THE GOVERNMENT ---------------	SOCIALIST REPUBLIC OF VIET NAM Independence - Freedom – Happiness --------------
No. 169/2004/ND-CP	Hanoi, September 22, 2004

DECREE

PRESCRIBING THE SANCTIONING OF ADMINISTRATIVE VIOLATIONS IN THE PRICE DOMAIN

THE GOVERNMENT

Pursuant to the December 25, 2001 Law on Organization of the Government;

Pursuant to the April 26, 2002 Ordinance on Price;

Pursuant to the July 2, 2002 Ordinance on Handling of Administrative Violations;

At the proposal of the Finance Minister,

DECREES:

Chapter I

GENERAL PROVISIONS

Article 1.- Regulation scope

1. This Decree prescribes the sanctioning of administrative violations in the price domain.

2. Administrative violations in the price domain, prescribed by this Decree, include:

a) Violations of regulations on valorization;

b) Violations of regulations on price consultation;

c) Violations of regulations on price brackets, price levels set by competent agencies;

d) Violations of regulations on price scheme formulation;

e) Violations of regulations on price appraisal;

f) Violations of regulations on price posting;

g) Violations of regulations on prohibited acts prescribed in Article 28 of the Ordinance on Price;

h) Violations of regulations on use of goods price subsidy, freight subsidy money, support money amounts for implementation of price policies;

i) Violations of regulations on price management of preventive and curative medicines for human use shall be handled according to the provisions of Article 14 of the Government’s Decree No. 120/2004/ND-CP of May 12, 2004 on price management of preventive and curative medicines for human use.

Article 2.- Subjects of application

Domestic and foreign individuals, agencies and organizations (hereinafter referred collectively to as individuals and organizations), that commit acts of intentionally or unintentionally violating law provisions on prices, which do not constitute crimes, shall all be sanctioned for administrative violations under the provisions of this Decree and other relevant law provisions on sanctioning of administrative violations, except otherwise provided for by international treaties which the Socialist Republic of Vietnam has signed or acceded to.

Article 3.- Principles for sanctioning administrative violations in the price domain

1. The sanctioning of administrative violations in the price domain must be conducted by competent persons strictly according to the provisions of this Decree.

2. All administrative violations must be detected in time and immediately stopped. The sanctioning must be carried out swiftly, fairly and lawfully; all consequences caused by administrative violations must be remedied strictly according to law provisions.

3. An act of administrative violation in the price domain shall be sanctioned only once. An individual or organization that commits many acts of administrative violation shall be sanctioned for every violation act. If many individuals or organizations jointly commit one act of administrative violation, each violating individual or organization shall be sanctioned.

4. The sanctioning of administrative violations in the price domain must be based on the nature and seriousness of the violations, the extenuating circumstances and aggravating circumstances for decision on appropriate sanctioning forms and levels.

Article 4.- Extenuating circumstances, aggravating circumstances for acts of administrative violation in the price domain

1. Extenuating circumstances:

a) The administrative violators have warded off, reduced the harms of the violations or voluntarily overcome the consequences, compensated for the damage caused by their violations;

b) The administrative violators have voluntarily reported thereon;

c) They are forced to commit violations.

2. Aggravating circumstances:

a) Committing the violations in an organized manner;

b) Committing violations time and again or relapsing into violations in the price domain;

c) Abusing positions and powers to commit violations;

d) Taking advantage of the situation of war, natural calamities or other special difficulties of the society to commit violations;

e) Committing violations while serving penalties of criminal judgments or serving decisions on sanctioning of administrative violations in the price domain;

f) Continuing to commit acts of administrative violation though competent persons have requested them to stop such acts;

g) Committing acts of shirking, covering up administrative violations after committing the violations.

Article 5.- Statute of limitations for sanctioning acts of administrative violation in the price domain

1. The statute of limitations for sanctioning an administrative violation in the price domain is 2 years as from the date the administrative violation is committed.

2. For individuals against whom criminal cases are instituted, who are prosecuted or brought to trial according to criminal procedures under decisions but later decisions to stop the investigation or stop the cases are issued while their violation acts show signs of administrative violation in the price domain, they shall be sanctioned for administrative violations; within three days after the decisions to stop the investigation or stop the cases are issued, the persons who have made such decisions must send them to the persons competent to sanction the administrative violations; in this case, the statute of limitations for sanctioning the administrative violations is three months as from the date the persons with sanctioning competence receive the stoppage decisions and the violation dossiers.

3. Within the time limits prescribed in Clauses 1 and 2 of this Article, if individuals or organizations commit new administrative violations also in the price domain or deliberately shirk or obstruct the sanctioning, the statute of limitations prescribed in Clauses 1 and 2 of this Article shall not apply but be recalculated from the time of committing the new administrative violations or the time of terminating the acts of shirking or obstructing the sanctioning.

Article 6.- The statute of limitations for executing decisions on sanctioning of administrative violations in the price domain

The statute of limitations for executing a decision on sanctioning administrative violation(s) is one year, counting from the date the sanctioning decision is issued; if past this time limit such decision is not executed, the sanctioning decision shall not be executed but the remedial measures inscribed in the decision still apply.

Where sanctioned individuals or organizations deliberately evade or delay the execution of sanctioning decisions, the above-mentioned statute of limitations shall be recalculated from the time the evading or delaying acts terminate.

Article 7.- The time limit for being considered having not yet been sanctioned for administrative violations in the price domain

Individuals and organizations sanctioned for administrative violations, if past one year counting from the date of completely serving the sanctioning decisions or the date of expiry of the statute of limitations for executing the sanctioning decisions they do not relapse into violations, shall be considered having not yet been sanctioned for administrative violations.

Article 8.- Sanctioning forms and remedial measures applicable to administrative violations in the price domain

1. For each act of administrative violation in the price domain, the violating individuals and organizations shall be subject to one of the following principal sanctioning forms:

a) Caution;

b) Fine.

2. Depending on the nature and seriousness of their violations, the individuals and organizations committing administrative violations in the price domain shall also be subject to the application of one or more of the following additional sanctioning forms:

a) Deprivation of the right to use the price evaluator’s card;

b) Confiscation of the money amounts earned from administrative violations.

3. Apart from the above-mentioned principal and additional sanctioning forms, the violating individuals and organizations can also be compelled to apply one or more of the following remedial measures:

a) Confiscation of all price difference money amounts earned from administrative violations;

b) Forced compensation for the entire money amounts lost due to administrative violations in the price domain;

c) Withdrawal of goods price and/or freight subsidy money obtained due to false declaration or over-declaration in the payment dossiers; the goods price and/or freight subsidy money, the support money for implementation of price policies, which were used for wrong purposes;

d) The compulsory payment of all expenses for the return of difference money earned from wrong price application to individuals and/or organizations that the wrong prices were applied to.

4. The principal sanctioning forms, additional sanctioning forms and measures applicable to administrative violations in the price domain are prescribed in Chapter II of this Decree. Other additional sanctioning forms and measures shall only be applied together with principal sanctioning forms. In cases where the statute of limitations for sanctioning administrative violations have expired, the principal sanctioning forms shall not apply but the measures prescribed at Points a, b, c, d, Clause 3 of this Article can be applied.

5. When the form of fine is applied, the specific fine level for an act of administrative violation in the price domain shall be the average level of the fine bracket corresponding to such act, prescribed in this Decree; if the violation involves extenuating circumstance(s), the fine level can be reduced but must not be lower than the minimum level of the fine bracket; if it involves aggravating circumstance(s), the fine level can be raised but must not exceed the maximum level of the fine bracket.