CIRCULAR No CIRCULAR No. 03/1999/TT-TCBD OF MAY 11, 1999 GUIDING THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE GOVERNMENT�S DECREE No. 109/1997/ND-CP OF NOVEMBER 12, 1997 ON POST AND TELECOMMUNICATIONS AND THE PRIME MINISTER�S DECISION No. 99/1998/QD-TTg OF MAY 26, 1998 ON THE MANAGEMENT OF POST AND TELECOMMUNICATION PRICES AND CHARGES In furtherance of the Government�s Decree No. 109/1997/ND-CP of November 12, 1997 on post and telecommunications and the Prime Minister�s Decision No.99/1998/QD-TTg of May 26, 1998 on the management of post and telecommunication prices and charges; after consulting the Government Pricing Committee, the General Department of Post and Telecommunications hereby provides the following guidances: I. GENERAL PROVISIONS 1.1. Scope and objects of regulation: 1.1.1 This Circular guides the State management over prices and charges of post and telecommunication services on the Vietnamese territory, regarding the following subjects: - Enterprises providing post and telecommunication services (hereafter called providing enterprises for short); - Enterprises reselling post and telecommunication services (hereafter called reselling enterprises for short). Providing and reselling enterprises shall hereafter be referred collectively to as enterprises; - Post and telecommunication service agents (hereafter called agents for short); - Users of post and telecommunication services (hereafter called users for short). 1.2. Principles for setting post and telecommunication prices and charges: 1.2.1. On the basis of the production and services costs; 1.2.2. Compatibility with the services� modes and quality and the users� payment capability; 1.2.3. Encouragement of healthy competition, step-by-step integration into the region and the world; 1.2.4. Regulation between services, territorial regions and enterprises, meeting the requirements of strategy for post and telecommunication development throughout the country, in line with the Party�s and State�s economic and social policies; Creation of conditions for enterprises to cover their production costs, make accumulation and fulfil their obligations towards the State budget; 1.2.5. The international post and telecommunication service charges are set in conformity with the regulations on post and telecommunication charges of international and regional post and telecommunication organizations, with which Vietnam has signed bilateral or multilateral agreements; as well as in line with the Party�s and State�s external economic policies; 1.2.6. The domestic post and telecommunication prices and charges are determined in Vietnam dong. The international post and telecommunication prices and charges are determined in US dollar (USD), applicable to all Vietnamese and foreign organizations and individuals in Vietnam. Such prices and charges are collected in USD or Vietnam dong according to the average transaction exchange rates on the inter-bank foreign currency market, announced by the State Bank of Vietnam. II. PRICE AND CHARGE SETTING TASKS AND COMPETENCE The price and charge setting tasks and competence shall comply with Article 4, Decision No.99/1998/QD-TTg of May 26, 1998 of the Prime Minister on the management of post and telecommunication prices and charges. The General Department of Post and Telecommunications hereby provides the following additional guidance: 2.1. The Prime Minister shall ratify the domestic standard charge options and authorize the General Department of Post and Telecommunications to decide the standard service charges defined in Section 1, Article 4 of the Prime Minister�s Decision No.99/1998/QD-TTg of May 26, 1998 on the management of post and telecommunication prices and charges, including: - Basic charges for domestic mails of up to 20 grams; - Domestic ordinary telegraph charges, calculated on the number of words; - Domestic long-distance call charges (including facsimile and data transmission via telephone channels), for medium distances. 2.2. The General Department of Post and Telecommunications shall: 2.2.1. Decide the price and charge brackets or prices and charges of the following services after consulting the Government Pricing Committee: - The concrete service charge rates, based on the standard service charge rates stipulated at Point 2.1 above. - Telephone subscription; - Local telephone services (including telephone calls, facsimile and data transmission via telephone channels); - Subscription for package switching data transmission; - Telephone and facsimile installation. 