CIRCULAR

GUIDING THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE GOVERNMENT�S DECREE No. 88/2002/ND-CP OF NOVEMBER 7, 2002 ON THE MANAGEMENT OF EXPORT AND IMPORT OF CULTURAL PRODUCTS NOT FOR BUSINESS PURPOSES

Pursuant to the Governments Decree No. 88/2002/ND-CP of November 7, 2002 on the management of export and import of cultural products not for business purposes (hereinafter referred to as Decree No. 88/2002/ND-CP for short), the Minister of Culture and Information hereby guides a number of points in Decree No. 88/2002/ND-CP, as follows:

I. GENERAL PROVISIONS

1. Activities of exporting and importing cultural products not for business purposes (hereinafter called export and import of cultural products) according to the provisions in Clause 1, Article 1 of Decree No. 88/2002/ND-CP include activities of temporarily exporting for re-importing and temporarily importing for re-exporting cultural products.

2. The term "fine-art works" defined at Point c, Clause 2, Article 1 of Decree No. 88/2002/ND-CP is construed as products of fine-art creation, which are not mass-produced but only made uniquely, and each work has a distinctive value, for instance a painting, statue or brass relief, etc.

3. Handicrafts and fine-art articles are not subject to Decree No. 88/2002/ND-CP.

4. Organizations and individuals that export cultural products being relics, antiques and/or national treasures must obtain permits of the Ministry of Culture and Information or written permission of the Prime Minister according to the provisions in Articles 43 and 44 of the Cultural Heritage Law and Articles 24, 25 and 26, Chapter IV of the Governments Decree No. 92/2002/ND-CP of November 11,

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6. Cultural products being works done by foreign correspondents in Vietnam, when being exported, must comply with the Regulation on information and press activities of foreign correspondents, agencies and organizations in Vietnam, promulgated together with the Governments Decree No. 67/CP of October 31, 1996.

II. EXPORT AND IMPORT OF CULTURAL PRODUCTS

1. Cultural products which are exported requiring no permits of the culture and information agency according to the provisions in Article 5 of Decree No. 88/2002/ND-CP include the following types:

a/ Books, newspapers, magazines, documents, catalogs, pictures, photos, posters, calendars and maps of all kinds, which have already been lawfully distributed, publicized and circulated in Vietnam;

b/ Audio and video tapes and disks of all kinds, films, magnetic tapes, floppy disks, hard disks and optical disks already recorded; other products of the audio-visual technology already recorded with information in form of scripts, sounds or images, which have already been lawfully distributed, publicized and circulated in Vietnam;

d/ Fine-art works permitted to be circulated in Vietnam, which constitute lawful property of exporting organizations and individuals and are neither relics, antiques nor national treasures;

Vietnam.

2. Export cultural products classified as State secrets, defined in Clause 2, Article 7 of Decree No. 88/2002/ND-CP, shall comply with the provisions at Points 5 and 6 of Circular No. 12/2002/TT-BCA (A11) of September 13, 2002 of the Ministry of Public Security guiding the implementation of the Government�s Decree No. 33/2002/ND-CP of March 28, 2002 detailing the implementation of the Ordinance on Protection of State Secrets.

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4. Re-import of cultural products, which have already been lawfully exported, shall not require permits of the State management agency in charge of culture and information, the procedures therefor shall be carried out at the customs offices of border-gates through which such cultural products are imported.

5. The culture and information agencies competent to carry out the procedures for granting permits for import of cultural products according to Article 9 of Decree No. 88/2002/ND-CP are specified as follows:

a/ Cases falling under the permit-granting competence of the Ministry of Culture and Information shall go through the procedures at the Section for management of export and import of cultural products under the Office of the Ministry of Culture and Information.

III. IMPLEMENTATION PROVISIONS

1. The specialized culture and information inspectorate shall have to coordinate with the functional agencies in organizing inspections and examinations to detect violations, and handle them according to its competence.

2. Promulgated together with this Circular (not printed herein) are the forms of permits for import of cultural products of the Ministry of Culture and Information and the provincial/municipal Culture and Information Services and the application form for granting of permit for import of cultural products for uniform use throughout the country.

The form of permit of the Ministry of Culture and Information is coded BM.B, that of the provincial/municipal Culture and Information Services is coded BM.S, while the form of application for granting permit for export or import cultural products is coded BM.D.

3. Implementation effect

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4. The director of the Office and the chief inspector of the Ministry of Culture and Information, the directors of the provincial/municipal Culture and Information Services and the concerned organizations and individuals shall have to implement this Circular.

MINISTER OF CULTURE AND INFORMATION




Pham Quang Nghi