New policy effective from March 2024

New regulations on the General Inspectorate, Departments under the Ministry, Department Inspectorate, from March 1 increasing the ceiling price of domestic air tickets, national standards for higher education institutions;... are new policies that will take effect from March 2024.

Domestic airfare ceilings will start to increase from March 1.

Transfer of power projects as public assets to EVN

Decree 02/2024/ND-CP dated January 10, 2024 of the Government on the transfer of power projects that are public assets to Vietnam Electricity Group (EVN) takes effect from March 1, 2024.

Power projects are public assets transferred according to the provisions of this Decree, including:

1- Electrical works are public assets at state agencies, public service units, people's armed forces units, agencies of the Communist Party of Vietnam, the Vietnam Fatherland Front, socio-political organizations, socio-political-professional organizations, social organizations, socio-professional organizations, and other organizations established in accordance with the provisions of the law on associations (public assets at agencies, organizations, and units);

2- Power projects are public assets assigned to enterprises for management, excluding the state capital component in the enterprise (public assets in enterprises);

3- Electrical works belonging to technical infrastructure projects invested with state capital invested by Project Management Board, agencies, organizations, and units (electrical works belonging to technical infrastructure projects invested with state capital);

4- Electrical works belonging to technical infrastructure used in common in urban area projects, residential areas and other projects must be handed over by the investor to the State according to the provisions of law;

5- Power projects with established ownership rights for the entire people originating from outside the state budget (including the value of power projects increased by organizations and individuals investing, renovating, and upgrading existing power projects of power units) whose ownership rights are voluntarily transferred by organizations and individuals to the State of Vietnam through Vietnam Electricity Group in the form of non-repayment of capital and the power unit agrees to receive (power projects originating from outside the state budget);

6- Power projects with established public ownership originating from investment projects under the public-private partnership method and agreed upon by the parties to be transferred to the power unit under the project contract in accordance with the provisions of law or decided by the competent authority to be assigned to the power unit to perform the task of receiving (power projects invested under the public-private partnership method).

New regulations on General Department Inspectorate, Departments under Ministries, Department Inspectorate

Decree No. 3/2024/ND-CP dated January 11, 2024 of the Government regulating agencies performing specialized inspection functions and activities of agencies assigned to perform specialized inspection functions takes effect from March 1, 2024.

Accordingly, 9 General Inspectorate agencies and Departments under the Ministry include:

1. Inspector of the Department of Radiation and Nuclear Safety.

2. Inspector of the Department of Judicial Assistance.

3. Inspector of Vietnam Maritime Administration.

4. Inspector of the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam.

5. State Securities Commission Inspectorate.

6. State Treasury Inspectorate.

7. Inspector of the General Department of State Reserves.

8. Inspector of the General Department of Vocational Education.

9. Inspector of General Statistics Office.

The position, functions, tasks and powers of the Inspectorate of the General Department and Departments under the Ministry, the tasks and powers of the Chief Inspector of the General Department and Departments under the Ministry, the organization and operation of the Inspectorate of the General Department and Departments under the Ministry shall be implemented in accordance with the provisions of the Law on Inspection, Decree No. 43/2023/ND-CP, this Decree and other relevant legal provisions.

The inspectors of the department

In addition, Decree No. 3/2024/ND-CP also clearly stipulates that the department inspectorates established under the provisions of Point b, Clause 2, Article 26 of the Law on Inspection include: Department of Industry and Trade Inspectorate; Department of Transport Inspectorate; Department of Education and Training Inspectorate; Department of Planning and Investment Inspectorate; Department of Science and Technology Inspectorate; Department of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs Inspectorate; Department of Home Affairs Inspectorate; Department of Agriculture and Rural Development Inspectorate; Department of Finance Inspectorate; Department of Natural Resources and Environment Inspectorate; Department of Information and Communications Inspectorate; Department of Justice Inspectorate; Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism Inspectorate or Department of Culture, Sports Inspectorate, Department of Tourism Inspectorate; Department of Construction Inspectorate; Department of Health Inspectorate.

