DECREE

ELABORATING SOME ARTICLES OF LAW ON COOPERATIVES

Pursuant to the Law on Government Organization dated June 19, 2015; the Law on Amendments to the Law on Government Organization and the Law on Local Government Organization dated November 22, 2019; 

Pursuant to the Law on Cooperatives dated June 20, 2023;

At the request of the Minister of Planning and Investment of Vietnam;

The Government promulgates a Decree elaborating some Articles of the Law on Cooperatives.

Chapter I

GENERAL PROVISIONS

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This Decree elaborates some Articles of the Law on Cooperatives regarding:

1. Classification of cooperatives.

2. Eligibility criteria, eligible entities, contents and levels of assistance, funding sources and organization of implementation of State assistance policies for development of artels, cooperatives and cooperative unions.

3. Requirements to be satisfied by cooperatives and cooperative unions for establishment of enterprises, contribution of capital to or purchase of shares of enterprises.

4. Requirements to be satisfied by cooperatives and cooperative unions for internal lending, and loan amounts and limits, interest rates, and settlement of risks associated with internal loans.

5. Internal transactions and income therefrom.

6. Disposal of assets upon dissolution or bankruptcy of cooperatives and cooperative unions.

Article 2. Regulated entities 

1. Artels, cooperatives and cooperative unions.

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3. Relevant authorities, organizations and individuals.

Article 3. Definitions

For the purpose of this Decree, the terms below are construed as follows:

1. “infrastructure” means infrastructure facilities and systems in various industries and fields such as education, vocational education and training, science and technology, health, population and family, society, culture and communications, radio and television broadcasting, and news, gymnastics and sports, environmental protection, agriculture, forestry, salt production, irrigation and fisheries, transportation, industrial parks, economic zones and industrial clusters, commerce, water supply and drainage, tourism, postal services, information technology, and other infrastructure facilities and systems as prescribed in laws, which are invested in, built and developed to serve common interests of communities and people.

2. “equipment” includes machinery, apparatus and technological lines. For the meaning of this term: machinery or apparatus means a complete structure comprised of parts, sets of parts, and components that are interconnected to operate or move to serve the intended design purpose; technological line means a system of machinery, apparatus, tools and other instruments that are installed or assembled and interconnected at a fixed site according to a designed technological process or diagram to ensure synchronous operation serving manufacturing.

Chapter II

CLASSIFICATION OF COOPERATIVES

Article 4. Operating fields and classification criteria

1. Operating fields:

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a) Agriculture includes level-1 agriculture, forestry and fishing; extraction of salt;

b) Industry and construction includes the following level-1 sections: mining and quarrying (excluding extraction of salt); manufacturing; manufacture and distribution of electricity, gas, hot water, steam and air conditioning; water supply; waste and wastewater management and treatment activities; construction;

c) Finance, banking and insurance includes the following level-1 sections: financial, banking and insurance activities;

d) Trade - services and other fields include the following level-1 sections: wholesale and retail, repair of motor vehicles, motorcycles and other motor vehicles; transportation and storage; accommodation and food service activities; information and communications; real estate activities; professional, scientific and technical activities; administrative and support service activities; education and training; human health and social work activities; arts, entertainment and recreation; other service activities.

2. Classification criteria:

a) Number of official members of the cooperative which is determined as at December 14 of the previous year and updated on the National cooperative information system according to regulations of law on required information, updating, use and management of the National cooperative information system;

b) Total capital of the cooperative which is specified in its annual financial statements submitted to the tax authority according to regulations of law on taxation. If a cooperative has operated for less than a full year and submits no annual financial statements to the tax authority, its total capital shall be the charter capital specified in its cooperative registration certificate;

c) Annual revenue of the cooperative which is total revenue from sale of goods and provision of services and other incomes earned by the cooperative as determined in its annual financial statements submitted to the tax authority according to regulations of law on taxation. If a cooperative has operated for less than a full year or has operated for more than 01 year but earned no revenue, its scale shall be determined according to total capital criterion in point b of this clause.

Article 5. Classification of cooperatives

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1. Classification of cooperatives in the field of agriculture:

a) A large cooperative shall have at least 300 official members and annual revenue of at least VND 50 billion or total capital of at least VND 10 billion;

b) A medium-sized cooperative shall have at least 200 official members and annual revenue of at least VND 10 billion or total capital of at least VND 05 billion;

c) A medium-sized cooperative shall have at least 50 official members and annual revenue of at least VND 02 billion or total capital of at least VND 01 billion;

d) A micro-cooperative is the one which is not classified in any of the classes in points a, b and c of this clause.

2. Classification of cooperatives in the field of industry - construction:

a) A large cooperative shall have at least 100 official members and annual revenue of at least VND 80 billion or total capital of at least VND 20 billion;

b) A medium-sized cooperative shall have at least 50 official members and annual revenue of at least VND 15 billion or total capital of at least VND 10 billion;

c) A medium-sized cooperative shall have at least 20 official members and annual revenue of at least VND 03 billion or total capital of at least VND 02 billion;

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3. Classification of cooperatives in the field of finance, banking and insurance:

a) A large cooperative shall have at least 1.000 official members and annual revenue of at least VND 200 billion or total capital of at least VND 50 billion;

b) A medium-sized cooperative shall have at least 500 official members and annual revenue of at least VND 100 billion or total capital of at least VND 20 billion;

c) A medium-sized cooperative shall have at least 100 official members and annual revenue of at least VND 50 billion or total capital of at least VND 10 billion;

d) A micro-cooperative is the one which is not classified in any of the classes in points a, b and c of this clause.

4. Classification of cooperatives in the field of trade - services and other fields:

a) A large cooperative shall have at least 200 official members and annual revenue of at least VND 100 billion or total capital of at least VND 20 billion;

b) A medium-sized cooperative shall have at least 100 official members and annual revenue of at least VND 20 billion or total capital of at least VND 10 billion;

c) A medium-sized cooperative shall have at least 20 official members and annual revenue of at least VND 05 billion or total capital of at least VND 02 billion;

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5. If a cooperative meets criteria for different classes, it shall be classified in the largest-sized class.

6. Classification of cooperatives is made and recorded on the National cooperative information system.

Chapter III

STATE ASSISTANCE POLICIES FOR DEVELOPMENT OF ARTELS, COOPERATIVES AND COOPERATIVE UNIONS

Article 6. Eligibility criteria for State assistance policies

1. A cooperative or cooperative union shall be eligible for the State assistance policies if meeting the following criteria:

a) It meets the criteria in point a clause 1 Article 18 of the Law on Cooperatives;

b) It meets any of these criteria at the time of application for assistance: the number of its members has increased for 02 consecutive years before the year of submission of application for assistance; there is an increase in its internal transaction rate in the year preceding the year of submission of application for assistance; the amount of contributions to undistributed fund is higher than the minimum required amount prescribed in Article 84 of the Law on Cooperatives in the year preceding the year of submission of application for assistance; there is an increase in its undistributed assets in the year preceding the year of submission of application for assistance; at least 5% of its total number of members and employees have attended education, training and refresher training courses organized by the cooperative or cooperative union itself or other authorities, associations or organizations and been issued with certificates of completion of such courses or have their names included in the list of members and employees attending education, training and refresher training courses, which must bear the seal of the cooperative or cooperative union (in case education, training and refresher training courses are organized by the cooperative or cooperative union itself, the cooperative or cooperative union must have the plan for organization of courses, training contents and list of courses bearing signatures of attendants) by the time of the year preceding the year of submission of application for assistance; it has been operating for a period of not exceeding 36 months at a disadvantaged or extremely disadvantaged area as prescribed by the Law on Investment by the time of application for assistance;

c) In case a cooperative or cooperative union applies for a state budget-derived financial support of at least VND 03 billion, its financial statements of the previous year which have been duly audited by an independent audit organization must be available at the time of application for assistance.

