I. GENERAL PROVISIONS

1. All proceeds from the sanctions against administrative violations in the maritime field must be remitted into the State budget through the State Treasury system. 100% of the revenues from sanctioning the administrative violations in the maritime field shall be left to local budgets for management and use according to the provisions in this Circular.

2. Domestic and foreign individuals and/or organizations that commit acts of administrative violation in the maritime field on the territory of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam and are fined shall have to pay fines into the State Treasury as inscribed in the sanctioning decisions. Foreign individuals and/or organizations may pay fines in foreign currencies at the exchange rate announced by the Finance Ministry at the time of fine payment. The time-limit for fine payment shall be 5 working days from the date the sanctioning decision is issued.

3. Fine receipts shall be issued by the Finance Ministry (the General Department of Tax) and managed and used according to current regulations.

II. SPECIFIC PROVISIONS

A. PROCEDURES FOR FINE COLLECTION AND PAYMENT

1. Persons competent to sanction acts of administrative violation in the maritime field shall have to issue the sanctioning decision.

A sanctioning decision must be made in 03 (three) copies: 1 copy shall be given to the sanctioned person; 1 copy to the State Treasury where the fines shall be paid and 1 copy shall be kept at the agency of the person competent to issue the sanctioning decision.

For fines of VN dong 2,000,000 or more, an additional copy of the sanctioning decision must be made and sent to the People�s Procuracy of the province and centrally-run city where the agency of the person competent to issue the sanctioning decision is headquartered.

2. Organization of fine collection

2.1. For cases where fines are paid directly into the State Treasury:

- The State Treasury shall have to collect fines and organize the collection of fines on administrative violations in the maritime field.

- The sanctioning decisions of the competent persons defined in the Government�s Decree No. 92/1999/ND-CP of September 4, 1999 shall serve as basis for fine collection.

- The State Treasury shall, when collecting fines, have to provide the violating organizations and individuals with fine receipts proving that fines have been fully collected according to the level inscribed in the sanctioning decisions.

2.2. Where fine-payers have no conditions to directly pay fines into the State Treasury, the State Treasury may authorize the sanctioning agencies to collect the fines. The fine collection authorization must be made in form of a contract signed directly between the authorizing State Treasury unit and the authorized unit according to the provisions in Circular No. 63 TC/CSTC of September 11, 1999 of the Finance Ministry.

Periodically, on Monday every week, the agency authorized to collect fines shall remit the collected fines into the State Treasury.

The agency authorized to collect fines shall have to receive, use, preserve and make final settlement of fine receipts in strict accordance with the State Treasury�s regulations.

3. Monthly, the agencies of the persons issuing the sanctioning decisions and the State Treasury shall compare the already sanctioned fine amount in the sanctioning decisions with the fine amount actually collected by the State Treasury, and report thereon to the provincial/municipal Finance-Pricing Services.

B. MANAGEMENT AND USE OF MONEY COLLECTED FROM SANCTIONING ADMINISTRATIVE VIOLATIONS IN THE MARITIME FIELD

1. All proceeds from sanctions against administrative violations in the maritime field shall be remitted into the State budget according to Chapter 070, Series 09, Clause 03, Item 051, Sub-item 14 of the current State Budget Contents, and 100% thereof shall be left to local budgets.

2. The collected fine amount shall be distributed and used as follows:

2.1. 30% shall be deducted for the local budgets.

2.2. 5% shall be deducted for the State Treasury to perform the fine collection (including charges for the persons who collect fines under the authorization of the State Treasury as prescribed).

2.3. 65% shall be deducted for Maritime Port Authority to use for the following purposes:

- Expenses for organization of delegations for inspection of maritime activities.

- Expenses for equipment procurement to raise the quality of facilities in service of inspection of maritime activities.

- Expenses for transport and preservation of exhibits seized or kept pending the handling.

- Expenses for law propagation and dissemination in maritime activities.

- Expenses for professional study and fostering, specialized training of inspectors directly involved in the work of maritime safety.

- Expenses for printing of documents in service of sanctioning administrative violations in the maritime field.

- Expenses for extra-time work allowance; rewards for collectives and/or individuals with achievements in the work of mobilization, propagation, education, detection and handling of administrative violations in the maritime field.

3. Management of fine budget funding

3.1. Monthly, basing itself on the collected fine amount, the provincial/municipal Finance-Pricing Service shall promptly distribute and allocate funding for the units according to the rate prescribed in this Circular.

3.2. Procedures for funding estimation, allocation and settlement shall comply with current regulations on State budget management.

3.3. The funding-using units shall have to manage and use this funding source according to current financial management regime.

III. IMPLEMENTATION ORGANIZATION

1. This Circular takes effect 15 days after its signing for promulgation.

2. The State Treasury shall have to organize the fine collection in time and create favorable conditions for fine-payers; monitor and conduct the accounting of fine revenues and expenditures in accordance with the State�s financial management regime.

3. The Finance-Pricing Services of the provinces and centrally-run cities shall have to manage and allocate budget funding formulated from fines on administrative violations in the maritime field for the units according to this Circular�s regulations.

In the course of implementation, if any problems arise, the units and localities are requested to promptly report them to the Finance Ministry for settlement.

For the Minister of Finance
Vice Minister
VU VAN NINH