2.2.2. Set: 2.2.2.1. Price and charge brackets or prices and charges for the following services: - Special services for mail items in service of the Government, including urgent mails and time mails. - Study materials for the blind; - Letters sent overseas; - Hydro-meteorological telegraph, life safety telegraph, State affairs telegraph; and domestic press telegraph; - Domestic public telecommunications on the sea; - Trunk hiring; - Hiring of domestic and international long-distance telecommunication channels; - Hiring of terminals and package-hiring installation for direct access to Internet; - Information on package-switching data transmission; - International telephone services (including telephone calls, facsimile and data transmission via telephone channels); - Mobile phone subscription, connection and calls (including fax and data transmission via telephone channels); - Installation and information on indirect access to Internet; - Paging services nationwide. 2.2.2.2. Decide concrete price and charge rates or price and charge brackets or assign enterprises to decide prices and charges for new services if such enterprises are licensed to provide services; 2.2.3. Prescribe the mechanism for management of post and telecommunication service prices and charges for organizations, which are allowed to resell services according to the provisions of law. 2.3. Enterprises shall: 2.3.1. Basing themselves on the price and charge brackets and guiding documents of the General Department of Post and Telecommunications and the Government Pricing Committee, decide concrete price and charge levels for post and telecommunication products and services; decide and guide the application of prices and charges of post and telecommunication services outside the list prescribed by the State. 2.3.2. Decide prices and charges for experimental services during the time of the experimentation thereof. III. ELABORATION AND EVALUATION OF PRICE AND CHARGE OPTIONS 3.1. Organizing the elaboration of price and charge options: 3.1.1. Regarding the standard service prices and charges to be ratified by the Prime Minister and service prices and charges to be decided by the Government Pricing Committee as stipulated in Items 2.1 and 2.2. of this Circular, the General Department of Post and Telecommunications shall organize the elaboration of the standard service charge options. 3.1.2. Enterprises shall work out price and charge options for post and telecommunication services in the following cases where: - The service costs and the service supply-demand relations fluctuate to the extent that requires the adjustment of the service prices and charges; - The State�s management mechanism and policies for services change, thus affecting the structure of service prices and charges; - Enterprises are licensed to provide new services; - The General Department of Post and Telecommunications requests the elaboration of new price and charge options for consideration and adjustment of prices and charges. Enterprises shall have to organize the elaboration and submission of price and charge options to the General Department of Post and Telecommunications within 45 days after receiving the option elaboration request. For complicated price and charge options, the time-limit for elaboration and submission thereof shall not exceed 90 days after the enterprises receive the option elaboration request from the General Department of Post and Telecommunications. 3.2. The post and telecommunication price and charge options must be elaborated on the price and charge setting principles mentioned in Item 1.2 of this Circular. 3.3. A dossier of price and charge option shall include: 3.3.1. A report on the price and charge option signed by the enterprise�s head and affixed with its seal (for post and telecommunication services decided by the State); 3.3.2. The price and charge option with the following contents: - The situation on service provision and use (the organization of service production and provision and market demands) and the necessity to adjust or promulgate new service prices and charges; - The service costs calculation table; - The explanation on the calculation method and grounds as well as the cost-related factors formulating the service prices and charges; - The table of prices and charges of the same services applied by countries in the region and the rest of the world (if any); - The table of analytical comparison with prices and charges of the related services; - The enterprise�s proposals on the service prices and charges, including the proposals on mechanism for control and management of service prices and charges. 3.4. Evaluation of price and charge options: 3.4.1. For standard service prices and charges to be ratified by the Prime Minister as mentioned in Item 2.1 of this Circular, the Government Pricing Committee shall evaluate the price and charge options before they are submitted by the General Department of Post and Telecommunications to the Prime Minister for decision. 3.4.2. For post and telecommunication prices and charges to be decided by the Government Pricing Committee, the Government Pricing Committee shall evaluate the options and promulgate the prices and charges at the proposal of the General Department of Post and Telecommunications. 