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a) It meets the criteria in point a clause 2 Article 18 of the Law on Cooperatives;

b) It meets the criteria in point b clause 2 Article 18 of the Law on Cooperatives;

c) It meets any of these criteria at the time of application for assistance: the number of its members has increased for 02 consecutive years before the year of submission of application for assistance; at least 5% of its total number of members and employees have attended education, training and refresher training courses organized by the artel itself or other authorities, associations or organizations and been issued with certificates of completion of such courses or have their names included in the list of members and employees attending education, training and refresher training courses, which must bear the seal of the artel (in case education, training and refresher training courses are organized by the artel itself, the artel must have the plan for organization of courses, training contents and list of courses bearing signatures of attendants) by the time of the year preceding the year of submission of application for assistance; it has been operating for a period of not exceeding 36 months at a disadvantaged or extremely disadvantaged area as prescribed by the Law on Investment by the time of application for assistance.

3. If there are multiple artels, cooperatives and cooperative unions meeting the criteria laid down in Clauses 1, 2 of this Article, they shall be selected for benefiting the State assistance policies according to the following order of priority: number of members; number of members who are disabled persons; number of members who are ethnic minorities; number of members and employees participating in compulsory social insurance and those participating in voluntary social insurance; number of women executives, members and employees; area of operations (in disadvantaged or extremely disadvantaged area); participation in value chain linkages and/or sectoral linkage clusters associated with green economy, circular economy, intellectual economy, organic agriculture, climate change adaptation and digital transformation for sustainable development; organization or participation in activities for benefits and interests of residential communities.

Article 7. Assistance policies for development of human resources

1. Eligible entities:

a) Higher education institutions that provide training courses in collective economy; institutions providing training in political theory and state management;

b) Members and employees who are working at the artel, cooperative or cooperative union that meets the criteria set out in Article 6 of this Decree and appointed by this artel, cooperative or cooperative union to attend training and refresher training programs;

c) Officials and public employees who are taking charge of collective economy-related tasks at ministries, central- and local-government authorities;

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dd) Public employees, lecturers specializing in collective economy of science research, education and training institutions.

2. Contents of assistance:

a) Funding is provided for covering costs of compiling, formulating and publishing training programs/syllabuses in collective economy used in higher education institutions and institutions providing training in political theory and state management;

b) Funding is provided for formulating and providing domestic and overseas training and refresher training programs in conformity with relevant laws for improving competence of officials and public employees in charge of collective economy-related tasks and members and employees working at artels, cooperatives and cooperative unions;

c) Training programs in professional knowledge, skills, operations and techniques are provided directly and online.  Training contents shall comply with the knowledge framework in line with the master program for development of collective economy;

d) Members and employees of artels, cooperatives and cooperative unions who attend domestic training and refresher training courses in professional knowledge, skills, operations and techniques are provided with funding for covering their costs of travel, meals and accommodation;

dd) Salaries, bonus and other benefits will be paid to persons who possess associate degree, bachelor’s degree or postgraduate degree and work for artels, cooperatives and cooperative unions;

e) Communications programs will be formulated and implemented for increasing awareness and knowledge of administration, production and business of artels, cooperatives and cooperative unions in conformity with each field, industry or region;

g) International cooperation in providing full-time training programs in collective economy as prescribed by the Law on Education shall be promoted.

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a) State budget shall provide funding for covering 100% of costs of formulating and providing training, refresher training and competence improvement programs;

b) When attending domestic courses, members and employees of artels, cooperatives and cooperative unions shall be provided by state budget with funding for covering 100% of tuitions and costs of learning materials as prescribed by training institutions; and funding for covering costs of meals and accommodation equaling at least 1,5 times the region-based minimum wage applied at the locality where the training course is provided. When attending overseas training courses, they shall be entitled to the same levels of state budget-derived funding as officials and public employees;

c) 100% of costs of provision of training and refresher training courses by officials and public employees of collective economy authorities, Vietnam Cooperative Alliance system, associations, societies, political organizations or socio-political organizations, and lecturers shall be covered by funding derived from state budget;

d) Each employee working at collective economic organizations as prescribed in point dd clause 2 of this Article shall be provided by local-government budget with a monthly amount of funding equaling at least 1,5 times the region-based minimum wage announced by the Government in each period;

dd) Ministries, central government authorities and People's Councils of all levels shall consider and decide or request competent authorities to consider and decide specific amount of funding provided for implementing each policy in conformity with priority orientations and resource balancing capacity in each period and regulations of law.

Article 8. Assistance policies for information provision

1. Eligible entities: Artels, cooperatives and cooperative unions.

2. Contents of assistance:

a) The following information is published on the National cooperative information system: contents of registration certificate issued to an artel, cooperative or cooperative union; information on assistance plans, programs, projects and activities for artels, cooperatives and cooperative unions; information on business guidelines; information on credit, market, products and technologies; information on policies and laws on collective economy of the Communist Party of Vietnam and of the State; other information to meet demands of artels, cooperatives and cooperative unions in conformity with regulations of law;

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c) Ministries, central government authorities and provincial People's Committees shall be granted user accounts for accessing the National cooperative information system to update and provide information at the request of artels, cooperatives and cooperative unions. User accounts for accessing the National cooperative information system are managed in a centralized manner on the National cooperative information system;

d) The National cooperative information system may integrate data obtained from relevant information systems and databases of Ministries, central government authorities and provincial People's Committees to provide information on assistance for artels, cooperatives and cooperative unions and other information at the request of enterprises, organizations and individuals.

3. Funding derived from state budget:

a) 100% of costs of implementing the policies in this Article shall be covered with state budget;

b) Ministries, central government authorities and People's Councils of all levels shall consider and decide or request competent authorities to consider and decide specific amount of funding provided for implementing each policy in conformity with priority orientations and resource balancing capacity in each period and regulations of law.

Article 9. Assistance policies for development of network of consulting service providers

1. Eligible entities:

a) Artels, cooperatives and cooperative unions;

b) Individuals and organizations providing consulting services for artels, cooperatives and cooperative unions.

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a) Provision of assistance in developing and improving capacity of the network of providers of counseling services for artels, cooperatives and cooperative unions, including: Vietnam Cooperative Alliance system, relevant public service providers, and other organizations and individuals engaged in provision of consulting services for artels, cooperatives and cooperative unions.

b) Artels, cooperatives and cooperative unions shall access the network of consultants to receive assistance in using consulting services on personnel, finance, production, goods sales, market, internal administration and other issues concerning production and business of artels, cooperatives and cooperative unions (excluding consultancy on administrative and legal procedures as prescribed in specialized laws).

3. Funding derived from state budget:

a) 100% of costs of implementing the policies in point a clause 2 of this Article shall be covered with state budget;

b) Ministries, central government authorities and People's Councils of all levels shall consider and decide or request competent authorities to consider and decide specific amount of funding provided for implementing each policy in conformity with priority orientations and resource balancing capacity in each period and regulations of law.

