Circular No. 83/2008/TT-BTC guides the principles and methods for determining the price of various types of gold, silver, and personal items held temporarily.

CIRCULAR

Guidelines on principles and methods for determining the price of various types of gold, silver, and personal belongings held temporarilyprices of gold, silver, and personal belongings held in custody

Pursuant to Article 2 of Decision No. 17/TTg dated October 21, 1992 of the Prime Minister regarding the return of gold, silver, and personal belongings held temporarily to certain groups that have been processed; implementing Circular No. 338/PPLT dated October 21, 1992 of the Chairman of the Government Office regarding the return of gold, silver, and personal belongings held temporarily.

To align with current practices in disbursing gold, silver, and personal belongings held temporarily, the Ministry of Finance provides guidelines on principles and methods for determining the price of various types of gold, silver, and personal belongings held temporarily to be returned to their original owners as follows:

I. CONDITIONS AND BASIS FOR DETERMINING THE PRICE:

1. The original owner's gold, silver, and personal belongings to be priced for return must meet the conditions specified in Circular No. 22/TC/KBNN dated March 19, 1993 and Circular No. 71/TC/KBNN dated November 8, 1996 of the Ministry of Finance guiding the implementation of Decision No. 17/TTg dated October 21, 1992 of the Prime Minister.

2. Basis for determining the price:

2.1. Original files of each original owner, including:

- Records of confiscation of gold, silver, and personal belongings from individuals subject to administrative inspections, market management, jewelry reform, and industrial-commercial reform.

- Inventory records of opening safes and vaults (for individuals who deposited in old regime banks' safes and vaults) by the Council for handling safes and vaults under the Committee for Handling Old Regime Banks (or competent authority).

2.2. Technical Council of the State Bank of Vietnam's record, storage card for gold and silver of the original owner at the bank, or inventory record of the Council for collecting national gold and silver which has determined (or has sufficient basis to determine) the quantity, weight, and quality of the original owner's gold, silver, and personal belongings.

II. PRINCIPLES AND METHODS FOR DETERMINING THE PRICE:

1. For gold, silver, and personal belongings where the original file or the technical council of the State Bank of Vietnam's record or the national gold collection council clearly specifies the quantity, quality, and weight, the price shall be determined as follows:

1.1. Gold 99.99% is calculated based on the purchase price published by the Provincial Department of Finance (unit of measurement is dong/gram).

Other types of gold are converted to gold 99.99% using the following formula:

Where:

- L: Weight of gold converted to gold 99.99% (rounded to two decimal places).

- G: Actual weight of gold to be converted.

- Y: Actual gold fineness (%).

- X: Percentage loss of precious metals, defined as follows:

+ If the gold fineness is 96% or higher, then X = 0

+ If the gold fineness is between 90% and less than 96%, then X = 1%

+ If the gold fineness is between 51% and less than 90%, then X = 2%

+ If the gold fineness is 50% or lower, then X = 3%

Example: Owner A has the following gold to be returned by the state:

215 grams of 95% gold

196 grams of 70% gold

1.2. Silver, personal belongings made of silver, and precious stones (diamonds, jade...) are valued and paid in cash according to the price list of precious stones attached to this circular (in case of economic fluctuations, the Ministry of Finance will study and publish a new price list to match market prices).

1.3. For personal belongings made of gold with embedded diamonds or other precious stones, if the original confiscation file and technical council's record clearly specify the weight and quality of gold, diamonds, and other precious stones, the pricing for each type shall be carried out according to the provisions in points 1.1 and 1.2 above.

2. For gold, silver, and personal belongings where the original file does not clearly indicate quality and remaining quality assessment, they shall be handled as follows:

2.1- For gold recorded as "gold leaf" in the file, it is calculated as 96% gold; if recorded as "gold ingot", "gold item", "24K gold personal belongings", "processed domestic gold", it is calculated as 95% gold; for personal belongings recorded as "processed gold", "18K gold", they are calculated as 50% gold, then converted to 99.99% gold.

2.2- For silver where only weight is recorded in the file without quality assessment, it is calculated uniformly according to the price of silver items specified in the attached price list.

2.3- For diamonds, jades, and other precious stones where the file does not clearly indicate specifications and quality, they are calculated according to the unified price level B of similar goods in the specified price list.

2.4- For personal belongings made of gold with embedded stones, where the file only records the total weight without specifying the weight of each type of gold and stone, it is calculated as follows:

- If the stone embedded in the personal belongings is not a diamond:

+ Calculate the total weight as 70% gold for 24K gold personal belongings with embedded stones.

+ Calculate the total weight as 40% gold for 18K gold personal belongings with embedded stones.

+ Calculate 50% of the weight of gold based on actual fineness and 50% of the weight of various stones for personal belongings with embedded stones where the gold fineness is below 50%.

Example: Owner B has 320 grams of personal belongings with embedded stones where the gold fineness is 40%, then it is calculated as 160 grams of 40% gold and 160 grams of various stones.

Then convert the above types to 99.99% gold.

- For personal belongings made of gold with embedded diamonds, where the confiscation file (original owner's confiscation record) does not clearly specify the weight of gold and diamonds, the total weight is calculated as 95% gold, then converted to 99.99% gold as mentioned above.

3. For gold, silver, and personal belongings still sealed and returned to the original owner in sealed form, there is no need for price review procedures.

III. IMPLEMENTATION ORGANIZATION

1. The Council for inventory and transfer of national gold, silver, and foreign currency in provinces and cities established pursuant to Decision No. 340-CT dated September 22, 1992 of the Council of Ministers (now the Government):

1.1. Based on the original owner's documentation and central guidance documents to determine the price and amount to be paid to each original owner, funded by local government budgets and central government budgets.

1.2. Summarize, verify, complete the files, recommend the price to the Chairman of the People's Committee of the province or city for approval, and submit a request to the Minister of Finance for decision (including the physical items to be returned from local government budgets).

1.3. Pursuant to the decision of the Minister of Finance, implement and supervise the payment of money to the original owners in accordance with the provisions of the Prime Minister, the Ministry of Finance, and this Circular.

2. The Council for Inventory and Transfer of State Gold, Silver, and Foreign Currency is established pursuant to Decision No. 309-CT dated October 10, 1991 of the Council of Ministers (now the Government): 2.1. Guide the Councils for Inventory and Transfer of State Gold, Silver, and Foreign Currency at provincial and municipal levels to determine the price level and the amount of money to be paid to each original owner according to the decision of the Minister of Finance; based on fluctuations in prices, calculate and propose recommendations to the Minister of Finance for adjusting the price list for precious stones for each period.

2.2. Inspect the implementation of payment prices according to the decision of the Minister of Finance, respond to complaints from original owners regarding issues related to payment prices.

This Circular takes effect fifteen days from the date of signature, replacing Circular No. 03/TT-LB dated September 23, 1994 of the Government Price Control Board - Ministry of Finance; it shall be applied in agencies related to the implementation of Decision No. 17/TTg dated October 21, 1992 of the Prime Minister, without publication in the press and dissemination to original owners who are being paid.

In the course of implementation, if there are difficulties, they should be reported to the Ministry of Finance for consideration and resolution./.

- State Bank of Vietnam: