In furtherance of the National Assembly Standing Committee�s Ordinance on Charges and Fees, on June 3, 2002, the Government promulgated Decree No. 57/2002/ND-CP to detail the implementation thereof.

The implementation of the Ordinance on Charges and Fees as well as the Government�s Decree detailing the implementation thereof is of extremely important significance in contributing to the restoration of order and discipline in the management of charge and fee collection. In the course of implementation, several procedures must be changed or improved, and the existing problems must be overcome in order to make the activities for which charges or fees are collected convenient and smooth, especially with regard to bridge, land road and ferry tolls.

In order to ensure the strict observance of the provisions of the Ordinance on Charges and Fees as well as Decree No. 57/2002/ND-CP, the Prime Minister hereby instructs:

1. The ministers, the heads of the ministerial-level agencies, the heads of the agencies attached to the Government and the presidents of the People�s Committees of the provinces and centrally-run cities to immediately revise the charges and fees which are being collected in their respective branches and localities, and compare them to the detailed lists of charges and fees, issued together with Decree No. 57/2002/ND-CP in order to classify and handle them as follows:

- Those charges and fees, which are not on the detailed lists of charges and fees, must not be collected. Those agencies or units which set these charges and fees must immediately issue documents to annul them. Those organizations and individuals that are collecting these charges and fees must immediately stop such collection and declare for settlement of the whole amounts of the collected charges and fees with the directly-managing tax agencies in order to remit them into the State budget according to the current regulations;

- Those charges and fees, which have recently been put on the detailed lists of charges and fees but the competent State agencies have not yet issued documents providing guidance therefor, shall not be collected;

- Those charges and fees, which are on the detailed lists of charges and fees and the competent State agencies have already issued documents providing guidance therefor, shall still be collected until new guiding documents are issued.

The Ministry of Finance shall draw up specific plans, and together with ministries, branches and localities, revise the being applied charges and fees in terms of their rates, the retainment rate, regimes of collection, remittance, management and use thereof; and clearly determine which charges and fees belong to the State budget, and which do not.

2. The exemption and/or reduction of charges and fees shall apply only to the cases prescribed in Article 14 of Decree No. 57/2002/ND-CP. In localities where traffic jam has not yet been settled, bridge and land road tolls for two-wheeled and three-wheeled motorcycles, mopeds and motor-tricycles shall temporarily not be collected. The Ministry of Finance shall specify the types of tickets of bridge, land road and ferry tolls as well as the regimes of management and use thereof to make them compatible with the actual situation, create favorable conditions for and contribute to ensuring smooth traffic, especially for security and defense activities as well as public-duty activities; coordinate with the Ministry of Communications and Transport in providing specific guidance for the localities where bridge and land road tolls for two-wheeled and three-wheeled motorcycles, mopeds and motor-tricycles shall temporarily not be collected. To assign the Ministry of Finance to specify the timelimit for canceling the granting of toll-free cards and the valid duration of the granted toll-free cards. In the immediate future, pending the synchronous issuance of guiding documents, the exemption and/or reduction of bridge, land road and ferry tolls shall still comply with the current regulations.

The ministries, branches and localities as well as organizations and individuals that collect charges and fees must enhance their coordination and actively reorganize the ticket-sale process and procedures as well as charge and fee collection control in order to stop negative phenomena and ensure convenience and smoothness, especially for the collection of bridge and land road tolls.

3. The implementation of the Ordinance on Charges and Fees and Decree No. 57/2002/ND-CP must be considered an important task of all branches and levels in 2002. In order to assist the Government in understanding, providing prompt direction and create conditions for various branches and levels to strictly observe the Ordinance and Decree No. 57/2002/ND-CP, the Ministry of Finance shall set up the standing team for directing the implementation of the Ordinance on Charges and Fees and Decree No. 57/2002/ND-CP.

The provinces and centrally-run cities shall organize the standing sections for implementation of the Ordinance on Charges and Fees and Decree No. 57/2002/ND-CP, which shall perform the following tasks:

- To monitor and examine the collection, remittance, management and use of charges and fees at grassroots levels;

- To promptly report problems to the State agencies competent to prescribe charges and fees;

- To periodically report on the situation of implementation of the Ordinance and Decree No. 57/2002/ND-CP to the State agencies competent to prescribe charges and fees.

4. The mass media agencies and the propagating agencies of various branches and levels should enhance the dissemination and propagation of the contents and significance of the Ordinance on Charges and Fees as well as the Government�s Decree No. 57/2002/ND-CP detailing the implementation thereof. To praise in time good deeds and units which have well observed them; detect and bring to the public phenomena and cases of violating the Ordinance on Charges and Fees as well as the Government�s Decree No. 57/2002/ND-CP detailing the implementation thereof.

5. The charge- and fee-collecting organizations and individuals must publicly post up and announce at the collection places the regulations on charge and fee collection such as names of charges and fees; subjects of application; subjects entitled to exemption and/or reduction; collection levels; time of collection application (if any); collection and payment process and procedures; procedures and competence to settle charge- and fee-related complaints and denunciations;� for convenience in implementation and for use as the basis for the monitoring thereof by mass organizations and people.

6. The ministers, the heads of the ministerial-level agencies, the heads of the agencies attached to the Government, the presidents of the People�s Committees of the provinces and centrally-run cities, and the heads of the charge- and fee-collecting units shall have to organize the strict implementation of this Directive, and quarterly, report thereon to the Ministry of Finance (through the standing team for directing the implementation of the Ordinance and Decree No. 57/2002/ND-CP) for sum-up report to the Prime Minister.

In the course of implementation, if difficulties or problems arise, agencies and units should promptly report them to the Ministry of Finance for handling; for those cases which fall beyond its competence, the Ministry of Finance shall sum up and report them to the Prime Minister for consideration and settlement.

Prime Minister
PHAN VAN KHAI