Article 10. Assistance policies for development of efficient operating models of cooperatives and cooperative unions in large scale

1. Eligible entities:

a) Cooperatives and cooperative unions that are determined to have been operating efficiently according to the criteria approved by competent authorities;

b) Articles, cooperatives and cooperative unions that wish to learn experience from efficient operating models of cooperatives and cooperative unions.

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a) Assistance in strengthening efficiently operating cooperatives and cooperative unions shall be given priority.

b) Contents of assistance given to cooperatives and cooperative unions that wish to learn experience from efficient operating models: organization of conferences and seminars for sharing experience; organization of physical visits and surveys; provision of consultancy on and formulation of business plans.

3. Funding derived from state budget:

a) 100% of costs of implementing the policies in this Article shall be covered with state budget;

b) Ministries, central government authorities and People's Councils of all levels shall consider and decide or request competent authorities to consider and decide specific amount of funding provided for implementing each policy in conformity with priority orientations and resource balancing capacity in each period and regulations of law.

Article 11. Assistance policies for application of science and technology, innovation and digital transformation

1. Eligible entities: Artels, cooperatives and cooperative unions.

2. Contents of assistance:

a) Provision of consultancy on solutions for digital transformation in business, administration, production and technological processes, and business model transformation;

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c) Provision of consultancy on establishment and protection of intellectual property rights; consultancy on management and development of products and services with protected intellectual property rights; consultancy on technology transfer;

d) The State shall develop some software programs and applications serving production and business which shall be jointly used by artels, cooperatives and cooperative unions free of charge.

dd) Provision of assistance for cooperatives and cooperative unions in building and connecting their own websites to the National cooperative information system.

3. Funding derived from state budget:

a) 100% of costs of implementing the policies in this Article shall be covered with state budget;

b) Ministries, central government authorities and People's Councils of all levels shall consider and decide or request competent authorities to consider and decide specific amount of funding provided for implementing each policy in conformity with priority orientations and resource balancing capacity in each period and regulations of law.

Article 12. Assistance policies on market access and research

1. Eligible entities: Artels, cooperatives and cooperative unions.

2. Contents of assistance:

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b) Provision of funding for attending domestic and overseas trade fairs, exhibitions, forums and trade promotion activities organized by ministries, regulatory authorities or local governments;

c) Provision of funding for quality certification, brand and trademark development, origin of goods, and origin tracing;

d) Artels, cooperatives and cooperative unions that have effective cooperation contracts on establishment of raw material areas, production and consumption of products shall be provided with funding for applying and obtaining certificates of conformity to relevant quality standards for market development;

dd) Provision of funding for renting and operating points of introducing and selling products at localities;

e) Provision of funding for construction, development and participation in e-commerce platforms;

g) Provision of funding for attending programs on development of products, goods and services of local origin and with typical economic and cultural values and advantages of local areas.

3. Funding derived from state budget:

a) State budget shall allocate funding for covering 100% of costs of participating in domestic trade fairs and exhibitions; costs of renting and operating some points of introducing and selling products of collective economic organizations;

b) State budget shall allocate funding for covering 100% of costs of participating in overseas trade fairs and exhibitions; joining collective economic forums; provision of assistance in registering for quality certification, brand and trademark development, origin of goods; construction and development of e-commerce platforms;

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Article 13. Assistance policies for investment in and development of infrastructure and equipment

1. Eligible entities: Artels, cooperatives and cooperative unions.

2. Contents of assistance: investment in infrastructure and equipment of artels, cooperatives and cooperative unions to serve their production and business, social security, environmental protection, climate change adaptation, and establishment of linkages for production, processing and consumption of products.

3. Funding sources: state budget-derived funding; funding from preferential credit programs; amounts lawfully mobilized from and donated by domestic and foreign organizations and individuals.

4. Forms and levels of assistance:

a) Assistance in investing in and developing infrastructure and equipment of artels, cooperatives and cooperative unions with public investment funding shall be given in the form of programs and projects as prescribed in the Law on Public Investment. A project may comprise multiple infrastructure and equipment works or work items of artels, cooperatives and cooperative unions operating in different industries, fields or regions; the project shall be classified in accordance with regulations of the Law on Public Investment. In case infrastructure and equipment works or work items of a project fall in different fields, the field with the highest amount of investment capital shall be used as the basis for classification of the project. Total investment of the project shall be derived from public investment funding source. Specific amount of public investment funding allocated to each project shall be considered and decided by the authority making decision on investment guidelines or the authority making investment decision (in case the investment guidelines of the project do not require approval) in conformity with priority orientations and capacity for balancing public investment funding in each period.

b) Assistance in investing in and developing infrastructure and equipment of artels, cooperatives and cooperative unions with state budget-derived funding, funding from preferential credit programs, and amounts lawfully mobilized from and donated by domestic and foreign organizations and individuals shall be given in accordance with relevant laws.

5. Provision of assistance using public investment funding:

Based on priority orientations for development of industries and fields, capacity for balancing public investment funding in each 05-year period, demands for assistance in investing in and developing infrastructure and equipment of artels, cooperatives and cooperative unions:

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b) Provincial People's Committees shall use and allocate public investment funding under their management, including dedicated additional funding derived from superior budget, to infrastructure and equipment investment projects/programs under their management in conformity with principles, criteria and norms for allocating state budget-derived public investment funding in each period of the medium-term public investment plan.

6. Consolidation of demands for assistance in investing in and developing infrastructure and equipment with public investment funding under management of Ministries/central government authorities:

a) Based on principles, criteria and norms for allocating state budget-derived investment funding for the next period of competent authorities and directives on formulation of the medium-term public investment plan for the next period of the Prime Minister, Ministries/central government authorities shall give written instructions for artels, cooperatives and cooperative unions to determine and submit their demands for assistance in investing in and developing infrastructure and equipment for artels, cooperatives and cooperative unions with public investment funding under management of Ministries/central government authorities in the medium-term public investment plan for the next period;

b) Based on demands for assistance in investing in and developing infrastructure and equipment of artels, cooperatives and cooperative unions with public investment funding, within 10 days from their receipt of such demands, Ministries/central government authorities shall examine and give their response notifying artels, cooperatives and cooperative unions of whether their demands are conformable with provisions on principles, eligible entities, criteria, eligibility requirements and orientations for development of industries and fields in the period. Ministries/central government authorities shall include demands for assistance of artels, cooperatives and cooperative unions which are considered conformable with principles, eligible entities, criteria, eligibility requirements and orientations for development of industries and fields in the period in their proposed medium-term public investment plan for the next period under their management;

c) Ministries/central government authorities shall send notice of demands for assistance of artels, cooperatives and cooperative unions as prescribed in point b of this clause to provincial People’s Committees for management. Such notice is made using Form 03 in the Appendix enclosed herewith. The provincial People’s Committees shall notify relevant Ministries/central government authorities in writing of any demands for assistance that they notified but coincide with those specified in point b clause 7 of this Article or are unclear for cooperation in handling as prescribed in clause 3 Article 17 of the Law on Cooperatives;

d) Upon completion of clarification of demands for assistance of artels, cooperatives and cooperative unions in cooperation with provincial People’s Committees as prescribed in point c of this clause, Ministries/central government authorities shall assign their affiliated specialized agencies to prepare reports on proposed investment guidelines of infrastructure and equipment investment projects/programs for artels, cooperatives and cooperative unions as prescribed in clause 8 of this Article.

