2020: New Expenditure Levels for Legal Aid Activities

New spending levels for legal aid activities (illustrative image)

For the policies, standards, and spending levels that have been issued by the competent authority, state legal aid agencies shall comply with the current policies and spending levels of the state. Circular 59/2020/TT-BTC additionally guides as follows:

- Spending on communication about legal aid activities: Based on the contents and tasks of communicating legal aid approved and assigned by the competent authority, the legal aid agency is responsible for selecting the form and content of communication ensuring the principles of thrift and efficiency within the budget estimate allocated by the competent authority. The contents and spending levels are as follows:

+ Spending on communication activities on mass media (radio, television, journalism); spending on the creation, repair of banners, panels, posters promoting legal aid activities: To be implemented in accordance with the current regulations on regular procurement bidding to maintain the operation of state agencies and units;

+ Spending on organizing propaganda sessions about the content and activities of legal aid by the Department of Justice, the State Legal Aid Center, including: Expenses for drinking water, documents serving the propaganda session, travel expenses of the reporters, costs for renting loudspeakers, radios, halls (if any). The spending levels are implemented according to the conference spending policies prescribed by the People's Council of the province or centrally-run city in accordance with the provisions of Circular 40/2017/TT-BTC dated April 28, 2017 of the Ministry of Finance, which prescribes travel expense policies and conference spending policies (hereinafter referred to as Circular 40/2017/TT-BTC dated April 28, 2017 of the Ministry of Finance).

- Spending on translation from foreign languages into Vietnamese and vice versa for legal aid activities: Applying the translation and interpretation expenses as prescribed in Circular 71/2018/TT-BTC dated August 10, 2018, of the Ministry of Finance, which prescribes the foreign guest reception policies for those working in Vietnam, the policies for organizing international conferences and seminars in Vietnam, and domestic guest reception policies.

- Spending on interpretation (spoken translation) from Vietnamese into ethnic minority languages and vice versa for legal aid activities; spending on interpretation for necessary circumstances when the legal aid recipient is hearing and speaking impaired: The interpretation hiring rate applies at the same rate as hiring ethnic minority interpreters cum guides as prescribed in Circular 109/2016/TT-BTC dated June 30, 2016, of the Ministry of Finance, which prescribes budgeting, management, use, and settlement of funds for statistical surveys and national censuses.

- Spending on creating a computerized database for legal aid work; spending on applying information technology for legal aid work: To be implemented in accordance with the provisions of Decree 73/2019/ND-CP dated September 5, 2019, of the Government of Vietnam, which prescribes the management of information technology investment using state budget capital and current legal provisions.

- Spending on training, enhancing professional knowledge and skills for legal aid providers; spending on compiling legal aid guidance materials: To be implemented according to the contents and spending levels prescribed by the People's Council of the province or centrally-run city in accordance with the provisions of Circular 36/2018/TT-BTC dated March 30, 2018, of the Ministry of Finance, which guides the budgeting, management, and use of funds for the training and retraining of officials and public employees.

- Spending on inspecting and evaluating the quality of legal aid: To be implemented according to the travel expense policies prescribed in Circular 40/2017/TT-BTC dated April 28, 2017, of the Ministry of Finance.

- Spending on consulting with experienced lawyers and independent legal experts about legal aid cases and the performance of legal aid activities as stipulated in Item i Clause 4 Article 3 of this Circular: The maximum spending is 300 thousand VND per case and must be used within the allocated budget.

- Spending on paying fees as prescribed by the law on fees and charges and other administrative costs directly related to the implementation of legal aid: Based on the fee receipts, invoices, and legal expenditure documents in accordance with current regulations.

More details can be found in: Circular 59/2020/TT-BTC, which takes effect from September 1, 2020.

Tuesday

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