In departments that do not establish an inspection agency as prescribed, the Provincial People's Committee shall decide to establish a Department Inspectorate based on the requirements of state management of the sector or field in the locality and the assigned staff. In cases where the Department Inspectorate is prescribed by law, it shall be implemented in accordance with the provisions of the law and implementing documents.

Many preferential policies and investment support in high-tech zones

Many preferential policies and investment support in high-tech zones are stipulated in Decree No. 10/2024/ND-CP dated February 1, 2024 of the Government, effective from March 25, 2024.

The Decree stipulates that high-tech zones are preferential investment areas and enjoy investment incentives applicable to areas with particularly difficult socio-economic conditions according to the provisions of the law on investment.

Specific incentives and support levels for investment projects and activities in high-tech zones are applied according to the provisions of the law on investment, corporate income tax, export tax, import tax, land, credit and related laws.

The management board of the high-tech park and competent authorities are responsible for carrying out administrative procedures on investment, enterprises, land, construction, environment, labor, tax, customs and related procedures under the one-stop, one-stop mechanism as prescribed by law; supporting labor recruitment and other related issues during the process of investors implementing activities in the high-tech park.

Investment projects and activities in high-tech zones are given priority to participate in support programs on training and labor recruitment; support programs for research activities, high-tech application, technology transfer; support programs for the development of high-tech industries, high-tech development in agriculture; support for innovative enterprises, small and medium-sized enterprises starting up creative businesses; support for loans and other support programs of the Government, ministries, branches and localities.

From March 1: Increase ceiling price of domestic air tickets

The Ministry of Transport has just issued Circular No. 34/2023/TT-BGTVT amending and supplementing a number of articles of Circular No. 17/2019/TT-BGTVT of the Ministry of Transport promulgating the price frame for passenger transport services on domestic flights. Circular 34/2023/TT-BGTVT takes effect from March 1, 2024.

Accordingly, the Circular amends the price framework for basic economy class passenger transport services. Flights with a distance of less than 500 km have a ceiling price of VND 1,600,000/ticket/way for socio-economic development flights and VND 1,700,000/ticket/way for other flights.

The remaining flight groups will have their prices increased by 50,000 - 250,000 VND/ticket/way compared to the old regulations, depending on the length of each flight.

Specifically, for flights from 500 km to less than 850 km, the ceiling price is 2,250,000 VND/ticket/way (old price is 2,200,000 VND/ticket/way); flights with a distance from 850 km to less than 1,000 km have a maximum ticket price of 2,890,000 VND/ticket/way (old price is 2,790,000 VND/ticket/way); Flights from 1,000 km to less than 1,280 km have a ceiling price of 3,400,000 VND/ticket/way (old price was 3,200,000 VND/ticket/way) and flights with a distance of 1,280 km or more are 4,000,000 VND/ticket/way (old price was 3,750,000 VND/ticket/way).

The maximum price includes all costs that passengers must pay for an air ticket, excluding value added tax and fees collected on behalf of the airport (including passenger service fees and passenger and baggage security fees; service fees with additional items).

New regulations on fees for exploitation and use of geological and mineral documents

Circular No. 11/2024/TT-BTC regulating the collection rates, collection, payment, management and use of fees for exploitation and use of geological and mineral documents takes effect from March 21, 2024.

According to the Circular, the fee collection organizations are the competent authorities providing geological and mineral documents according to the provisions of law.

Fee payers shall pay fees upon receiving geological and mineral documents from the agency providing geological and mineral documents; fees shall be paid to the fee collection organization in the form prescribed in Circular No. 74/2022/TT-BTC of the Minister of Finance.

