CIRCULAR

PROVIDING FOR CHARGES FOR ASSESSMENT OF MINERAL RESERVES, FEES FOR PROCESSING APPLICATIONS FOR LICENSE TO PERFORM MINERAL ACTIVITIES, THE COLLECTION, TRANSFER, MANAGEMENT AND USE THEREOF

Pursuant to the Law on fees and charges dated November 25, 2015;

Pursuant to the Law on minerals dated November 17, 2010;

Pursuant to the Law on state budget dated June 25, 2015;

Pursuant to the Government's Decree No. 120/2016/ND-CP dated August 23, 2016 detailing and guiding the implementation of a number of articles of the Law on fees and charges;

Pursuant to the Government's Decree No. 215/2013/ND-CP dated December 23, 2013 defining the functions, tasks, powers and organizational structure of Ministry of Finance;

At the request of the Director of the Tax Policy Department,

Minister of Finance promulgates a Circular to provide for the fees for assessment of mineral reserves, the fees for processing applications for mineral exploration/ mining license, and the collection, transfer, management and use thereof.

Article 1. Scope

This Circular provides for the charges for assessment of mineral reserves, the fees for processing applications for license to perform mineral activities, and the collection, transfer, management and use thereof.

Article 2. Payers and collectors

1. Payers include:

a) Any organizations or individuals must pay fees for processing their applications for license to perform mineral activities when they are granted license to perform mineral activities by competent authorities;

b) Any organizations or individuals that submit applications for assessment and approval for mineral exploration reports to competent state authorities as regulated by the law on minerals must pay the charges for assessment of mineral reserves.

2. Collectors include the General Department of Geology and Minerals of Vietnam, the Office of the National Council for Assessment of Mineral Reserves, Departments of Natural Resources & Environment of central-affiliated cities/ provinces.

Article 3. Fee

The charges for assessment of mineral reserves and the fees for processing applications for license to perform mineral activities are prescribed in the Schedules of fees and charges enclosed herein.

Article 4. Declaration and transfer of charges and fees by collectors

1. Not later than the 05^th day of every month, each collector must transfer the fees collected in the previous month into the designated state budget account which is opened at the State Treasury.

2. The collectors must declare and transfer collected fees and charges on a monthly basis, and make statement of fees and charges on an annual basis in accordance with regulations in Clause 3 Article 19 and Clause 2 Article 26 of the Circular No. 156/2013/TT-BTC dated November 06, 2013 by Minister of Finance providing guidance on a number of articles of the Law on tax management; the Law on amendments to the Law on tax management and the Government's Decree No. 83/2013/ND-CP dated July 22, 2013. The collectors shall transfer collected charges according to the percentage set forth in Article 5 herein and 100% of collected fees to state budget according to corresponding chapter, section and sub-section in the list of state budget entries.

Article 5. Management and use of charges

1. Each charge collector may retain 90% of the sum of collected charges to cover its expenditures for service provision and charge collection, and transfer the remains (10%) to the state budget, except for cases regulated in Clause 2 of this Article. The retained amount of charges shall be managed and used in accordance with regulations in Article 5 of the Government's Decree No. 120/2016/ND-CP dated August 23, 2016 detailing and guiding the implementation of a number of articles of the Law on fees and charges. In which, other expenditures relating to the task performance, service provision and charge collection shall include costs of site surveys conducted at mineral exploration area, assessment of mineral reserves, and organization of meetings of council for assessment of mineral reserves (including expenditures for collecting ideas and preparing assessment reports).

2. The collector that is a state authority and not allowed to retain collected fees to cover its operating expenditures as regulated in Clause 1 Article 4 of the Government's Decree No. 120/2016/ND-CP dated August 23, 2016 detailing and guiding the implementation of a number of articles of the Law on fees and charges must transfer 100% of the collected charges to state budget. Expenditure for carrying out assessment activities and collection of charges shall be covered by funding from state budget included in collectors’ estimates under policies and levels of state budget expenditures as regulated by laws.

Article 6. Implementary organization and provision

1. This Circular takes effect as of January 01, 2017 and supersedes the following documents:

a) The Circular No. 129/2011/TT-BTC dated September 15, 2011 by Minister of Finance providing for the fees for processing applications for license to perform mineral activities, and the collection, transfer, management and use thereof.

b) Decision No. 27/2005/QD-BTC dated May 13, 2005 by Minister of Finance providing for the charges for assessment of mineral reserves, and the collection, transfer, management and use thereof.

2. Other contents related to the fee/charge collection, transfer, management, use, receipts and announcement of regulations on fee/charge collection, which are not provided for in this Circular, shall be performed in conformity with regulations of the Law on fees and charges, the Government's Decree No. 120/2016/ND-CP dated August 23, 2016 detailing and guiding the implementation of a number of articles of the Law on fees and charges, the Circular No. 156/2013/TT-BTC dated November 06, 2013 by Minister of Finance providing guidance on a number of articles of the Law on tax management, the Law on amendments to the Law on tax management and the Government's Decree No. 83/2013/ND-CP dated July 22, 2013, and the Circular No. 153/2012/TT-BTC dated September 17, 2012 by Minister of Finance providing for the printing, issuance, management and use of receipts of fees and charges under the government revenues and other documents on amendments and supplements thereof (if any).

3. Difficulties that arise during the implementation of this Circular should be promptly reported to Ministry of Finance for consideration./.

SCHEDULES OF CHARGES FOR ASSESSMENT OF MINERAL RESERVES, AND FEES FOR PROCESSING APPLICATIONS FOR LICENSE TO PERFORM MINERAL ACTIVITIES

(Enclosed to the Circular No. 191/2016/TT-BTC dated November 08, 2016 by Minister of Finance)

I. Charges for assessment of mineral reserves

II. Fees for processing of applications for license to perform mineral activities

1. Mineral exploration:

a) If the exploration area is less than 10ha, the fee shall be VND 4,000,000/ an application;

b) If the exploration area is 100 – 50,000 ha, the fee shall be VND 10,000,000/ an application;

c) If the exploration area is more than 50,000 ha, the fee shall be VND 15,000,000/ an application.

2. Mineral mining:

3. Salvage extraction: VND 5,000,000/ an application.

4. If a license is renewed or re-issued in case of the license transfer, the fees prescribed above shall be reduced by 50% and paid by the applicant for renewal or the transferee.