7. Consolidation of demands for assistance in investing in and developing infrastructure and equipment with public investment funding under management of provincial People’s Committees:

a) Based on principles, criteria and norms for allocating state budget-derived investment funding for the next period of competent authorities and directives on formulation of the medium-term public investment plan for the next period of the Prime Minister, provincial People’s Committees shall instruct relevant agencies/units to give written instructions for local artels, cooperatives and cooperative unions to determine and submit their demands for assistance in investing in and developing infrastructure and equipment for artels, cooperatives and cooperative unions with public investment funding under management of provincial People’s Committees in the medium-term public investment plan for the next period;

b) Based on demands for assistance in investing in and developing infrastructure and equipment of local artels, cooperatives and cooperative unions with public investment funding, within 10 working days from their receipt of proposed demands from their affiliated Commune-level People’s Committees, District-level People’s Committees shall examine and give their response notifying artels, cooperatives and cooperative unions of whether their demands are conformable with provisions on principles, eligible entities, criteria, eligibility requirements and orientations for development of industries and fields in the period. District-level People’s Committees shall prepare consolidated reports on demands for assistance of local artels, cooperatives and cooperative unions which are considered conformable with principles, eligible entities, criteria, eligibility requirements and orientations for development of industries and fields in the period, and submit them to Provincial Departments of Planning and Investment;

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8. Preparation, appraisal and issuance of decisions on investment guidelines or preparation, appraisal and issuance of investment decisions, and preparation and allocation of medium-term and annual public investment plans for programs/projects prescribed in clauses 6 and 7 of this Article shall comply with provisions of the Law on Public Investment and relevant laws. In case a program/project on assistance in investing in and developing infrastructure and equipment for artels, cooperatives and cooperative unions under the management of the provincial People’s Committee is to be executed in the territory of a district and the People’s Committee of this district also meets experience and capacity requirements for managing and executing the program/project, the Chairperson of the provincial People’s Committee shall consider deciding to assign this District-level People’s Committee to act as the program/project owner.

9. Methods of assistance and post-investment management mechanisms:

a) With respect to an investment project on construction of infrastructure and equipment works intended to serve a single artel, cooperative or cooperative union, regulatory authorities in charge of executing the project shall transfer such infrastructure and equipment works to that artel, cooperative or cooperative union for use. The artel, cooperative or cooperative union shall itself allocate funding for covering costs of operation, maintenance and repair of these works/assets after transfer. These costs may be recorded as business expenses of the artel, cooperative or cooperative union;

b) With respect to an investment project on construction of infrastructure and equipment works intended to jointly serve at least two artels, cooperatives and cooperative unions, regulatory authorities in charge of executing the project or the authority making investment decision shall consider delegate or authorize a State’s competent authority to manage such works in accordance with regulations of law;

c) Infrastructure and equipment works which the artel, cooperative or cooperative union receives as assistance shall be considered as the artel’s common assets or the undistributed assets of the cooperative or cooperative union.

10. With respect to a project on assistance in investing in and developing infrastructure and equipment entirely funded by local government budget-derived public investment funding, procedures for formulation, appraisal and issuance of decision on investment guidelines or investment decision and allocation of medium-term and annual investment funding plans shall comply with provisions of the Law on Public Investment, principles, criteria and norms for allocating state budget-derived investment funding of competent authorities and regulations adopted by People's Councils of all levels.

11. With respect to projects on assistance in investing in and developing infrastructure and equipment included in national target programs, procedures for formulation and appraisal of projects, issuance of investment decisions and allocation of medium-term and annual investment funding plans shall comply with provisions of the Law on Public Investment, mechanisms for management and implementation of national target programs, and regulations adopted by People's Councils of all levels.

Article 14. Transfer of infrastructure works, public works and other infrastructure systems of the State

1. Transfer of infrastructure works, public works and other infrastructure systems of the State to artels, cooperatives and cooperative unions means the State's permission given to artels, cooperatives and cooperative unions to manage and use these assets under the forms and methods for operating public property in accordance with regulations of law on management and use of public property and relevant laws.

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a) The public property to be transferred is lawful property that is not in any dispute or lawsuit, is not leased, rent, pledged, mortgaged or used as guarantee for fulfilling any debt obligations;

b) Ministries, central government authorities and People’s Committees at all levels shall have the power to or request competent authorities to transfer public property to artels, cooperatives and cooperative unions for management and use in accordance with regulations of law on management and use of public property and relevant laws.

3. Artels, cooperatives and cooperative unions shall be considered to receive transfer of infrastructure assets for management, use and operation in accordance with regulations of law on management and use of public property and relevant laws.

4. Artels, cooperatives and cooperative unions shall be considered to receive transfer of some public works and other infrastructure systems for use as their head offices, warehouse facilities, stores/showrooms selling, displaying and introducing products or for serving their business as prescribed in regulations of law on management and use of public property and relevant laws.

5. Procedures for transfer and management, use and operation of assets transferred as prescribed in clauses 3 and 4 of this Article shall comply with regulations of law on management and use of public property and relevant laws.

Article 15. Assistance policies on financial consultancy and risk assessment

1. Eligible entities:

a) Artels, cooperatives and cooperative unions;

b) Representative bodies of artels, cooperatives and cooperative unions; Vietnam Cooperative Alliance system.

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a) The State shall provide cooperatives with financial assistance for covering costs of audits of their financial statements of the previous year conducted by independent audit organizations. A small or micro cooperative shall receive the financial assistance of at least VND 03 billion from the State. The scale of cooperatives shall be determined at the time of application for assistance according to classification criteria set out in clause 2 Article 4 of this Decree;

b) The State shall provide funding for representative bodies of artels, cooperatives and cooperative unions, and Vietnam Cooperative Alliance system for carrying out risk assessment and financial consultancy, and providing consultancy on internal control and internal audit for artels, cooperatives and cooperative unions under schemes/programs approved by competent authorities in conformity with provisions of the Law on State Budget.

3. Funding derived from state budget:

a) 100% of costs of implementing the policies in this Article shall be covered with state budget;

b) Ministries, central government authorities and People's Councils of all levels shall consider and decide or request competent authorities to consider and decide specific amount of funding provided for implementing each policy in conformity with priority orientations and resource balancing capacity in each period and regulations of law.

Article 16. Assistance policies in agriculture

1. Eligible entities: Artels, cooperatives and cooperative unions operating in agriculture.

2. Contents of assistance:

In addition to the assistance policies in Articles 7 through 15 of this Decree, artels, cooperatives and cooperative unions operating in agriculture shall be also entitled to the following:

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b) Financial assistance for building infrastructure of raw material areas when they establish concentrated raw material areas using land use rights that they receive as capital contribution or land/land areas containing water surface leased by other organizations, family households and individuals: construction of hydraulic structures and inner-field roads in the fields of cultivation, forestry and salt production (including sewers, pumping stations, wells, water pipelines, rolling weirs, channels, reservoirs, structures on channels and embankments of all kinds, key water supply systems for economical irrigation, inner-field main roads, fire barriers, forestry roads); construction of infrastructure works in aquaculture areas, including key water supply and drainage systems (ponds, tanks, culverts, channels, water supply and drainage pipelines, pumping stations), dikes, embankments, roads, shared wastewater treatment works for aquaculture areas; buoy systems, warning lights of farming area boundaries, cage anchoring systems, upgrading and developing concentrated aquaculture cages; construction of infrastructure works for intensive farming areas, including: shared roads and wastewater treatment systems for intensive farming areas, and animal housing.

