CIRCULAR

GUIDELINES FOR IMPLEMENTATION OF THE GOVERNMENT’S DECREE NO. 57/2018/ND-CP DATED APRIL 17, 2018 ON POLICIES ON ENCOURAGEMENT OF ENTERPRISES’ INVESTMENT IN AGRICULTURE AND RURAL AREAS

Pursuant to the Government’s Decree No. 86/2017/ND-CP dated July 25, 2017 defining functions, tasks, entitlements and organizational structure of the Ministry of Planning and Investment;

Pursuant to the Government’s Decree No. 57/2018/ND-CP dated April 17, 2018 on policies on encouragement of enterprises’ investment in agriculture and rural areas;

At the request of the Director of the Department of Agricultural Economics,

The Minister of Planning and Investment hereby promulgates a Circular to provide guidelines for implementation of the Government’s Decree No. 57/2018/ND-CP dated April 17, 2018 on policies on encouragement of enterprises’ investment in agriculture and rural areas.

Chapter I

GENERAL PROVISIONS

Article 1. Scope and regulated entities

1. Scope: This Circular provides guidelines for implementation of the Government’s Decree No. 57/2018/ND-CP dated April 17, 2018 on policies on encouragement of enterprises’ investment in agriculture and rural areas (hereinafter referred to as “the Decree No. 57/2018/ND-CP”).

2. Regulated entities: specified in Article 2 of the Government’s Decree No. 57/2018/ND-CP dated April 17, 2018.

Article 2. Exemption or reduction of land levy, land rent and water surface rent payable to the State

1. Rules for exemption or reduction of land levy, land rent and water surface rent payable to the State are specified in Article 10 of the Decree No. 45/2014/ND-CP dated May 15, 2014 and Article 18 of the Decree No. 46/2014/ND-CP dated May 15, 2014.

2. Applications and procedures for land levy exemption or reduction are specified in Articles 15 and 16 of the Circular No. 76/2014/TT-BTC dated June 16, 2014 and Article 8 of the Circular No. 10/2018/TT-BTC dated January 30, 2018 of the Ministry of Finance.

3. Applications and procedures for exemption or reduction of land rent and water surface rent are specified in Articles 14 and 15 of the Circular No. 77/2014/TT-BTC dated June 16, 2014 of the Ministry of Finance.

Article 3. Commissioning of investment items or entire project

1. The commissioning of investment items or entire project (volume commissioning) is prescribed in Point b Clause 2 Article 17 of the Decree No. 57/2018/ND-CP and is elaborated as follows:

a) Regarding material zone infrastructure construction project specified in Article 7; trial production project, project on plant propagation by tissue culture, project on production of plant varieties, animal breeds or aquatic species or trial cultivation of new plant species, and hi-tech agricultural park, zone or project specified in Article 9 and investment projects specified in Articles 11, 12 and 13 of the Decree No. 57/2018/ND-CP:

The commissioning council shall, according to Article 9 of the Circular No. 26/2016/TT-BXD dated October 26, 2016 of the Ministry of Construction, make a commissioning record. Regarding Point dd Clause 1 Article 9 of the Circular No. 26/2016/TT-BXD , an additional commissioning record may be made after the project is put into operation.

b) Regarding the scientific research theme specified in Clause 1 Article 9 of the Decree No. 57/2018/ND-CP:

The commissioning council shall, according to the report on result of the scientific research theme versus the registered scientific research theme, make a commissioning record.

c) Regarding the acquirement of patents, technologies or scientific research and technological development findings for generating new products or innovating technology, technologies for minimizing environmental pollution and saving materials, fuels and energy specified in Clause 1 Article 9 of the Decree No. 57/2018/ND-CP:

The commissioning record shall, according to the proposal for acquirement of patents, technologies or scientific research and technological development findings; sales contract or contract completion note between the enterprise and the organization/individual; invoices and payment receipts upon acquirement of patents, technologies or scientific research and technological development findings from the organization/individual; patents, technologies or scientific research and technological development findings, make commissioning records.

d) Regarding personnel training specified in Clause 1 Article 10 of the Decree No. 57/2018/ND-CP:

The commissioning record shall, according to vocational training contents, list of employees expected to join the course (certified by the Provincial Department of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs or appropriate vocational training institutions that has legal status) and list of employees that have joined the course (including names, address, ID card or Citizen ID card number and signatures of such employees), make a commissioning record.

dd) Regarding advertising and establishment of product brands and trade fair and exhibition attendance specified in Clause 1 Article 10 of the Decree No. 57/2018/ND-CP:

The commissioning council shall, according to the decision on approval for assistance of the People’s Committee (that issues the assistance decision), contract or contract completion note between the enterprise and the organization/individual; invoices and payment receipts upon provision of advertising, brand name establishment, trade fair and exhibition services by the organization/individual, make commissioning records.

