1. Compelling the cancellation of statistical reports.

2. Ordering the suspension of a statistical survey, recovery of survey questionnaires and forms; ordering the cancellation of survey decisions and plans; ordering the cancellation of survey questionnaires and forms and the cancellation of survey results.

3. Compelling the restoration of survey questionnaires, statistical report forms that are still capable of being restored.

4. Ordering corrections to the sources of statistical information that have been cited, disseminated, or published.

Article 4. Provisions on fines for individuals and organizations

The monetary penalties specified in Chapter II of this Decree apply to individuals. The penalty for organizations is twice the amount of the monetary penalty for individuals for the same act of violation.

Chapter II

ACTS OF ADMINISTRATIVE VIOLATION AND FORMS OF SANCTIONMEASURES TO REMEDY CONSEQUENCES

Article 5. Violations in national statistical survey activities

1. Warning for the act of delaying the implementation of requirements of statistical surveyors as stipulated in the survey plan;

2. Fine from VND 300,000 to VND 1,000,000 for one of the following acts:

a) Submitting survey questionnaires late under the indirect survey method, where respondents self-report information onto the questionnaire according to the guidance of the surveyor (abbreviated as the indirect survey method), less than five days from the deadline set out in the survey plan;

b) Submitting insufficient survey questionnaires and forms under the indirect survey method compared to the requirements of the survey plan;

c) Failing to record all newly generated information on survey questionnaires and forms as required by the survey plan.

3. Imposing a fine of more than 1,000,000 VND to 3,000,000 VND for the act of submitting survey questionnaires late under the indirect survey method, between five and less than ten days from the deadline set out in the survey plan.

4. Imposing a fine of more than 3,000,000 VND to 7,000,000 VND for one of the following acts:

a) Recording inaccurate initial information provided by the surveyed individual or organization on the survey form;

b) Entering information on survey questionnaires and forms without conducting actual surveys at the surveyed unit as required by the survey plan;

c) Falsely recording newly generated information on survey questionnaires and forms under the indirect survey method;

d) Submitting survey questionnaires and forms later than ten days from the deadline specified in the survey plan under the indirect survey method.

5. Imposing a fine of more than 7,000,000 VND to 10,000,000 VND for one of the following acts:

a) Not implementing or obstructing the implementation of statistical surveys;

b) Providing false information or forcing others to provide false information during statistical surveys;

c) Failing to send the database of the survey to the competent statistical agency within the centralized statistical organization system as required within fifteen days of announcing the survey results;

d) Failing to provide online access to the content and data of the statistical survey to the device requested by the agency conducting the survey or the person implementing the statistical survey as stipulated in the survey plan.

6. Measures to remedy consequences:

Recovering the survey questionnaire for the violation at point a, b, c Clause 4 and point b Clause 5 of this Article.

Article 6. Violation of regulations on statistical surveys outside the state centralized statistical organization system

1. A fine of VND 10,000,000 to VND 15,000,000 shall be imposed for the act of not submitting survey results to the centralized state statistical organization agency as prescribed for statistical surveys outside the state statistical organization system that use funds from the state budget.

2. A fine of more than VND 15,000,000 to VND 20,000,000 shall be imposed for the act of conducting statistical surveys outside the state statistical organization system to collect information beyond the scope of functions and areas of operation without the consent of the competent state management agency in that field.

3. A fine of more than VND 20,000,000 to VND 30,000,000 shall be imposed for the act of conducting surveys outside the state statistical organization system without a survey decision, survey plan, or taking advantage of statistical surveys to harm national interests without reaching the level of criminal prosecution.

4. Measures to address consequences:

a) Order the cancellation of the statistical survey, recovery of survey forms and questionnaires for violations under Clause 2 and Clause 3 of this Article;

b) Order the cancellation of the survey decision, survey plan, survey forms and questionnaires, and all results obtained from the survey for violations under Clause 2 and Clause 3 of this Article.

Article 7. Violation of regulations on the use of statistical report forms

1. A fine of VND 1,000,000 to VND 3,000,000 shall be imposed for the act of preparing a statistical report that does not comply with the form issued by the competent authority.

2. Measures to address consequences:

Order the cancellation of the statistical report established in violation of Clause 1 of this Article.

Article 8. Violation of deadlines for submitting statistical reports and financial reports

1. Warning shall be given for the act of submitting reports late by less than five days for monthly statistical reports; less than ten days for quarterly, six-monthly, and nine-monthly statistical reports and financial reports; less than fifteen days for annual statistical reports and financial reports.

2. A fine of VND 1,000,000 to VND 3,000,000 shall be imposed for the act of submitting reports late by five to less than ten days for monthly statistical reports; fifteen to less than twenty days for quarterly, six-monthly, and nine-monthly statistical reports and financial reports; twenty to less than thirty days for annual statistical reports and financial reports.