3. State budget-derived funding, levels of assistance, procedures for execution of public investment projects, methods of assistance and post-investment management mechanisms for infrastructure investment projects prescribed in point b clause 2 of this Article shall comply with provisions of clauses 3 through 11 Article 13 of this Decree.

Article 17. Assistance procedures

1. Each artel, cooperative or cooperative union shall submit 01 package of application for registration of assistance demands to the People’s Committee of the same commune as that in the artel’s mailing address or where the cooperative or cooperative union is headquartered.

2. An application for registration of assistance demands includes:

a) An application form which is made using Form 01 in the Appendix enclosed herewith and must include the applicant’s commitments that it does not commit any of the prohibited acts prescribed in clause 2 Article 7 of the Law on Cooperatives, and is not serving any Court’s criminal sentence in effect;

b) Copies of relevant documents proving its satisfaction of eligibility criteria set out in points b, c clause 1; points a, c clause 2; clause 3 Article 6 of this Decree;

c) In case of assistance in investing in infrastructure and equipment or transfer of infrastructure works, public works and other State’s infrastructure systems to the artel, cooperative or cooperative union, the application must also include the meeting minutes bearing signatures of all members of the artel, or the resolution of the Board of Directors (if the cooperative or cooperative union operates adopting fully-organized management model) or the resolution of the General Meeting of Members (if the cooperative or cooperative union operates adopting simplified management model).

3. Application submission:

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b) In case of online application, the receipt and handling of administrative procedures shall comply with regulations of law on handling of online administrative procedures.

4. The Commune-level People’s Committee shall take the following actions:

a) Within 10 days from its receipt of the application, the Commune-level People’s Committee shall send a notice of acknowledgement of receipt of the application which is made using Form 02 in the Appendix enclosed herewith to the applicant;

b) Before May 31 each year (or at the request of a competent authority), the Commune-level People’s Committee shall send a consolidated report on assistance demands of artels, cooperatives and cooperative unions located in its commune to the District-level People’s Committee for inclusion in its consolidated report submitted to competent authorities for consideration;

c) If the Commune-level People’s Committee is capable of and has sufficient resources for giving assistance, it shall directly consider giving assistance to the artel, cooperative or cooperative union within its competence.

5. The District-level People’s Committee shall take the following actions:

a) Prepare a consolidated report on assistance demands of artels, cooperatives and cooperative unions submitted by Commune-level People’s Committees;

b) Submit it to the authority competent to give assistance at their request or submit it to the relevant provincial People's Committee by June 30 each year;

c) If the District-level People’s Committee is capable of and has sufficient resources for giving assistance, it shall directly consider giving assistance to artels, cooperatives and cooperative unions within its competence.

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a) Documents submitted to a competent authority for approval of investment guidelines or approval of investment must also include a document made by the artel, cooperative or cooperative union to ratify contents of assistance which it applies for;

b) In addition to its members prescribed in clause 1 Article 17 of the Government’s Decree No. 59/2023/ND-CP dated August 14, 2023 elaborating some Articles of the Law on grassroots-level democracy, a public investment supervision board must also be comprised of at least 02 members that are representatives of the artel, cooperative or cooperative union benefiting assistance policies;

c) Documents related to the transfer of infrastructure and equipment works must include the acceptance of transfer letter made by the artel, cooperative or cooperative union;

d) With respect to a provincial master project on assistance in development of collective economy funded by central-government budget: provisions of Article 13 of this Decree shall apply.

7. Cost estimation and provision of assistance for artels, cooperatives and cooperative unions with use of funding for recurrent expenditures shall comply with provisions of the Law on State Budget.

8. Provision of assistance to regulatory authorities, organizations, associations and societies that are vested with tasks, and their officials, public employees and contractual employees as prescribed in Articles 7, 9 and 15 of this Decree shall comply with regulations of law on officials and public employees and relevant laws.

9. Documents required for reimbursement and final statement of state budget-derived funding for giving assistance to artels, cooperatives and cooperative unions shall comply with provisions of the Law on State Budget.

10. Artels, cooperatives and cooperative unions shall assume legal responsibility for the accuracy and truthfulness of the information in their applications for registration of assistance demands as prescribed in clause 2 of this Article.

11. If an artel, cooperative or cooperative union is found by a competent authority in charge of performing assistance tasks to provide untruthful information or have violated the commitments in its application form, assistance given to it shall be rescinded and it shall incur penalties in accordance with regulations of law.

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ASSETS AND FINANCE OF COOPERATIVES AND COOPERATIVE UNIONS

Article 18. Requirements to be satisfied by cooperatives and cooperative unions for establishment of enterprises, contribution of capital to or purchase of shares of enterprises

A cooperative or cooperative union shall be allowed to establish enterprise, make capital contribution to or purchase shares of enterprises for the purposes of assisting its operation, promotion of its linkages, consumption or use of its products and services when the following requirements are satisfied:

1. The business lines of the enterprise that is established by or with capital contribution by the cooperative or cooperative union or whose shares are purchased by the cooperative or cooperative union are related to those of cooperative or cooperative union as registered with the business registration authority.

2. Use of capital of a cooperative or cooperative union for establishing an enterprise, making capital contribution to or purchasing shares of an enterprise must be approved by its General Meeting of Members in conformity with provisions of the Law on Cooperatives and relevant laws.

3. Incomes earned from the enterprise that is established by or with capital contribution by the cooperative or cooperative union or whose shares are purchased by the cooperative or cooperative union must be managed and used with approval of its General Meeting of Members that must decide the specific percentage of these incomes to be contributed to its undistributed fund in conformity with provisions of the Law on Cooperatives and relevant laws.

Article 19. Internal lending by cooperatives and cooperative unions

1. In order to perform internal lending transactions, a cooperative or cooperative union shall be required to meet the following conditions:

a) Internal loans are granted using these funding sources: its incomes that remain after having fulfilled all tax and other financial obligations, settling losses, making contributions to funds and distributions to its members as prescribed in the Law on Cooperatives, charter capital, and other sources of funding used for establishing its equity, provided that the amount from these funding sources used for granting internal loans shall not exceed 30% of the equity of the cooperative or cooperative union recorded in its annual financial statements of the previous year submitted to the tax authority;

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c) It meets the conditions set out in points a, c clause 2 Article 83 of the Law on Cooperatives.

2. The maximum loan amount granted to a member of the cooperative or cooperative union during a period shall be subject to decision issued by its General Meeting of Members and shall not exceed 5% of the amount of its equity used for granting internal loans.

3. The term of a loan granted to a member shall be decided by the Board of Directors on the basis of the loan purpose and the borrower’s solvency, but shall not exceed 12 months.

4. The bracket of rates of interests on internal loans shall be decided by the General Meeting of Members, provided that the maximum interest rate shall be 20%/year of the loan amount. The specific rate of interest charged on each internal loan granted shall be decided by the Board of Directors on the basis of the loan term and loan purpose but shall not be outside the interest rate bracket decided by the General Meeting of Members.

