I. SUBJECTS AND SCOPE OF APPLICATION

1. This Circular prescribes the conditions and criteria for enterprises providing goods-assessment services, which shall serve as basis for competent State agencies to consider and decide to requisition such enterprises for goods assessments related to the performance of State agencies' official duties.

2. Enterprises providing goods-assessment services stated in the above-said Article 1 are enterprises which have been granted the certificates of registration for commercial provision of goods-assessment services according to law provisions.

II. CONDITIONS AND CRITERIA FOR ASSESSING ENTERPRISES TO BE REQUISITIONED

Assessing enterprises requisitioned by competent State agencies to conduct the assessment of goods related to the performance of State agencies' official duties must meet the following conditions and criteria:

1. The assessing enterprises have been engaged in commercial provision of goods-assessment services for at least 18 months as from the date of issuing the certificates of registration for commercial provision of assessment services and:

- Have qualified assessors in compatibility with the provisions of Article 7 of the Government's Decree No. 20/1999/ND-CP of April 12, 1999 on commercial provision of goods-assessment services;

- Have technical means capable of testing major norms of goods registered for assessment;

- Have professional process and assessing techniques compatible to the goods to be assessed upon the requisition by competent State agencies.

2. Having been granted one of the following three certificates (which is till valid):

- Certificate of recognition of the assessing organization's compatibility with Vietnam's Standard TCVN ISO/IEC 17020: 2001 for goods registered for assessment;

- Certificate of recognition of the testing room's compatibility with Vietnam's Standard TCVN ISO/IEC 17025: 2001 for the testing scope of major norms of goods registered for assessment;

- Certificate of the compatibility with Vietnam's Standard TCVN-ISO 9000 of the quality-ensuring system for assessment activities.

III. IMPLEMENTATION ORGANIZATION

1. Enterprises providing goods-assessment services, if wishing to participate in goods assessment in service of the State management, shall have to provide the State management agencies with documents on their satisfaction of the conditions and criteria stated in Section II of this Circular and bear responsibility for the completeness and accuracy of these documents.

2. When having the demand for requisition of assessing enterprises for goods assessment in service of their managerial tasks, the State agencies shall base themselves on the conditions and criteria prescribed in Section II of this Circular and compare them with the documents stated at Point 1 of Section III, which are provided by assessing enterprises, to make proper requisition decisions.

3. When the State agencies decide to requisition assessment, they must issue assessment-requisitioning documents with the following major contents:

a) The name of goods requested for assessment;

b) The assessment contents (clearly stating the norms and requirements);

c) The regulations on inspection and testing methods.

4. The regulations on assessment certificates and their legality shall comply with the provisions of Chapter III of the Government's Decree No. 20/1999/ND-CP of April 12, 1999 on commercial provision of goods-assessment services.

5. The assessment charge shall be paid by the assessment-requisitioning agencies to the assessing enterprises according to the State's regulations. In cases where it is not provided for by the State, the agreement between the assessment-requisitioning agencies and the assessing enterprises shall apply.

IV. IMPLEMENTATION PROVISIONS

This Circular takes effect 15 days after its signing and replaces Circular No. 45/2001/TT-BKHCNMT of July 25, 2001 of the Ministry of Science, Technology and Environment.

In the course of implementation, any arising problems should be reported to the Ministry of Science and Technology for consideration and settlement.

For the Minister of Science and Technology
Vice Minister
BUI MANH HAI