Circular No. 21/2026/TT-BKHCN on amending and supplementing certain Articles of Circulars for reduction, delegation of authority to handle and simplification of administrative procedures in field of telecommunications under management of Ministry of Science and Technology

CIRCULAR

AMENDING AND SUPPLEMENTING CERTAIN ARTICLES OF CIRCULARS FOR REDUCTION, DELEGATION OF AUTHORITY TO HANDLE AND SIMPLIFICATION OF ADMINISTRATIVE PROCEDURES IN FIELD OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS UNDER MANAGEMENT OF MINISTRY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

Pursuant to Law on Promulgation of Legislative Documents No. 64/2025/QH15 amended and supplemented by THE Law No. 87/2025/QH15;

Pursuant to the Government’s Decree No. 55/2025/ND-CP dated March 02, 2025 defining the functions, tasks, powers and organizational structure of the Ministry of Science and Technology;

Pursuant to the Government’s Decree No. 78/2025/ND-CP dated April 01, 2025 on elaboration of some Articles and measures to organize and provide guidelines for implementation of the Law on Promulgation of Legislative Documents amended and supplemented by the Decree No. 187/2025/ND-CP;

Pursuant to the Government’s Decree No. 133/2025/ND-CP dated June 12, 2025 on devolution and delegation in the state management field of the Ministry of Science and Technology;

Pursuant to the Government’s Resolution No. 20/2026/NQ-CP dated April 29, 2026 on delegation of authority to handle, reduction and simplification of administrative procedures and business conditions under management of the Ministry of Science and Technology;

At the request of the Director General of Vietnam Telecommunications Authority;

The Minister of Science and Technology hereby promulgates a Circular amending and supplementing certain Articles of Circulars for reduction, delegation of authority to handle and simplification of administrative procedures in field of telecommunications under management of Ministry of Science and Technology.

Article 1. Amending and supplementing some Articles of the Circular No. 08/2013/TT-BTTTT dated March 26, 2013 of the Minister of Information and Communications providing for telecommunications services quality management

1. The introductory paragraph of Article 4 is amended and supplemented as follows:

“Every telecommunications enterprise granted a license to provide telecommunications services by the competent state agency shall:”.

2. The introductory paragraph of Article 6 is amended and supplemented as follows:

“For telecommunications services on the “List of telecommunications services subject to quality management”, every telecommunication enterprise granted a license to provide telecommunications services by the competent state agency shall:”.

3. The Form in the Appendix II to the Circular No. 08/2013/TT-BTTTT is replaced with the Form No. 01 to this Circular.

4. The Form in the Appendix III to the Circular No. 08/2013/TT-BTTTT is replaced with the Form No. 02 to this Circular.

Article 2. Amending and supplementing some Articles of the Circular No. 07/2015/TT-BTTTT dated March 24, 2015 of the Minister of Information and Communications providing for telecommunications connectivity

1. Clause 1 of Article 8 is amended and supplemented as follows:

“1. Within 30 days from the day on which a telecommunications enterprise is determined to be the one holding essential instruments, such enterprise must prepare and submit an application dossier for sample connection agreement directly at the Single-window Section or via the postal system to the People’s Committee of the province where the enterprise is headquartered or online via the National Public Service Portal or the national identification application. Telecommunications enterprises other than those holding the essential instruments may draw up and promulgate their own sample connection agreement without registration with the state agency provided that they comply with the provisions of this Circular so as for them to commonly use it among telecommunications enterprises.”

2. Several details of Article 9 are amended and supplemented as follows:

a) The phrase “20 ngày làm việc” (“20 working days”) in clause 1 of Article 9 is replaced with the phrase “08 ngày làm việc” (“08 working days”).

b) The phrase “Cục Viễn thông” (“Vietnam Telecommunications Authority”) is replaced with the phrase “Ủy ban nhân dân cấp tỉnh” (“provincial People’s Committee”)

3. The phrase “Cục Viễn thông” (“Vietnam Telecommunications Authority”) in clause 3 of Article 13 is replaced with the phrase “cơ quan nhà nước có thẩm quyền” (“competent state agency”).

4. The Form in the Appendix 04 to the Circular No. 07/2015/TT-BTTTT is replaced with the Form No. 03 to this Circular.

Article 3. Amending and supplementing some Articles of the Circular No. 07/2020/TT-BTTTT dated April 13, 2020 of the Minister of Information and Communications providing for inspection of telecommunications equipment and radio stations

1. Clauses 3, 4 and 5 of Article 7 are amended and supplemented as follows:

a) Clause 3 is amended and supplemented as follows:

“3. Within three (03) working days from the date on which the organization or enterprise submits a sufficient valid application dossier specified in clause 1 of this Article, the inspection organization shall send the organization or enterprise a written notice of the receipt of the application dossier specified in clause 1 of this Article and the fees for appraisal of satisfaction of conditions for provision of telecommunications services with regard to telecommunications equipment and radio stations (hereinafter referred to as “appraisal fees”).”

b) Clause 4 is amended and supplemented as follows:

“4. Within eleven (11) working days from the date on which the organization or enterprise pays appraisal fees as prescribed in Article 9 of this Circular, the inspection organization shall carry out appraisal and issue the inspection certificate.”

c) Clause 5 is amended and supplemented as follows:

“5. If any non-conformity is found during the appraisal, the inspection organization shall send a written notice of non-conformities to the organization or enterprise. Within eight (08) working days from the receipt of the written notice, the organization or enterprise shall correct non-conformities and submit a correction dossier to the inspection organization in order for it to continue to carry out appraisal and issue the inspection certificate within five (05) working days. In case of failure to submit the correction dossier within the aforementioned time limit, the inspection organization is entitled to refuse to carry out appraisal, is not required to return appraisal fees and shall send a written notice to the organization or enterprise.”