The rate of interest charged on overdue loan amount shall be 150% of the rate of interest charged on due repayment of the outstanding principal specified in the signed internal loan agreement.

Lending interest rates must be openly posted at the headquarters of the cooperative of cooperative union.

5. The Board of Directors and the borrower shall reach an agreement on the period of the loan principal and interest repayment which may be monthly, quarterly or seasonal repayment or lump-sum repayment of the loan principal and interest when they become due on the basis of the loan purpose and the borrower’s solvency.

6. Grant of secured or unsecured loans and measures for disposal of collateral for debt collection shall be decided by the General Meeting of Members at the request of the Board of Directors on the basis of the loan purpose, term and amount, and in conformity with provisions of the Civil Code.

Measures for disposal of collateral for debt collection (if any) must be specified in the internal loan agreement.

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8. In case the borrower’s request for extension of the loan term is refused, the Board of Directors shall follow delinquency procedures for the outstanding loan debt and impose the rate of interest on overdue debt as agreed upon in the internal loan agreement. Additionally, the cooperative or cooperative union is entitled to implement the measures for disposal of collateral for debt collection as agreed upon in the internal loan agreement. 

9. In case of internal loan losses, the cooperative or cooperative union may record such loan losses after they have been offset by compensations paid by individual(s) and department(s) at fault and the insurer (if any) as its expenses in the period, and record a decrease in the value of internal loans granted.

10. The cooperative or cooperative union shall do accounting for its internal loans in accordance with regulations of law on accounting for cooperatives and cooperative unions.

11. The cooperative or cooperative union shall stop granting internal loans in the following circumstances:

a) When the overdue debt exceeds 5% of total outstanding debt, the cooperative or cooperative union shall stop granting internal loans to adopt appropriate measures for collecting overdue debts. It shall continue granting internal loans when the ratio of overdue debt to total outstanding debt falls below 5%.

b) During its grant of internal loans, if the cooperative or cooperative union fails to meet the requirements set forth in clause 1 of this Article, it shall be required to stop granting internal loans until it meets such requirements as prescribed;

c) The internal loan agreements which are signed before the cooperative or cooperative union stops granting internal loans shall still remain valid but shall not be extended.

12. Upon the end of a fiscal year the Board of Directors shall submit the plan for settlement of the loan debts which borrowers are incapable of making repayment to the General Meeting of Members according to regulations on risk management measures approved by the General Meeting of Members.

Article 20. Internal transactions of cooperatives and cooperative unions and incomes therefrom

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a) The cooperative or cooperative union itself produces or purchases products/materials for supplying as input materials to its official members to serve their production according to general orientations of the cooperative or cooperative union or to meet their needs;

b) The cooperative or cooperative union itself provides or hires other entities to provide services to serve production of its official members according to general orientations of the cooperative or cooperative union or to meet their needs;

c) The cooperative or cooperative union provides services such as storage, classification, cleaning, preservation, packaging, preliminary processing, processing and sale of products of its official members;

d) The cooperative or cooperative union acts as sponsor of its official members with entities supplying input materials and services or purchasing their products through promoting conclusion of contracts between its official members and such entities. The cooperative or cooperative union shall receive sponsorship fees from its official members and suppliers/buyers;

dd) The cooperative or cooperative union considers granting internal loans to its official members to cover their business expenses or meet their needs.

2. Income from internal transactions of a cooperative or cooperative union equals its revenues earned from internal transactions minus (-) costs directly associated with such internal transactions.

Article 21. Disposal of assets upon dissolution or bankruptcy of cooperatives and cooperative unions

1. The cooperative/cooperative union shall review and make a statistical report on its capital, funds and assets, including: total undistributed fund and undistributed assets as prescribed in Article 84 and clause 2 Article 88 of the Law on Cooperatives and sorted by their sources, and its other capital, funds and assets.

Management, use and depreciation of undistributed assets shall be carried out in the same manner as fixed assets in accordance with regulations of law on management, use and depreciation of fixed assets.

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a) Undistributed fund; name and types of undistributed assets;

b) Year of establishment or acquisition;

c) Values of undistributed fund and undistributed assets upon their establishment or acquisition, and contribution ratios sorted by their sources;

d) Residual values of undistributed assets sorted by their sources (values of assets that remain after they have been fully depreciated and re-valued according to clause 3 Article 77 of the Law on Cooperatives);

dd) Time limit and procedures for transfer of undistributed fund and undistributed assets established or acquired with financial assistance from the State to the District-level People's Committee that issued the cooperative registration certificate;

e) Request for priority in receiving transfer of undistributed assets as prescribed in clause 9 of this Article (if any);

g) Other contents (where necessary).

3. If there are insufficient documents used for determining sources of funding used for establishing or acquiring undistributed fund and undistributed assets and ratios thereof, undistributed fund and undistributed assets established or acquired with financial assistance from the State shall be determined according to assistance documents retained by authorities giving such assistance and be settled and disposed of according to clauses 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 and 11 of this Article.

4. The cooperative/cooperative union shall transfer the undistributed fund which is established from financial assistance from the State to the District-level People’s Committee that issued the cooperative registration certificate for further transfer to the same-level state budget.

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6. The undistributed assets prescribed in point a clause 2 Article 88 of the Law on Cooperatives shall be disposed of according to provisions of the Land Law.

7. The undistributed assets prescribed in points c, dd clause 2 Article 88 of the Law on Cooperatives and entirely acquired from the State's financial assistance shall be transferred to the District-level People’s Committee that issued the cooperative registration certificate as prescribed in clause 10, points a, b, c, d and dd clause 11 of this Article for further disposal in accordance with regulations of law on management and use of public property.

8. The undistributed assets prescribed in point c clause 2 Article 88 of the Law on Cooperatives and partially acquired from the State's financial assistance, except the cases prescribed in clause 9 of this Article, shall be valued according to clause 3 Article 77 of the Law on Cooperatives and transferred to the District-level People’s Committee that issued the cooperative registration certificate as prescribed in clauses 10, 11 of this Article for further transfer or disposal in accordance with regulations of law on property auction. A portion of the proceeds from transfer or disposal of assets that remain after deducting costs of the transfer or disposal, including valuation costs, auction costs, other relevant costs and taxes payable as prescribed, shall be returned to the cooperative or cooperative union in proportion to its sources of funding used for establishing or acquiring such assets for further settlement as prescribed in clauses 4 and 5 Article 101 of the Law on Cooperatives and relevant laws. The remaining portion of such proceeds corresponding to the State financial assistance shall be paid to the same-level state budget.

9. If the undistributed asset is the property on land which is partially established using the State’s financial assistance and is built on the land area over which the land use rights belong to the cooperative or cooperative union and are used by the cooperative or cooperative union as counterpart capital for investing in this piece of property on land, upon the dissolution or bankruptcy of the cooperative or cooperative union, it shall be valued according to clause 3 Article 77 of the Law on Cooperatives and transferred to the District-level People's Committee that issued the cooperative registration certificate as prescribed in clauses 10, 11 of this Article for further disposal as follows:

a) The cooperative or cooperative union shall be given priority in receiving transfer of the undistributed asset if it has submitted a request as prescribed in point e clause 2 of this Article. The transfer price shall be the value of the asset which is determined according to clause 3 Article 77 of the Law on Cooperatives. After deducting the valuation costs, other relevant costs and taxes payable as prescribed, the cooperative or cooperative union shall return an amount corresponding to the State’s financial assistance used for establishing the asset to the District-level People's Committee that issued the cooperative registration certificate for further transfer to the same-level state budget.