3.4.3. For post and telecommunication prices and charges to be decided by the General Department of Post and Telecommunications as stipulated at Point 2.2.1, Part II of this Circular, the General Department of Post and Telecommunications shall consult the Government Pricing Committee on the projected price and charge options before they are officially promulgated. 3.4.4. For post and telecommunication prices and charges to be decided by the General Department of Post and Telecommunications as stipulated at Point 2.2.2, Part II of this Circular, the General Department of Post and Telecommunications shall organize the evaluation of price and charge options and decide the promulgation thereof. 3.4.5. For service prices and charges to be decided by enterprises, the enterprises� heads shall have to evaluate the options and promulgate such prices and charges in accordance with the provisions of this Circular. 3.5. The time-limit for evaluation and promulgation of prices and charges by the General Department of Post and Telecommunications shall be 7 days after it receives the price and charge option dossier as prescribed. With regard to the complicated price and charge options related to activities of different branches of the national economy and the people�s life, which need more time for preparation, the General Department of Post and Telecommunications shall notify the enterprises that submit the price and charge options of the extended time-limit. IV. INTERNATIONAL NEGOTIATION CHARGES 4.1. Providing enterprises, which are licensed to deal in post and telecommunication services by the General Department of Post and Telecommunications shall be entitled to negotiate and reach agreement on international negotiation charges with foreign exploiters according to the principles and policies stipulated by the General Department of Post and Telecommunications. 4.2. International negotiation charges shall include the following types: - International total accounting charge; - International payment charge; - International termination charge; - International transit charge. 4.3. Principles for the discussion and agreement on international negotiation charges: 4.3.1. International negotiation charges shall be built on the basis of the costs necessary for the provision of international services by the concerned Vietnamese enterprises and foreign exploiters; 4.3.2. International negotiation charges shall be agreed upon on the principle of equality and voluntariness; 4.3.3. The already agreed upon international negotiation charges must conform with the regulations and suggestions of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), the Universal Postal Union (UPU) or the regional organizations such as the Asia-Pacific Telecommunications (APT), the Asia- Pacific Post Union (APPU), which have been approved by Vietnam�s General Department of Post and Telecommunications; 4.3.4. The already agreed upon international negotiation charges must be compatible with the Party�s and State�s economic, social and external economic policies, as well as with the agreements (if any) signed between the General Department of Post and Telecommunications and the post and telecommunications State management agencies of the relevant countries. 4.4. Enterprises shall have to promptly register with the General Department of Post and Telecommunications the results of agreement on international negotiation charges between them and foreign exploiters. 4.5. Abrogation of agreements on international negotiation charges: 4.5.1. The General Department of Post and Telecommunications shall decide the abrogation of enterprises� agreements on international negotiation charges if such agreements violate the General Department of Post and Telecommunications� regulations mentioned in this Circular. 4.5.2. The enterprises shall have to re-negotiate and reach new agreements on international negotiation charges with relevant foreign exploiters. 4.6. Payment of international negotiation charges: 4.6.1. Enterprises shall effect the payment of international negotiation charges under conditions already agreed upon by the parties in the service-provision contracts; 4.6.2. Enterprises shall have to recover and pay debts on international negotiation charges accurately and on time as prescribed by law. 4.7. Biannually and annually, enterprises shall have to report to the General Department of Post and Telecommunications on the situation of application of international negotiation charges as well as the payment situation effected between them and international post and telecommunication exploiters. V. CONNECTION CHARGE 5.1. Connection charge is a sum of money to be paid by an enterprise which demands to switch or terminate a call to the enterprise providing such call-switching or -termination service. Connection charge shall be calculated according to the volume of information transmitted through the connection point. 