2. Clause 1 of Article 9 is amended and supplemented as follows:

“4. The organization or enterprise shall pay appraisal fees to the inspection organization within five (05) working days from the date on which the inspection organization sends a notice of appraisal fees. In case of failure to make the payment within the aforementioned time limit, the inspection organization is entitled to refuse to carry out appraisal and shall send a written notice to the organization or enterprise.”

Article 4. Amending and supplementing some Articles of the Circular No. 33/2020/TT-BTTTT dated November 04, 2020 of the Minister of Information and Communications providing for telecommunications services quality management amending and supplementing some Articles of the Circular No. 08/2013/TT-BTTTT dated March 26, 2013 of the Minister of Information and Communications providing for telecommunications services quality management

1. Clause 1 of Article 1 is amended and supplemented as follows:

“1. Clause 1 of Article 5 is amended and supplemented as follows:

“1. A telecommunication enterprise shall submit a dossier on declaration of telecommunication services quality directly at the Single-window section or via postal system to the People’s Committee of the province where the enterprise is headquartered or online via the National Public Service Portal or the national identification application”.”

2. Clause 2 of Article 1 is amended and supplemented as follows:

“2. Clause 4 of Article 5 is amended and supplemented as follows:

“4. Within two (02) working days from the date on which the dossier is received:

a) In case the dossier is approved, the provincial People’s Committee shall issue an “Acknowledgement of declaration of telecommunication service quality” to the enterprise using the form under Appendix III to this this Circular; concurrently send the Vietnam Telecommunications Authority a copy of the acknowledgement of declaration of telecommunication service quality for cooperation in management work.

b) In case the declaration is not approved, the provincial People’s Committee shall send a written notice specifying the reasons to the telecommunications enterprise.”.”

3. The Form in the Appendix I to the Circular No. 33/2020/TT-BTTTT is replaced with the Form No. 04 to this Circular.

Article 5. Amending and supplementing some Articles of the Circular No. 13/2025/TT-BKHCN dated July 16, 2025 of the Minister of Science and Technology providing for delegation of authority to issue, extend, re-issue, amend, supplement and revoke telecommunications licenses, and request termination of provision of telecommunications service provision

1. Article 1 is amended and supplemented as follows:

“Article 1. Scope

This Circular provides for delegation of authority to issue, extend, re-issue, amend, supplement and revoked telecommunications licenses, and request termination of telecommunications service provision as prescribed in clause 4 Article 33 of the Law on Telecommunications, except the cases specified in Article 4 of the Government’s Decree No. 133/2025/ND-CP dated June 12, 2025 on devolution and delegation of authority in the state management field of the Ministry of Science and Technology and Part B of the Appendix I to the Government’s Resolution No. 20/2026/NQ-CP dated April 29, 2026 on delegation of authority to handle, reduction and simplification of administrative procedures and business conditions under management of the Ministry of Science and Technology.”

2. Article 3 is amended and supplemented as follows:

“Article 3. Delegation of authority to issue, extend, re-issue, amend, supplement and revoke telecommunications licenses

The Minister of Science and Technology shall delegate to Vietnam Telecommunications Authority the authority to:

1. Issue, extend, re-issue, amend and supplement licenses for provision of telecommunications services with network infrastructure and public telecommunications networks that do not use radio frequency bands, except the cases specified in clause 2 Article 4 of the Government’s Decree No. 133/2025/ND-CP.

2. Revoke the following licenses for provision of telecommunications services:

a) Licenses for provision of telecommunications services without network infrastructure, except the cases specified in clause 1 Article 4 of the Government’s Decree No. 133/2025/ND-CP and Part B of the Appendix I to the Government’s Resolution No. 20/2026/NQ-CP.

b) Licenses for provision of telecommunications services with network infrastructure and public telecommunications networks that do not use radio frequency bands, except the cases specified in clause 2 Article 4 of the Government’s Decree No. 133/2025/ND-CP.”

Article 6. Transitional clauses

The processing of administrative procedure dossiers which are received or bear the certification seal of the postal service provider prior to the effective date of this Circular shall continue to be governed by the laws in effect at the time of receiving the dossier.

Article 7. Implementation clause

1. This Circular comes into force from the date of its signature, except the case specified in clause 2 of this Article.

2. The authority to handle administrative procedures specified in Articles 1, 2, 4 and 5 of this Circular becomes effective as of May 29, 2026.

3. The Director General of Vietnam Telecommunications Authority shall:

a) Preside over and cooperate with units affiliated to the Ministry, People’s Committees of provinces and cities, and relevant agencies and organizations in supervising, expediting and inspecting the implementation of this Circular.

b) Instruct People’s Committees of provinces and cities and relevant units in receiving and handling administrative procedures according to the details of delegation of authority to handle, reduction and simplification set out in this Circular.

4. The Director General of Vietnam Telecommunications Authority, heads of units affiliated to the Ministry, relevant agencies, organizations and individuals are responsible for the implementation of this Circular./.