Circular No. 92/2018/TT-BTC Amending and supplementing certain Articles of Circular No. 89/2015/TT-BTC dated June 11, 2015, issued by the Minister of Finance, guiding the import, export, purchase, and sale of national reserve goods

CIRCULAR

Amending and supplementing certain articles of Circular No. 89/2015/TT-BTC
dated June 11, 2015 of the Minister of Finance guiding
import, export, purchase, and sale of national reserve goods

Pursuant to the National Reserve Law on November 20, 2012;

Pursuant to the Bidding Law on November 26, 2013;

Pursuant to the Auction Law on November 17, 2016;

Pursuant to the Law on Management and Use of State Assets on June 21, 2017;

Pursuant to Decree No. 94/2013/NĐ-CP dated August 21, 2013 of the Government detailing the implementation of the National Reserve Law;

Pursuant to Decree No. 63/2014/NĐ-CP dated June 26, 2014 of the Government detailing the implementation of certain provisions of the Bidding Law regarding the selection of contractors;

Pursuant to Decree No. 62/2017/NĐ-CP dated May 16, 2017 of the Government detailing certain provisions and measures for implementing the Auction Law;

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

At the proposal of the Director General of the State Treasury Administration;

The Minister of Finance issues this Circular amending and supplementing certain articles of Circular No. 89/2015/TT-BTC dated June 11, 2015 of the Minister of Finance guiding import, export, purchase, and sale of national reserve goods (hereinafter referred to as Circular No. 89/2015/TT-BTC).

Article 1. Amending and supplementing certain articles of Circular No. 89/2015/TT-BTC as follows:

1. Amending Clause 2, Clause 3 Article 17 of Circular No. 89/2015/TT-BTC as follows:

"2. Participants registering to join the auction shall be provided with information and documents related to the national reserve goods being auctioned; they must deposit a bid bond with the auction organization (or the Auction Committee in case no auction organization is selected) within three working days prior to the auction date.

- The bid bond amount shall be agreed upon between the auction organization and the owner of the auctioned asset but shall not be less than 5% and not more than 20% of the starting price of the auctioned asset.

- In cases where participants register to join the auction of multiple units of national reserve goods being auctioned, the bid bond amount must be equal to the total bid bond amounts of the participating assets.

- The bid bond shall be deposited into a separate settlement account opened by the auction organization at a commercial bank or a foreign bank branch in Vietnam. If the bid bond amount is less than five million dong, the participant may directly pay it to the auction organization. The participant and the auction organization may agree to replace the bid bond with a bank guarantee.

- In cases where the bid bond is deposited into a separate settlement account opened by the auction organization at a bank that generates interest, the interest earned shall be converted into a deposit to ensure the performance of the contract for purchasing national reserve goods or returned to the non-winning bidder according to the agreement of the parties.

3. The bid bond of participants registering to join the auction shall be handled as follows:

a) In cases where the auction is won, the bid bond of the winning bidder shall be transferred by the auction organization to the national reserve unit holding the national reserve goods being auctioned to be converted into a deposit to ensure the performance of the contract for purchasing the auctioned national reserve goods or to fulfill the obligation to purchase the auctioned national reserve goods after approval by the competent authority. The handling of the deposit shall be carried out in accordance with the Civil Code and other relevant laws.

b) The auction organization shall be responsible for refunding the bid bond to the participant who did not win the auction within three working days from the end of the auction or within another agreed period, except in the cases specified in Point c of this Clause.

c) Participants shall not be entitled to receive back the bid bond in the following cases:

- Having paid the bid bond but not participating in the auction or the price announcement session without falling under force majeure circumstances;

- Being disqualified from participating in the auction due to violation of the provisions of Clause 5, Article 9 of the Auction Law;

- Refusing to sign the auction record as stipulated in Clause 3, Article 44 of the Auction Law;

- Withdrawing the bid price or the accepted price as stipulated in Article 50 of the Auction Law;

- Refusing the result of winning the auction as stipulated in Article 51 of the Auction Law.

d) The bid bond specified in Point c of this Clause shall be deposited into the state budget in accordance with the law, after deducting the auction expenses."

2. Amending Clause 1 Article 18 of Circular No. 89/2015/TT-BTC as follows:

"1. Selection of the auction organization for national reserve goods

a) The selection of the auction organization for national reserve goods shall be conducted in accordance with the provisions of Article 56 of the Auction Law.

b) Form of selection of the auction organization: The national reserve unit holding the national reserve goods to be auctioned shall decide on the form of selection of the auction organization based on the anticipated auction fees payable to the auction organization and the bidding regulations.

c) Based on the results of selecting the auction organization for national reserve goods, the national reserve unit holding the national reserve goods to be auctioned shall enter into an auction service contract with the auction organization to conduct the auction of national reserve goods. The auction service contract must be documented in writing and implemented in accordance with the Civil Code and Article 33 of the Auction Law.

d) Costs of organizing the auction: The national reserve unit holding the auctioned asset shall be reimbursed for the costs of the auction activities according to the content and level of expenditure prescribed by the Ministry of Finance. The source of funding for the auction activities shall come from: Fees collected from the sale of bidding documents to participants; bid bonds of participants who are not entitled to receive back their bid bonds as stipulated in Clause 6, Article 39 of the Auction Law; if insufficient, funds from the reserve business operations shall be used."

3. Amending Point i Clause 2 Article 19 of Circular No. 89/2015/TT-BTC as follows:

"i) The time limit and location for delivering and receiving state reserve goods sold at auction. The time limit for delivering and receiving goods shall not exceed thirty days from the date the buyer has fully paid for the goods."

4. Amend Article 20 of Circular No. 89/2015/TT-BTC as follows:

"1. Each sale of state reserve goods at auction shall be considered separately. Cases where the auction does not succeed shall be handled according to the provisions of Article 52 of the Auction Law.

2. If the first auction attempt fails, the entity owning the goods for auction shall cooperate with the auction organization (the Auction Asset Council in cases where no auction organization can be selected) to organize a second auction. The organization of the second auction shall be carried out similarly to the first auction; if two auctions fail, the entity owning the goods for auction must report to the competent authority to decide on the sales method according to the provisions of Clause 2, Article 23 of Circular No. 89/2015/TT-BTC."

5. Repeal Point a, b of Clause 1 and Point a of Clause 2 of Article 26 of Circular No. 89/2015/TT-BTC.

Article 2. Effective Date

1. This Circular takes effect from November 20, 2018.

2. During implementation, if there are difficulties or obstacles, units shall promptly reflect them to the Ministry of Finance (State Reserve Corporation) for study and resolution./.