2. Commissioning and provision of assistance in the website “National agriculture market” (or “eNAM”) specified in Clause 3 Article 10 of the Decree No. 57/2018/ND-CP ;

a) The commissioning council shall, according to the written consent to establishment of the website given by the Ministry of Industry and Trade, number of enterprises posting their products on eNAM, notarized copies of documents proving enterprises’ collateral specified in Point a Clause 3 Article 10 of the Decree No. 57/2018/ND-CP , make a commissioning record.

b) The owner of the enterprise receiving the State assistance in establishment and management of eNAM shall cooperate with competent authorities in formulating rules for registering products on eNAM to ensure that information and standards of the product actually traded (purchased or sold) is the same as those of the product registered on eNAM.

c) Enterprise owners that manage eNAM shall be provided with assistance by People’s Committees of provinces in market development and investment promotion at annual local conferences on encouragement of enterprises’ investment in agriculture and rural areas.

3. Commissioning council and commissioning record

a) The Provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Development shall take charge of inviting representatives of the Provincial Department of Planning and Investment, Provincial Department of Finance, relevant authorities and People's Committee of the district where the project is executed to join the commissioning council and follow the instructions specified in Clauses 1 and 2 of this Article.

b) The record on item and project commissioning shall be made using the Form No. 05 Appendix II of the Decree No. 57/2018/ND-CP .

Chapter II

POST-INVESTMENT ASSISTANCE

Article 4. Guidance on issuing decisions on investment guidelines for the list of projects for encouragement of enterprises’ investment in agriculture and rural areas within the power of the People’s Committee of the province

1. Rules for consolidating the list of projects for encouragement of enterprises’ investment in agriculture and rural areas:

a) Priority is given to agricultural product processing projects that use local materials or a lot of employees (at least 100 employees).

b) Priority is given to projects for production of mechanical products, equipment, components of equipment and auxiliary products for the agriculture industry.

c) Priority is given to projects with manufacturing processes which are eco-friendly, consume less energy and reduce emission.

d) Priority is given to projects for forming production linkages to create value chains in the agriculture industry, organic and hi-tech agricultural production projects.

2. Procedures for compiling a list of projects for encouragement of enterprises’ investment in agriculture and rural areas:

a) According to local socio - economic development and investment proposals made by departments, sectors, People’s Committee of the district and relevant trade associations, and enterprises, the Provincial Department of Planning and Investment shall draft a list of projects for encouragement of enterprises’ investment in agriculture and rural areas.

b) The Provincial Department of Planning and Investment shall notify the People’s Committee of the province of the draft list of projects for encouragement of enterprises’ investment in agriculture and rural areas and the plan for organization of the provincial conference on encouragement of enterprises’ investment in agriculture and rural areas.

c) After the provincial conference on encouragement of enterprises’ investment in agriculture and rural areas, the Provincial Department of Planning and Investment shall consolidate and review the draft list of projects for encouragement of enterprises’ investment in agriculture and rural areas and submit it to departments, sectors, People’s Committee of the district and associations (if any) to seek opinions.

The following columns are added to the notes section in the Form 01 Appendix II enclosed with the Circular No. 57/2018/ND-CP: Enterprises expected to make investment, progress of the project, technology applied, investment incentives and conditions for application and effective period of the investment guidelines decision.

3. Approval for decisions on investment guidelines for listed projects for encouragement of enterprises’ investment in agriculture and rural areas:

According to application form submitted by the Provincial Department of Planning and Investment, after 10 working days, the People’s Committee of the province shall approve decisions on investment guidelines for listed medium-term projects for encouragement of enterprises’ investment in agriculture and rural areas (adjustments and amendments shall be annually made).

4. Regarding the projects (not funded by the State) that have not yet been included in the list of projects for encouragement of enterprises’ investment in agriculture and rural areas, applications and procedures for approval for investment guideline decision are mentioned in Article 33 of the Law on Investment.