After transfer, the asset shall be considered the undistributed asset without the State’s financial assistance of the cooperative or cooperative union and disposed of according to clause 5 of this Article.

b) If the cooperative or cooperative union refuses to receive transfer of the undistributed asset, the District-level People's Committee that issued the cooperative registration certificate shall carry out transfer or disposal of the asset according to provisions of the Law on Property Auction. A portion of the proceeds from transfer or disposal of the undistributed asset that remain after deducting costs of the transfer or disposal (including valuation costs, auction costs, other relevant costs and taxes payable as prescribed) shall be returned to the cooperative or cooperative union in proportion to its sources of funding used for establishing or acquiring such assets for further settlement as prescribed in clauses 4 and 5 Article 101 of the Law on Cooperatives and relevant laws. The remaining portion of such proceeds corresponding to the State’s financial assistance shall be paid to the same-level state budget.

10. Within 10 days from the day on which the cooperative or cooperative union submits its dissolution resolution as prescribed in point a clause 3 Article 98 of the Law on Cooperatives, it shall submit a dossier on transfer of undistributed fund and undistributed assets as prescribed in clauses 4, 7, 8 and 9 of this Article to the District-level People's Committee that issued the cooperative registration certificate. Such transfer dossier includes:

a) Assistance decision issued by a competent authority; record of handover of works/assets made by the authority in charge of giving assistance; depreciation journal of the undistributed assets; report on valuation of the undistributed assets which have been transferred or disposed of during its operation as prescribed in clause 3 Article 77 of the Law on Cooperatives (if undistributed assets are valued) and payment receipts for transferring the value of these assets which have been transferred or disposed of to the undistributed fund (copies);

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c) Other relevant documents (if any).

11. The District-level People's Committee that issued the cooperative registration certificate receives and processes the dossier on transfer of undistributed fund and undistributed assets as follows:

a) If the dossier is not adequate and valid as prescribed in clause 10 of this Article, within 03 working days from its receipt of the dossier, the District-level People's Committee that issued the cooperative registration certificate shall request the cooperative or cooperative union in writing to modify the dossier. The requested cooperative or cooperative union is required to complete the modification of the dossier within 03 working days;

b) If the cooperative or cooperative union fails to submit the dossier as prescribed in clause 10 of this Article or fails to modify the dossier as prescribed in point a of this clause, within 10 days from the deadline for submission or modification of the dossier, the District-level People's Committee that issued the cooperative registration certificate shall complete the valuation of the undistributed assets and determination of the value of the undistributed assets in proportion to the State’s financial assistance according to documents retained at the authority in charge of performing assistance policies, and send a notice of such values to the cooperative or cooperative union;

c) Information on receipt of the undistributed fund and undistributed assets transferred from the cooperative or cooperative union shall be published on the website of the District-level People's Committee that issued the cooperative registration certificate and on the National cooperative information system within 30 days from its receipt of adequate and valid transfer dossier or from the day on which the District-level People's Committee that issued the cooperative registration certificate sends a notice of the value of the undistributed assets and the value corresponding to the State’s financial assistance to the cooperative or cooperative union;

d) Within 05 working days from the deadline for publishing information prescribed in point c of this clause, if no complaint is received, the District-level People's Committee that issued the cooperative registration certificate shall establish a council in charge of receipt of the undistributed fund and undistributed assets transferred from the cooperative or cooperative union, organize such receipt and issue a decision on receipt of the undistributed fund and undistributed assets transferred from the cooperative or cooperative union which must be accompanied with a transfer record made by representatives of the cooperative or cooperative union and the District-level People's Committee that issued the cooperative registration certificate. The transfer record must include information on the participants in the transfer session, detailed documents on the undistributed fund and undistributed assets transferred from the cooperative or cooperative union, and values of the undistributed assets and the value corresponding to the State’s financial assistance;

dd) With respect to the undistributed assets which are the assets prescribed in points c, dd clause 2 Article 88 of the Law on Cooperatives and entirely acquired using the State's financial assistance, the District-level People’s Committee that issued the cooperative registration certificate shall transfer such assets to competent authorities for further disposal in accordance with regulations of law on management and use of public property;

e) With respect to the undistributed asset which is partially established or acquired using the State’s financial assistance, when issuing a decision on receipt of the undistributed fund and undistributed assets as prescribed in point d of this clause, the District-level People’s Committee that issued the cooperative registration certificate shall send an official dispatch requesting the cooperative or cooperative union to appoint a representative of its Board of Directors (in case of fully-organized management model) or its Director (in case of simplified management model), representative of its Board of Controllers or Controller, representative of its members or member cooperative to join the council in charge of transfer or disposal of the undistributed assets (hereinafter referred to as “disposal council”).

Within 05 working days from its receipt of the official dispatch, the cooperative or cooperative union shall a written appointment of representatives joining the disposal council to the District-level People’s Committee that issued the cooperative registration certificate;

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Such disposal council is composed of a Chairperson who is a representative of the District-level People’s Committee that issued the cooperative registration certificate, standing member who is a representative of the finance authority of the same level as the business registration authority, other members who are representatives of same-level specialized agencies, provincial cooperative alliance or representative body (if the cooperative or cooperative union is a member of this alliance or body), representatives of the People’s Committee of commune, ward or commune-level town where the cooperative or cooperative union is headquartered, representative of the Board of Directors of the cooperative or cooperative union (in case of fully-organized management model) or its Director (in case of simplified management model), representative of its Board of Controllers or Controller, and representatives of its members or member cooperatives.

If the cooperative or cooperative union fails to appoint its representatives to join the disposal council, the District-level People’s Committee that issued the cooperative registration certificate shall still establish the disposal council without representatives of the cooperative or cooperative union for carrying out transfer or disposal of the undistributed assets of the cooperative or cooperative union. The disposal of the undistributed assets shall be carried out in case they are fully depreciated, obsolete or damaged and could not be repaired or could not be effectively used after being repaired;

h) Within 03 working days upon completion of the transfer or disposal of assets, the disposal council shall submit a report on transfer or disposal of assets which clearly indicates the costs of transfer or disposal (including costs of valuation, auction costs and other relevant costs and taxes payable as prescribed) to the District-level People’s Committee that issued the cooperative registration certificate for use as the basis for settling proceeds from the transfer or disposal as prescribed.

12. The capital, funds and assets other than the undistributed fund and undistributed assets, and earnings of the cooperative or cooperative union shall be settled in accordance with clauses 4 and 5 Article 101 of the Law on Cooperatives.

Chapter V

IMPLEMENTATION ORGANIZATION

Article 22. Responsibilities of Ministries, central government authorities and Governmental agencies

1. The Ministry of Planning and Investment of Vietnam shall:

a) play the leading role and cooperate with relevant Ministries/central government authorities in requesting competent authorities to consider approving the master program for development of collective economy in conformity with relevant laws;

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c) play the leading role and cooperate with the Ministry of Finance of Vietnam in preparing and submitting a consolidated report to competent authorities on measures for allocation of state budget-derived public investment funding under the medium-term and annual public investment plans for executing public investment projects according to assistance policies in Article 13, Article 16 of this Decree and provisions of the Law on Public Investment on the basis of proposals of Ministries, central- and provincial-government authorities;

d) build, manage and operate the National cooperative information system.

