Circular No. 93/2024/TT-BTC amends and supplements certain Articles of Circular No. 21/2023/TT-BTC dated April 14, 2023, issued by the Minister of Finance on the management and use of state budget funds for the Sustainable Forestry Development Program for the period 2021-2025.

Article 1. Repealing some Articles of Circular No. 21/2023/TT-BTC dated April 14, 2023 of the Minister of Finance on management and use of state budget funds for implementing the Program (hereinafter referred to as Circular No. 21/2023/TT-BTC) as follows:

1. Repeal Article 3, Article 4, Article 5, Article 6, Article 7, Article 8, Article 9, and Article 10 of Circular No. 21/2023/TT-BTC.

2. Repeal Clause 4 of Article 16 of Circular No. 21/2023/TT-BTC.

Article 2. Amending and supplementing some Articles of Circular No. 21/2023/TT-BTC as follows:

1. Supplementing Article 3a of Circular No. 21/2023/TT-BTC as follows:

"Article 3a. Expenditure for forest protection, forest development, improving productivity and quality of forests, and sustainable forest management

Expenditure for activities protecting special-use forests, supporting livelihood development, improving the living standards of people in buffer zones of special-use forests, protecting protective forests, supporting protection of natural production forests during closure periods, promoting natural regeneration with supplementary planting, supporting the development of sustainable forest management plans and certification, supporting scattered tree planting, and contracting forest protection: Implemented according to the corresponding provisions in Decree No. 58/2024/NĐ-CP dated May 24, 2024 of the Government on some investment policies in forestry (hereinafter referred to as Decree No. 58/2024/NĐ-CP) and guidelines of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development stipulated in Circular No. 22/2024/TT-BNNPTNT dated December 11, 2024 on some contents regarding forestry implementation of the Sustainable Forestry Development Program and the National Target Program for Socio-Economic Development of Ethnic Minority and Mountainous Areas for the period 2021-2030, Phase I: from 2021 to 2025."

2. Amending and supplementing Article 13 of Circular No. 21/2023/TT-BTC:

"Article 13. Expenditure for initial documentation, management, inspection, and acceptance

1. Recipients

a) For special-use forests, protective forests, and support for protection of natural production forests during closure periods: People's Committees at the commune level and units allocated the budget funds can provide financial support for forest protection to households, individuals, and community residents.

b) For forest protection: Implemented according to Clause 1 of Article 19 of Decree No. 58/2024/NĐ-CP.

c) For promoting natural regeneration with supplementary planting: Implemented according to Clause 1 of Article 6 and Clause 1 of Article 13 of Decree No. 58/2024/NĐ-CP.

2. Content of expenditure: Initial documentation expenditure, annual management, inspection, and acceptance expenditure shall not overlap with other programs or projects. Acceptance procedures shall be carried out according to Circular No. 15/2019/TT-BNNPTNT dated October 30, 2019 of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development on guiding some contents of public investment management for forestry works.

3. Level of expenditure:

a) For special-use forests, protective forests, and support for protection of natural production forests during closure periods: Implemented according to Point d Clause 2 of Article 5, Point e Clause 2 of Article 9, and Point d Clause 2 of Article 12 of Decree No. 58/2024/NĐ-CP.

b) For contracted forest protection: Implemented according to Point b Clause 3 of Article 19 of Decree No. 58/2024/NĐ-CP.

c) For promoting natural regeneration with supplementary planting: Implemented according to Point c Clause 2 of Article 6, Clause 2 of Article 10, and Clause 2 of Article 13 of Decree No. 58/2024/NĐ-CP.

4. Source of funds:

a) For contracted forest protection: From the state budget funds allocated to forest owners for protecting special-use forests, protective forests, and natural production forests.

b) For special-use forests, protective forests, support for protection of natural production forests during closure periods, promoting natural regeneration with supplementary planting: From the Program’s budget funds allocated annually to units and localities according to Clause 1 and Clause 2 of Article 2 of this Circular."

3. Amending and supplementing Clause 1 of Article 16 of Circular No. 21/2023/TT-BTC.

"1. The allocation, management, utilization, and settlement of the Program's budget shall be carried out in accordance with the Law on State Budget Management 2015, Decree No. 163/2016/NĐ-CP dated December 21, 2016 of the Government detailing certain provisions of the Law on State Budget Management, and guiding documents of the Ministry of Finance. For the Program's budget allocated for forest protection, the implementation of forest protection shall follow Clause 7, Article 27 of Decree No. 58/2024/NĐ-CP."

When settling the expenditure of the Program, relevant ministries, central agencies, and localities shall submit the final report and notification to the Program's main authority (the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development) for consolidation and annual reporting on the Program's implementation results."

4. Supplement Clause 8 of Article 16 of Circular No. 21/2023/TT-BTC:

"8. Accounting voucher management

a) The storage of accounting vouchers must comply with the Law on Archives 2011, the Law on Accounting 2015, and guiding documents for their implementation; at the same time, actively apply information technology in managing documents in accordance with the spirit of Directive No. 35/CT-TTg dated September 7, 2017 of the Prime Minister on strengthening the work of establishing files and submitting files and documents to agency archives and historical archives;

b) Villages and communes shall self-manage and store purchase, receipt, delivery, and support implementation vouchers within their communities and bear responsibility for the content of community activities implemented within their villages and communes."

5. Amend and supplement Clause 1 and Clause 2 of Article 17 of Circular No. 21/2023/TT-BTC:

"1. The control of expenditures and advance payments shall be carried out in accordance with Decree No. 11/2020/NĐ-CP dated January 20, 2020 of the Government on administrative procedures under the State Treasury sector and Circular No. 17/2024/TT-BTC dated March 14, 2024 of the Ministry of Finance guiding the control and payment of regular expenses from the state budget through the State Treasury.

2. For expenditures supporting community development in buffer zones around special-use forests as stipulated in Article 3a of this Circular, the State Treasury shall control expenditures based on the approved community development support budget assigned by the competent authority to the Special-Use Forest Management Board; the expenditure items have been decided by the head of the Special-Use Forest Management Board or the authorized person."

Article 3. Transitional Provisions

For forest protection, forest development, productivity enhancement, quality improvement, and sustainable forest management activities under the Program that have been approved by the competent authority, such activities shall continue to be implemented; if adjustments are necessary, they shall be reviewed and adjusted according to the provisions of Decree No. 58/2024/NĐ-CP and this Circular, and submitted to the competent authority for approval.

Article 4. Effective date

1. This Circular takes effect from February 15, 2025.

2. In cases where the referenced documents for application in this Circular are amended, supplemented, or replaced, they shall be implemented in accordance with the amended, supplemented, or replacement documents.

3. During the implementation process, if there are difficulties or obstacles, please reflect them to the Ministry of Finance for consideration and resolution./.