5. According to the list of projects for encouragement of enterprises’ investment in agriculture and rural areas, the enterprise shall execute its project and apply for assistance as prescribed in Point a Clause 1 Article 17 of the Decree No. 57/2018/ND-CP. The People’s Committee of the province shall, according to its capacity for allocating assistance, make a written commitment to provide assistance for the enterprise as prescribed in Point b Clause 1 Article 17 of the Decree No. 57/2018/ND-CP .

6. Regarding the project funded by the central government budget, the People’s Committee of the province shall submit an application for written commitment to provide assistance to the Ministry of Planning and Investment as prescribed. Regarding the project funded by central government authority as prescribed in Clause 1 Article 14 of the Decree No. 57/2018/ND-CP , such central government authority shall submit an application for appraisal as prescribed by the Law on Public Investment.

Article 5. Funding sources and combination of funding for implementation of policies on encouragement of enterprises’ investment in agriculture and rural areas

1. Central government budget for annual investment in agriculture under the Decree No. 57/2018/ND-CP includes: funding for the national target program for construction of new rural areas, target programs for agriculture restructuring, natural disaster management and life stability, sustainable forestry development, fisheries economics development and investment for agriculture industry under other programs and projects.

2. Local government budget annually provided for agriculture under the Decree No. 57/2018/ND-CP includes capital construction expenditure on programs and projects under the management of local government, and recurrent expenditure of local authorities and units assigned to directly manage agriculture, forestry, salt production, aquaculture, irrigation and rural development, including activities related to agriculture, forestry, salt production, aquaculture and irrigation development, construction of new rural areas and other activities related to rural development.

3. Combination of funding sources for implementation of policies:

a) Based on the funding provided by the central government budget to national target programs and dedicated financial support programs, the Provincial Department of Planning and Investment shall take charge and cooperate with relevant departments in combining such funding and estimating funding to be allocated to projects executed as prescribed in the Decree No. 57/2018/ND-CP , and notifying the People's Committee of the province thereof.

b) The People's Committee of the province shall decide to combine funding covered by the local government budget upon formulation of annual and mid-term plans to implement the Decree No. 57/2018/ND-CP .

Article 6. Provision of post-investment assistance to enterprises

1. The Provincial Department of Planning and Investment shall take charge and cooperate with the Provincial Department of Finance and relevant departments in estimating the assistance covered by the local government budget and notify the People’s Committee of the province, which will request the People's Council at the same level to approve annual and mid-term assistance granted to the “Program for provision of assistance for enterprises’ investment in agriculture and rural areas” investing in agriculture and rural development sector” item.

2. After receiving the assistance provided by the local government budget to the “Program for provision of assistance for enterprises’ investment in agriculture and rural areas”, the Provincial Department of Planning and Investment shall, according to Clause 3 Article 15 of the Decree No. 57/2018/ND-CP , estimate funding to be allocated and request the People’s Committee of the province to provide assistance to enterprises.

Article 7. Reporting regulations

1. People’s Committees of provinces, Ministries and departments that provide assistance to enterprises making investment in agriculture and rural areas shall submit a report to the Ministry of Planning and Investment, Ministry of Finance and Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development by March 31. The report shall clearly specify the assistance provided, operation of the enterprises provided with assistance, and difficulties and recommendations to be reported to central government authorities.

2. The Ministry of Planning and Investment shall submit a consolidated report to the Prime Minister by April 30.

Chapter III

IMPLEMENTATION CLAUSE

Article 8. Responsibility for implementation

Ministers, heads of ministerial agencies, Governmental agencies, People’s Committees of provinces and central-affiliated cities, and heads of relevant organizations and individuals that implement the Decree No. 57/2018/ND-CP dated April 17, 2018 are responsible for the implementation of this Circular.

Article 9. Effect

1. This Circular comes into force from January 21, 2019 and replaced the Circular No. 05/2014/TT-BKHDT dated September 30, 2014 of the Ministry of Planning and Investment.

2. Projects “in progress” prescribed in Clauses 4 and 5 Article 20 of the Decree No. 57/2018/ND-CP are the ones whose execution period stated in the investment certificate is not terminated or the ones whose investment guidelines have been approved by a competent authority before the Decree No. 57/2018/ND-CP is promulgated.

3. Projects or project items in progress prescribed in the Circular No. 05/2014/TT-BKHDT dated September 30, 2014 of the Ministry of Planning and Investment continue to be executed as prescribed in such Circular. Projects or project items that have not yet been executed shall be executed as prescribed in this Circular.

4. Difficulties that arise during the implementation of this Decree should be promptly reported to the Ministry of Planning and Investment and relevant ministries./.