2. The Ministry of Finance of Vietnam shall:

play the leading role and cooperate with the Ministry of Planning and Investment of Vietnam in preparing and submitting a consolidated report to competent authorities on measures for allocation of annual funding for non-profit activities derived from central-government budget for implementing assistance policies for artels, cooperatives and cooperative unions in accordance with provisions of this Decree and the Law on State Budget.

3. Within the ambit of their assigned duties and powers, Ministries, ministerial agencies and governmental agencies shall:

a) based on their resource balancing capacity, formulate plans and annual and medium-term estimates of state budget-derived funding for giving assistance to artels, cooperatives and cooperative unions operating in industries/fields under their management as prescribed in the Law on Cooperatives and this Decree, and send them to the Ministry of Planning and Investment of Vietnam and the Ministry of Finance of Vietnam for inclusion in annual and medium-term estimates of state budget-derived funding for giving assistance to artels, cooperatives and cooperative unions;

b) proactively use funding from allocated annual and medium-term state budget estimates for giving assistance to artels, cooperatives and cooperative unions;

c) disclose information on assistance for artels, cooperatives and cooperative unions on their websites; provide and update information on assistance for artels, cooperatives and cooperative unions on the National cooperative information system as prescribed in clause 5 Article 113 of the Law on Cooperatives;

d) submit reports to the Ministry of Planning and Investment of Vietnam and the Ministry of Finance of Vietnam on implementation of assistance contents, schemes, programs and/or projects for artels, cooperatives and cooperative unions in accordance with regulations of the Law on State Budget and relevant laws;

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Article 23. Responsibilities of provincial People’s Committees

1. Promulgate or request Provincial-level People’s Councils to promulgate programs on development of collective economy in conformity with their local characteristics and provisions of the Law on Cooperatives and this Decree.

2. Disclose information on assistance for artels, cooperatives and cooperative unions on provincial websites; provide and update information on assistance for artels, cooperatives and cooperative unions on the National cooperative information system as prescribed in clause 5 Article 113 of the Law on Cooperatives.

3. Submit reports to the Ministry of Planning and Investment of Vietnam and the Ministry of Finance of Vietnam on implementation of assistance contents, schemes, programs and/or projects for artels, cooperatives and cooperative unions in their provinces in accordance with regulations of the Law on State Budget and relevant laws.

4. Within the ambit of their assigned tasks and powers, carry out inspection of compliance with laws by artels, cooperatives and cooperative unions; take actions against violations as prescribed by laws.

Chapter VI

IMPLEMENTATION

Article 24. Effect and transition

1. This Decree comes into force from November 01, 2024.

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3. The Government’s Decree No. 107/2017/ND-CP dated September 15, 2017 providing amendments to the Government’s Decree No. 193/2013/ND-CP dated November 21, 2013 elaborating some Articles of the Law on Cooperatives 2012 is abrogated.

4. Before the National cooperative information system is put into official operation, reporting, information provision and updating according to guidelines on this System shall be made in the form of physical papers or emails.

5. Cooperatives and cooperative unions shall continue using balances on their provisions for credit losses (if any) for settling loans under internal credit contracts signed before September 01, 2023 (if any) which are considered nonperforming loans due to objective reasons, or settle such balances according to resolutions of the General Meeting of Members.

6. Clauses 1 and 3 Article 3 and Article 4 of the Government's Decree No. 77/2019/ND-CP dated October 10, 2019 on artels are abrogated.

7. Some Articles and clauses of the Government's Decree No. 77/2019/ND-CP dated October 10, 2019 on artels are amended as follows:

a) Article 5 of the Decree No. 77/2019/ND-CP on rights of artels is amended as follows:

“1. Artels shall have the rights as prescribed in points a, b, c, d, dd and g clause 3 Article 107 of the Law on Cooperatives.

2. Artels are considered to benefit the State assistance policies for development of artels as prescribed in clauses 2, 3 Article 18 of the Law on Cooperatives and clauses 2, 3 Article 6 of the Decree No. 113/2024/ND-CP dated September 12, 2024 elaborating some Articles of the Law on Cooperatives.”;

b) Article 6 of the Decree No. 77/2019/ND-CP on obligations of artels is amended as follows:

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2. Disclose information on records of contributions of their members and other information as prescribed in cooperation contracts.

3. Submit reports and update information on operation of artels in accordance with regulations of law.”;

c) Clause 3 Article 15 of the Decree No. 77/2019/ND-CP on disposal of common assets of members and finance of artels upon their shutdown is amended as follows:

“3. With respect of assets which are acquired using the State financial assistance or lawfully given or donated by other entities, and at the request of the State or sponsors, cannot be disposed of according to the artel’s decision, upon its shutdown, the artel shall comply with the following provisions:

a) The artel shall transfer all assets established from the State financial assistance to the People's Committee that has issued the artel registration certificate for carrying out disposal according to procedures for settlement/disposal of undistributed funds and assets of cooperatives and cooperative unions which are established from the State financial assistance as prescribed in Article 21 of the Government's Decree No. 113/2024/ND-CP dated September 12, 2024 elaborating some Articles of the Law on Cooperatives;

b) The artel shall transfer its common assets which are established from the State financial assistance before the effective date of the Law on Cooperatives No. 17/2023/QH15 to the People's Committee of the same district as that in its transaction address for carrying out disposal according to procedures for settlement of undistributed funds and assets of cooperatives and cooperative unions which are established from the State financial assistance as prescribed in Article 21 of the Government's Decree No. 113/2024/ND-CP dated September 12, 2024 elaborating some Articles of the Law on Cooperatives;

c) Common assets which are lawfully donated or given by other entities shall be disposed of under specific agreements between the sponsor and the artel.”;

d) Article 24 of the Decree No. 77/2019/ND-CP on contributions of members of artels is amended as follows:

“1. Contribution of a member of the artel comprises the stake, as prescribed in clause 12 Article 4 of the Law on Cooperatives, and the level of labour contribution, as prescribed in clause 10 Article 4 of the Law on Cooperatives, that the member has contributed or promises to contribute to the artel.

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3. In case a member of the artel fails to make the contribution in full and on schedule as promised, the case shall be handled according to terms and conditions of the signed cooperation contract and the Civil Code.”;

dd) Clause 6 Article 29 of the Decree No. 77/2019/ND-CP on periodical reporting and state management of artels is amended as follows:

“6. Artels that have been registered with business registration authorities shall not be required to submit reports to Commune-level People’s Committees as prescribed in clause 1 of this Article.”.

Article 25. Responsibility for implementation

1. The Ministry of Planning and Investment of Vietnam shall play the leading role and cooperate with relevant ministries and regulatory authorities in organizing the implementation of this Decree.

2. Ministers, heads of ministerial agencies, heads of Governmental agencies, Chairpersons of people’s committees of central-affiliated cities or provinces, and relevant organizations and individuals shall be responsible for the implementation of this Decree.

ON BEHALF OF THE GOVERNMENT
PP. THE PRIME MINISTER
DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER




Nguyen Hoa Binh

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