Notable new policies of Vietnam effective from the end of September 2023

1. Vietnam’s guidelines on preparation of state budget funding estimates for support for small and medium-sized enterprises

This is a content of Circular No. 52/2023/TT-BTC dated August 8, 2023 guiding the use of state budget funding for support for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) according to Decree No. 80/2021/ND-CP promulgated by the Minister of Finance of Vietnam, effective as of September 23, 2023.

According to the Circular, the preparation of state budget funding estimates for support for SMEs is as follows:

- When preparing annual state budget estimates, agencies and organizations preparing the estimates shall, based on documents guiding the preparation of state budget estimates and documents guiding the preparation of plans to support SMEs of competent authorities, implement support for SMEs; and

Determine the state budget funding for support according to Circular No. 52/2023/TT-BTC and summarize related matters in their state budget expense estimates for presentation to competent authorities for inclusion into the state budget estimates of ministries and central and local authorities.

- Ministries, ministerial agencies, governmental agencies, and People’s Committees of provinces shall send the state budget funding estimates for support for SMEs to the Ministry of Planning and Investment of Vietnam, state budget funding estimates for provision of occupational training for employees of SMEs to the Ministry of Labor - War Invalids and Social Affairs for summary and submission to the Ministry of Planning and Investment of Vietnam.

- The Ministry of Planning and Investment of Vietnam shall review and summarize the state budget funding needs to support SMEs (including the provision of occupational training for employees of SMEs) in detail by each field requiring state budget expenses and the number of targeted support covered by the central budget for each province with unbalanced state budget (if any), and submit them to the Ministry of Finance of Vietnam for summary under the Law on State Budget.

- The Ministry of Finance of Vietnam shall, based on the capacity to balance the central budget in the planning year and the needs for state budget support proposed by the Ministry of Planning and Investment of Vietnam, notify the Ministry of Planning and Investment of Vietnam of the expected state budget support for SMEs in the planning year in detail by each field of expenses. .

The Ministry of Planning and Investment of Vietnam shall, based on the notification of the Ministry of Finance of Vietnam, develop schemes to allocate funding to ministries and central and local authorities in detail by each field of state budget expenses and send it to the Ministry of Finance of Vietnam for inclusion into the scheme to allocate central budget estimates for report to the Government of Vietnam for presentation to the National Assembly of Vietnam for consideration and decision.

See more details in Circular No. 52/2023/TT-BTC, which comes into force as of September 23, 2023 and replaces Circular No. 49/2019/TT-BTC and Circular No. 54/2019/TT-BTC.

2. Principles and grounds to identify job positions of professional officials specializing in Education in Vietnam

This is a content of Circular No. 15/2023/TT-BGDDT guiding the job positions of professional officials specializing in Education promulgated by the Minister of Education and Training of Vietnam, effective as of September 28, 2023.

Specifically, principles and grounds to identify job positions of professional officials specializing in Education are as follows:  

- Job positions of professional officials specializing in Education are identified based on the principles prescribed in Article 3 of Decree No. 62/2020/ND-CP, specifically:

+ Complying with regulations of the CPV and laws on job positions and management and use of the payroll for officials.

+ Ensuring conformity with the functions, tasks, entitlements, and organizational structure of agencies and organizations.

+ Ensuring uniformity and synchronicity between the identification of job positions and the structure of pay grades for officials with the use and management of the payroll for officials.

+ Ensuring scientificity, objectivity, publicity, transparency, democracy, and conformity with practice.  

+ Associating the payroll downsizing with the re-structuring and improvement of the quality of officials in agencies and organizations.

- Grounds to identify job positions of professional officials specializing in Education shall comply with Clause 1 Article 4 of Decree No. 62/2020/ND-CP:

+ Functions, tasks, entitlements, and organizational structure of agencies and organizations;

+ Complexity, nature, characteristics, and operational scale; scope and subjects; professional management procedures according to specialized laws.

- The identification of job positions shall not increase the payroll for officials approved by competent authorities.

3. List of job positions of public employees specializing in public science and technology in Vietnam from September 25, 2023

On August 9, 2023, the Minister of Science and Technology of Vietnam promulgated Circular No. 17/2023/TT-BKHCN guiding job positions of leaders, managers, and professional titles of science and technology and the structure of public employees by professional titles in public organizations of science and technology, effective as of September 25, 2023.

According to the Circular, the list of job positions of public employees specializing in public science and technology is as follows:

- Senior researcher: Senior researcher (grade I);

- Principle researcher: Principle researcher (grade II);

- Researcher: Researcher (grade III);

- Research assistant: Research assistant (grade IV);

- Senior engineer: Senior engineer (grade I);

- Principle engineer: Principle engineer (grade II);

- Engineer: Engineer (grade III);

- Technician: Technician (grade IV);

- Compatibility assessment grade I: Senior engineer (grade I) or equivalences;

- Compatibility assessment grade II: Principle engineer (grade II) or equivalences;

- Compatibility assessment grade III: Engineer (grade III) or equivalences;

- Productivity and quality grade I: Senior researcher (grade I) or equivalences;

- Productivity and quality grade II: Principle researcher (grade II) or equivalences;

- Productivity and quality grade III: Researcher (grade III) or equivalences;

- Intellectual property grade II: Principle official or equivalences;

- Intellectual property grade III: Official or equivalences;

4. Circular No. 04/2023/TT-BNNPTNT on the list of plant quarantine subjects of Vietnam comes into force as of September 29, 2023.

5. Circular No. 16/2023/TT-BKHCN guiding job positions of professional officials specializing in science and technology in organizations and agencies in science and technology comes into force as of September 25, 2023.

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