MINISTRY OF FINANCE

No. 18/2003/TT-BTC

SOCIALIST REPUBLIC OF VIETNAM

Independence - Freedom - Happiness

 

Hanoi, 19 March 2003

 

 

CIRCULAR

GUIDING THE COLLECTION, PAYMENT, MANAGEMENT, AND USE
OF FEES FOR EXCLUSIVE RIGHTS TO MINERAL EXPLORATION

 

Pursuant to Ordinance on Fees and Charges No. 38/2001/PL-UBTVQH dated 28 August 2001;

Pursuant to the Government’s Decree No. 57/2002/ND-CP dated 03 June 2002 on the implementation of the Ordinance on Fees and Charges;

Pursuant to the Government’s Decree No. 76/2000/ND-CP dated 15 December 2000 on the implementation of the Mineral Law (revised);

The Ministry of Finance provides guidance on the collection, payment, management, and use of fees for exclusive rights to mineral exploration, as follows:

 

I. GENERAL PROVISIONS

 

1. This Circular shall apply to both Vietnamese and foreign organisations and individuals who are granted with exclusive rights to explore for minerals within the territory of Vietnam.

2. In this Circular, the following terms shall have the meanings ascribed to them hereunder:

a. "Minerals" means natural resources under ground or on the land surface in the forms of useful natural concentration of minerals and mineral substances existing in solid, liquid or gaseous forms, exploitable at present or in the future.

Minerals and mineral substances lying within the tailings of a mine, which may be re-exploited later, are also minerals.

b. "Exclusive Rights to Mineral Exploration": Vietnamese or foreign organisations or individuals who are permitted by competent State authorities to be the only entity having full rights to carry out activities to prospect, discover, determine the reserves and quality of minerals, mining exploitation technology, including taking technological samples for pilot analysis and making feasibility study on mineral mining within a specified period of time, and within a specified area.

 

II. FEE PAYERS AND RATES

 

1. Any Vietnamese or foreign organisations and individuals who are granted with exclusive rights to mineral exploration shall pay fees for exclusive rights to mineral exploration in accordance with the provisions of this Circular, except for any of the following cases, where fees shall not be required:

- State economic non-business units which are assigned by the State to carry out mineral exploration and prospecting by using the capital allocated from the State budget.

- Where correction of errors in the licences granting exclusive rights to mineral exploration due to faults made by the licence-granting persons is required.

- Application for extension or surrender of exploration licences or relinquishing part of the exploration areas pursuant to the decision of the Government.

2. Rates of fees for exclusive rights to mineral exploration:

 

Ordinal No.

Year

Fee rates
(VND / km2/ year)

1

The first year

300,000

2

The second year

400,000

3

The third year

550,000

4

From the fourth year onward

700,000

 

The sum of fee for exclusive rights to mineral exploration paid for each licence shall be calculated based on the area and the duration of exploration as specified in the licence (including the extended duration of the licence). In order to simplify the fee calculation and collection, the fees for licence granting shall be calculated as follows:

- For licences with the duration of 12 months, the fee shall be calculated according to the rate applicable to the first year.

- For licences with the duration longer than 12 months, but less than 24 months, then:

+ For the initial 12 months, the fee shall be calculated at the rate of the first year, and

+ For the remaining months, the fee shall be calculated at the rate applicable to the second year; but if the licence has a duration of less than 18 months (remains valid for 6 months or less), the fee shall be equal to half of the rate of the whole year; if the licence has a duration of more than 18 months, the fee shall be equal to the rate of the whole year.

3. Fees for exclusive rights to mineral exploration shall be collected in Vietnamese Dong. In case an organisation, or individual wishes to make payment in a foreign currency, the amount of payment shall be converted into Vietnamese Dong at the actual average exchange rate on the inter-bank foreign exchange market announced by the State Bank of Vietnam at the time when the fee is collected.

4. Fees for exclusive rights to mineral exploration are not subject to taxation.

 

III. ORGANISATION OF COLLECTION, PAYMENT, MANAGEMENT AND USE.

 

1. The agencies competent to grant licences for exclusive rights to mineral exploration shall be responsible to organise the collection of fees for exclusive rights to mineral exploration.

2. The agencies competent to grant licences for exclusive rights to mineral exploration shall be responsible:

a. To publicly post up at their offices the rates of the fees for exclusive rights to mineral exploration.

b. To give the collection receipts issued by the Ministry of Finance (General Department of Taxation) to the payers upon the collection of fees for exclusive rights to mineral exploration; receipt books shall be obtained at the Department of Taxation at the locality where the office of the agency competent to grant exclusive rights to mineral exploration is based, and shall be managed and used in accordance with regulations of the Ministry of Finance.

The agencies competent to grant exclusive rights to mineral exploration shall open accounts for collected fees for exclusive rights to mineral exploration at the State Treasuries where their transactions are carried out, particularly for the amounts collected in cash, the agencies must list and deposit them with the State Treasuries every day or at least once every 15 days.

c. To register, declare and remit collected fees for exclusive rights to mineral exploration to the Tax authorities in the locality where the agencies competent to grant exclusive rights to mineral exploration are based.

d. To make payment and settlement of the fee-collection receipts and settlement of fee collection and remittance with the Tax authorities of directly managing them in accordance with the regulations in force, to make sure that all the fee collection and spending items are fully reflected in the annual estimated financial statements and the financial settlement statements of the agencies competent granting exclusive rights to mineral exploration.