3. A fine of more than VND 3,000,000 to VND 5,000,000 shall be imposed for the act of submitting reports late by ten to fifteen days for monthly statistical reports; fifteen to less than twenty days for quarterly, six-monthly, and nine-monthly statistical reports and financial reports; twenty to less than thirty days for annual statistical reports and financial reports.

4. A fine of more than VND 5,000,000 to VND 10,000,000 shall be imposed for the act of submitting reports late by fifteen to thirty days for quarterly, six-monthly, and nine-monthly statistical reports and financial reports; thirty to forty-five days for annual statistical reports and financial reports.

5. A fine of more than VND 10,000,000 to VND 20,000,000 shall be imposed for the act of failing to submit statistical reports and financial reports.

The act of failing to submit statistical reports and financial reports is when, after fifteen days from the prescribed deadline for monthly statistical reports, thirty days from the prescribed deadline for quarterly, six-monthly, and nine-monthly statistical reports, and forty-five days from the prescribed deadline for annual statistical reports, the statistical reports and financial reports have not been submitted to the competent statistical authority.

Article 9. Violation of the provisions on the completeness requirement for statistical reports

1. A fine of VND 1,000,000 to VND 3,000,000 shall be imposed for the act of reporting incomplete quantities of forms or statistical indicators in the monthly reporting system.

2. A fine of from VND 3,000,000 to VND 5,000,000 shall be imposed for the act of reporting incomplete quantities of forms or statistical indicators in the quarterly, six-monthly, or nine-monthly statistical report system.

3. A fine of from VND 5,000,000 to VND 10,000,000 shall be imposed for the act of reporting incomplete quantities of forms or statistical indicators in the annual statistical report system.

Article 10. Violation of the provisions on statistical methods

1. A fine of VND 5,000,000 to VND 7,000,000 shall be imposed for one of the following acts:

a) Preparing a statistical report that does not comply with the prescribed calculation method for indicators in the statistical report;

b) Preparing a statistical report that does not comply with the prescribed scope of data collection for statistics.

2. Measures to address consequences:

Order the invalidation of statistical reports established not in accordance with point a, b, Clause 1 of this Article.

Article 11. Violation of the provisions on the accuracy requirement for statistical reports

1. A fine of from VND 5,000,000 to VND 7,000,000 shall be imposed for the act of establishing a statistical report that does not fully source data according to regulations.

2. A fine of VND 15,000,000 to VND 20,000,000 shall be imposed for one of the following acts:

a) Forgery of statistical reports, false reporting of data in statistical reports;

b) Agreeing or compelling others to forge statistical reports, false reporting of data in statistical reports;

3. Apply remedial measures: Order the invalidation of statistical reports for violations stipulated in Clause 1 and Clause 2 of this Article.

Article 12. Violation of the provisions on the exploitation of statistical database

1. Warning for the act of delaying the provision of initial statistical data to the competent statistical agency as prescribed.

2. A fine of from VND 3,000,000 to VND 5,000,000 shall be imposed for the act of failing to provide complete initial statistical data to the competent statistical agency as prescribed.

3. A fine of from VND 5,000,000 to VND 10,000,000 shall be imposed for the act of failing to provide technical conditions for exploiting the statistical database.

4. A fine of from VND 10,000,000 to VND 15,000,000 shall be imposed for any of the following acts:

a) Failure to provide initial statistical data to the competent statistical agency as prescribed;

b) Obstructing the exploitation of the statistical database.

Article 13. Violation of the provisions on disseminating statistical information

1. A fine of from VND 10,000,000 to VND 20,000,000 shall be imposed for the act of disseminating statistical figures or materials that have not been authorized for publication but do not belong to the list of state secrets.

2. A fine of from VND 20,000,000 to VND 30,000,000 shall be imposed for the act of disseminating false statistical information.

3. Apply remedial measures:

Order the correction of false or misleading statistical information that has been disseminated for the act stipulated in Clause 2 of this Article.

Article 14. Violation of the provisions on using statistical information

1. Warning for the act of not clearly indicating the source of statistical information when disseminating or publishing on mass media or publications.

2. A fine of from VND 5,000,000 to VND 10,000,000 shall be imposed for the act of incorrectly citing the source of statistical information when disseminating or publishing on mass media or publications.

3. A fine of from VND 10,000,000 to VND 20,000,000 shall be imposed for the act of distorting published statistical information by a competent authority for dissemination or publication on mass media or publications.

4. Measures to address consequences:

a) Order the correction of the sources of statistical information cited, disseminated, or published for violations stipulated in Clauses 1 and 2 of this Article.

b) Order the correction of statistical information disseminated or published falsely for violations stipulated in Clause 3 of this Article.