The Circular clearly states that the fees for exploiting and using documents are as follows:

No.	Document type	Single position	Collection level (VND)
			Paper documents		Digital documents
			Photo	Print	Word, Excel format	Radiator type	Vector format
A	Report on investigation, search, evaluation and exploration of minerals
I	Explanation
1	Document of appraisal and approval of report	A4 page	7,000	7,500	7,500	7,000
2	Introduction, natural geographical features, economy, and humanity	A4 page	2,000	2,500	2,500	2,000
3	History of geological research	A4 page	2,000	2,500	2,500	2,000
4	Methods and work of mineral investigation and evaluation	A4 page	7,000	7,500	7,500	7,000
5	Regional geological features	A4 page	7,000	7,500	7,500	7,000
6	Mineral characteristics	A4 page	22,500	23,000	23,500	23,000
7	Hydrogeological and engineering geological characteristics	A4 page	7,000	7,500	7,500	7,000
8	Mineral Reserve Forecasting Resources	A4 page	22,500	23,000	23,500	23,000
9	Environmental protection and mineral resources	A4 page	2,000	2,500	2,500	2,000
10	Economic report	A4 page	2,000	2,500	2,500	2,000
11	Other content	A4 page	2,000	2,500	2,500	2,000

The fee collection organization is allowed to retain 60% of the collected fee amount to cover the costs of service provision and fee collection activities as prescribed in Clause 4, Article 1 of Decree No. 82/2023/ND-CP of the Government amending and supplementing a number of articles of Decree No. 120/2016/ND-CP detailing and guiding the implementation of a number of articles of the Law on Fees and Charges and pay 40% of the collected fee amount to the state budget.

The fee for licensing dumping at sea is 22.5 million VND/license.

Circular No. 8/2024/TT-BTC stipulates the collection rates, collection and payment regime of fees for granting licenses for dumping at sea.

This Circular stipulates the collection rates, collection and payment regime for fees for granting sea dumping permits, including: granting, re-granting, extending, amending and supplementing sea dumping permits.

The fee collection organization is the competent authority to grant, re-grant, extend, amend and supplement sea dumping permits in accordance with the law on marine and island resources and environment.

The fee levels for granting, re-granting, extending, amending and supplementing sea dumping permits are prescribed as follows:

No.	Licensing activities	Fee level (thousand dong/license)
1	Licensing	22,500
2	Re-issue license	7,000
3	License renewal	17,500
4	Amendment and supplement of license	12,500

Fee collection organizations shall pay 100% of the collected fees to the state budget. The source of expenses for fee collection is allocated by the state budget in the fee collection organization's estimate according to the state budget expenditure regime and norms as prescribed by law. Fee collection organizations shall declare, collect and pay fees in accordance with the provisions of Circular No. 74/2022/TT-BTC.

This Circular takes effect from March 21, 2024.

National standards for higher education institutions

The Ministry of Education and Training issued Circular No. 01/2024/TT-BGDDT stipulating national standards for higher education institutions. This Circular takes effect from March 22 and abolishes Circular No. 24/2015/TT-BGDDT of the Minister of Education and Training stipulating national standards for higher education institutions.

Standards for higher education institutions are the basis for planning and arranging the network of higher education institutions; assessing and monitoring quality assurance conditions and the implementation of accountability of higher education institutions according to the provisions of law.

The standards for higher education institutions include 6 standards with 20 criteria. Specifically, Standard 1: Organization and administration includes 4 criteria; Standard 2: Lecturers includes 3 criteria; Standard 3: Facilities includes 4 criteria; Standard 4: Finance includes 2 criteria; Standard 5: Admissions and training includes 5 criteria; Standard 6: Research and innovation includes 2 criteria.

The Ministry of Education and Training guides higher education institutions to provide and update data to serve the determination of indicators and assessment of the level of meeting the criteria of higher education institution standards into the higher education database system.

Announce the results of implementing the university education standards of universities before June 30 every year, starting from 2025 for the previous reporting year.

Source link: https://thoibaonganhang.vn/chinh-sach-moi-co-hieu-luc-tu-thang-32024-149426.html