3. The agencies competent to grant exclusive rights to mineral exploration shall be allowed to make a deduction of 30 % of the total amount of fees actually collected before remitting them to the State budget to cover expenses related to the activities of collecting fees for exclusive rights to mineral exploration, specifically as follows:

- Payment of salaries / wages, allowances and contributions based on salaries/wages to employees labourers from outside and directly engaged in the collection of the fees for exclusive rights to mineral exploration (including payment for overtime work carried out by the officials and staff of the agencies competent to grant licences for exclusive rights to mineral exploration in accordance with the regulations).

- Expenses directly related to the fee collection, such as stationery, office materials, telephone, electricity, water, and costs for official trips and missions in accordance with the prescribed criteria in force.

- Expenses for regular repairs and overhauling of assets, equipment and machinery directly used in the collection of fees.

- Procurement of materials, fuel and other expenses related to the collection of fees for exclusive rights to mineral exploration.

- Deduction for funds for rewards to officials and staff directly engaged in the collection of fees for exclusive rights to mineral exploration. The annual average per-head deduction levels of reward funds shall not exceed one (01) month’s paid salary.

The total amounts deducted from the fees for exclusive rights to mineral exploration in accordance with the above provisions shall be deposited at the State Treasuries in the localities where the agencies competent to grant licences for exclusive rights to mineral exploration are based and shall be used by the agencies granting licences for exclusive rights for mineral exploration for the right purposes. All spending items must be evidenced by lawful records pursuant to the regulations in force, and at the end of the year, the collection and spending settlement shall be made strictly according to the actual figures, in a reasonable manner in conformity with the regulations. The agencies granting licences for exclusive rights for mineral exploration shall be entitled to transfer (or debit) difference between the deducted amounts and the settled amounts to the subsequent year’s figure for continued spending in accordance with the regulations.

4. After being deducted 30% as provided for in Point 3 of this Section, the remaining 70% of the total collected amounts of fees for exclusive rights to mineral exploration (including cash or transferable credit shall be remitted to the State budget (chapter, category and item stated in the Index of State budget) within the time limit and in accordance with the procedures as prescribed in the Ordinance on Fees and Charges and documents guiding the implementation of this Ordinance.

5. Formulation and execution of the estimates of collection and spending of fees for exclusive rights to mineral exploration.

Annually, based on the rates of fees for exclusive rights to mineral exploration, the contents of spending as guided in this Circular, and the financial spending regimes in force, the agencies granting licences for exclusive rights to mineral exploration shall formulate a detailed estimates of fee collection and spending according to the t Index of State Budget in force and send them to the superior line authorities and to the Financial organs of the same level for consideration and approval.

Based on the annual receivable - expenditure estimates already approved by the competent authorities, the agencies granting licences for exclusive rights to mineral exploration shall make detailed quarterly receivable- expenditure plans in accordance with the Index of State Budget and send them to the superior line authorities, and to the State Treasuries where the transactions are carried out for use as basis for controlling the receivables and expenditures.

6. Settlement of receivables and expenditures of fees for exclusive rights to mineral exploration.

The agencies granting exclusive rights to mineral exploration shall be responsible to open an accounting book for recording, accounting, and settling the receivables and expenditures of fees for exclusive rights to mineral exploration in accordance with the administrative and non-business accounting regime; to make settlement of the collection receipts and the fee amount already remitted to the State Budget with the Tax authorities directly managing them and submit reports on the settlement of collection and spending of fees for exclusive rights to mineral exploration to the Tax authorities, superior line authorities, and Financial organs of the same level prior to 31 March of the year following the year of the reports, and remit fully the amounts of fees to the State Budget within 10 days from the date of submitting the report.

The line authorities superior to the agencies granting licences for exclusive rights to mineral exploration shall be responsible to check, sum up and send reports of settlement to the Financial organs of the same level; the Financial organs shall verify and issue notices of approval of the settlement report together with the annual settlement of the above superior line authorities in accordance with the provisions of the current Law on State Budget.

 

IV. ORGANISATION OF IMPLEMENTATION

 

1. The provincial / municipal Departments of Finance and Pricing, Departments of Taxation the agencies competent to grant licences and the payers of fees for exclusive rights to mineral exploration shall be responsible to comply with the provisions of this Circular.

2. This Circular shall take effect 15 days after the date of its announcement on the Official Gazette.

All previous regulations on fees for exclusive rights to mineral exploration shall be annulled. As for licences for exclusive rights to mineral exploration, which were already signed prior to the date of entry into force of this Circular and remain valid, their re-issuance shall not be required and the fees for exclusive rights to mineral exploration shall not be collected.

In case of any problems arising in the implementation of this Circular, agencies, organisations and individuals t are requested to promptly notify the Ministry of Finance for consideration and resolution.

 

FOR THE MINISTER OF FINANCE

 

VICE MINISTER

 

(Signed and sealed)

 

Tran Van Ta

 

 

 

 

Recipients:

- Office of the Central Party;

- Office of the National Assembly;

- Office of the President;

- Ministries, ministerial-level Organs, Government bodies;

- People's Committees of Provinces and Cities under Central Authority;

- People's Supreme Court;

- People's Supreme Institute of Investigation;

- Departments of Finance and Pricing, Departments of Taxation, State Treasuries of Provinces and Cities under Central Authority;

- Sate run mineral corporations;

- Official Gazette;

- Departments of and under the Ministry of Finance;

- Filing: Office of the Ministry of Finance and the Department of Finance for Enterprises.