5.2. Connection charge shall be formulated on the following principles: 5.2.1. Compliance with the State�s regulations on mechanism for the management of post and telecommunication prices and charges; 5.2.2. On the basis of the reasonable connection costs of enterprises; 5.2.3. Equality, non-discrimination, cooperation and mutual benefit among enterprises participating in the connection; 5.2.4. Contribution to the adjustment of services so as to support and encourage enterprises to enhance and expand the provision of public-utility and universal post and telecommunication services. 5.3. The General Department of Post and Telecommunications shall stipulate in detail the connection charge levels or bracket as well as the connection charge payment for application by the concerned enterprises. VI. BILLING AND PAYMENT OF PRICES AND CHARGES 6.1. Making and printing bills: 6.1.1. Enterprises shall have to accurately and promptly bill prices and charges to users of post and telecommunication services. Bills made by enterprises must comply with the Finance Ministry�s regulations on voucher and invoice regime. 6.1.2. Except where the service users do not request the bill-printing, when making monthly bills under contracts, enterprises shall have to provide the service users bills free of charge once at the time of printing bills for users of the following services: - Inter-provincial calls; - Mobile calls; - Overseas calls. 6.1.3. Apart from the printing of free-of-charge bills according to the provisions in Item 6.1.2 above, enterprises may collect money from the service users to cover the costs of the printing of bills for other services when so requested. 6.2. Rights and obligations of the parties in price and charge payment: 6.2.1 Rights and obligations of enterprises: 6.2.1.1. Enterprises and agents may reach agreement with service users on the forms and conditions for the payment of post and telecommunication service prices and charges in conformity with the provisions of law; 6.2.1.2. Enterprises may request the service users to pay fully and on time prices and charges for services they have used; 6.2.1.3. Enterprises may convert US dollars into Vietnam dong in order to collect international post and telecommunication charges as follows: Monthly, enterprises shall publicly notify international post and telecommunication service users of the exchange rate between USD and Vietnam dong, based on the average transaction exchange rate on the inter-bank foreign currency market, announced by the State Bank of Vietnam on the 25 th of the previous month (if the 25 th day is a holiday, the exchange rate of the immediately preceding working day shall apply) for the collection of charges in the subsequent month. If within a month the exchange rate between USD and Vietnam dong rises or falls by more than 5%, as compared with the announced one, enterprises shall be allowed to change the applicable exchange rate to make it compatible with the fluctuation of the average transaction exchange rate on the inter-bank foreign currency market. 6.2.1.4. Enterprises shall have the right to request the service users to pay the overdue debt interests for each day of late payment due to their faults, which shall be calculated on the total amount of the late paid prices and charges. The interest rate applied to such late payment shall comply with the stipulations of the State Bank of Vietnam. 6.2.1.5 Enterprises shall have the right to refuse, halt or terminate the provision of services to users according to the stipulations of the General Department of Post and Telecommunications and the agreements stated in the service-provision contracts, if the users make late payment due to their own faults or fail to pay prices and charges, including the overdue debt interests. In that case, the users shall still have to pay the outstanding prices, charges and overdue-debt interests (if any) to the enterprises; 6.2.1.6. Enterprises shall have to provide services of the prescribed quality and criteria and at the price and charge levels already agreed upon; 6.2.1.7. Enterprises shall have to provide guidance and explanation on prices and charges and create favorable conditions for the service users to fulfill their price and charge payment obligation; 6.2.1.8. Enterprises shall have to settle the service users� complaints about prices and charges. 6.2.2. Rights and obligations of the users: 6.2.2.1. The users shall have the right to be given guidance and explanation on prices and charges for services provided for them by enterprises; 6.2.2.2. The users shall have to pay fully and on time prices and charges according to the provisions of law, the regulations of the General Department of Post and Telecommunications and the terms of the service provision contracts which they have signed with the service-providing enterprises when using post and telecommunication services; 6.2.2.3. The users shall have to pay the service-providing enterprises the outstanding charges and interests thereon according to the provisions at Items 6.2.1.4 and 6.2.1.5 above; 6.2.2.4. The users shall have the right to complain with post and telecommunication service providing enterprises about the latte

Circular 03/1999/TT-TCBĐ