Article 15. Violation of regulations on the preservation and storage of statistical documents

1. Warning for the act of causing damage to questionnaires, survey forms, and statistical reports containing statistical information within the retention period as prescribed, but still capable of being restored.

2. A fine of VND 5,000,000 to VND 10,000,000 shall be imposed on any of the following acts:

a) Causing damage to survey forms, reports containing statistical information within the retention period, but incapable of being restored;

b) Losing survey forms, reports containing statistical information;

c) Destroying survey forms, reports containing statistical information before the end of the retention period.

3. Apply remedial measures:

Order restoration of questionnaires, survey forms, and statistical reports that are still capable of being restored for the violation stipulated in Clause 1 of this Article.

Article 16. Violation of regulations on the confidentiality of information provided by individuals and organizations

Fine from VND 20,000,000 to VND 30,000,000 for the act of disclosing statistical information linked to the name and specific address of each individual or organization without their consent.

Chapter III

AUTHORITY TO ISSUE ADMINISTRATIVE VIOLATION DECISIONS AND VIOLATION RECORDS

Article 17. Competence to impose administrative penalties of the Chairman of the People's Committee

1. The Chairman of the People's Committee of a district-level city has the right:

a) To issue warnings;

b) Impose fines up to 15,000,000 VND;

c) Confiscate objects and means of administrative violations with a value not exceeding the fine amount prescribed in Point b, Clause 1 of this Article;

d) Apply remedial measures prescribed in this Decree.

2. The Chairman of the People's Committee of a provincial-level city has the right:

a) To issue warnings;

b) Impose fines up to thirty million dong;

c) Confiscate objects and means of administrative violations with a value not exceeding the fine amount prescribed in Point b, Clause 2 of this Article;

d) Apply remedial measures prescribed in this Decree.

Article 18. Competence to impose administrative penalties of Inspectors and public officials assigned to perform specialized inspection tasks in statistics

1. Inspectors of the Ministry of Planning and Investment, public officials assigned to perform specialized inspection tasks in statistics while performing official duties have the right:

a) To issue warnings;

b) Impose a fine up to VND 300,000;

c) Confiscate objects and means of administrative violations with a value not exceeding the fine amount prescribed in Point b, Clause 1 of this Article;

2. Directors of Provincial Statistics Offices under central cities; Heads of specialized inspection teams of the Ministry of Planning and Investment; Heads of specialized inspection teams of the General Statistics Office have the right:

a) To issue warnings;

b) To impose fines up to VND 21,000,000;

c) Confiscate objects and means of administrative violations with a value not exceeding the fine amount prescribed in Point b, Clause 2 of this Article;

d) Apply remedial measures prescribed in this Decree.

3. The Chief Inspector of the Ministry of Planning and Investment, the Director-General of the General Statistics Office have the right to:

a) To issue warnings;

b) Impose fines up to thirty million dong;

c) Confiscate objects and means of administrative violations with a value not exceeding the fine amount prescribed in Point b, Clause 3 of this Article;

d) Apply remedial measures prescribed in this Decree.

4. Heads of specialized inspection teams of Provincial Statistics Offices under central cities have the right:

a) To issue warnings;

b) Impose fines up to 15,000,000 VND;

c) Confiscate objects and means of administrative violations with a value not exceeding the fine amount prescribed in Point b, Clause 4 of this Article;

d) Apply remedial measures prescribed in this Decree.

Article 19. Competence to impose administrative penalties of other specialized inspectors

Within the scope of state management authority prescribed by the Government, Inspectors and Chief Inspectors of other specialized inspection agencies have the authority to impose administrative penalties for violations in the field of statistics according to the Law on Handling Administrative Violations No. 15/2012/QH13 and this Decree.

Article 20. Determining the competence to impose administrative penalties

The competence to impose administrative penalties for individual violations in the field of statistics as prescribed in Articles 17 to 19 of this Decree applies to one administrative violation committed by an individual. In cases involving fines, the competence to impose penalties for organizations is twice the competence to impose penalties for individuals.

Article 21. Competence to prepare administrative violation records in the field of statistics

When discovering administrative violations in the field of statistics, those with authority must promptly draft administrative violation records.

The person authorized to prepare administrative violation records in the field of statistics is a public official in the Statistics sector performing inspection, supervision, and monitoring tasks in the field of statistics, and the person authorized to impose administrative penalties in the field of statistics while performing official duties.

Chapter IV

IMPLEMENTING PROVISIONS

Article 22. Effectiveness

This Decree takes effect from September 5, 2013, and replaces Government Decree No. 14/2005/NĐ-CP dated February 4, 2005, on administrative penalties in the field of statistics.

Article 23. Responsibility for Implementation

Ministers, Heads of ministerial-level agencies, Heads of agencies under the Government, Chairmen of People's Committees of provinces and centrally governed cities, and related organizations and individuals are responsible for implementing this Decree./.