Joint Circular No. 01/2008/TTLT-BNV-BTC guides the implementation of Government Decree No. 19/2008/NĐ-CP dated February 14, 2008, concerning the system of responsibility allowances and remuneration for individuals participating in anti-corruption activities.

GUIDELINES FOR IMPLEMENTING GOVERNMENT DECREE NO. 19/2008/NĐ-CP OF FEBRUARY 14, 2008 ON THE REGIME OF RESPONSIBILITY ALLOWANCE IN ANTI-CORRUPTION ACTIVITIES

Pursuant to Government Decree No. 19/2008/NĐ-CP dated February 14, 2008, providing for the regime of responsibility allowance in anti-corruption activities; the Ministry of Home Affairs and the Ministry of Finance issue guidelines for implementing the regime of responsibility allowance in anti-corruption activities and the remuneration system for cases of being seconded or summoned for a limited period to perform anti-corruption tasks as follows:

I. REGIME OF RESPONSIBILITY ALLOWANCE IN ANTI-CORRUPTION ACTIVITIES

1. Objectives and scope of application

a) Members of the Central Steering Committee on Anti-Corruption (hereinafter referred to as members of the Central Steering Committee);

b) Members of the Steering Committee on Anti-Corruption at provincial level (hereinafter referred to as members of the provincial Steering Committee);

c) Staff, civil servants, and officials under the establishment of the Central Steering Committee's Office who are engaged in specialized anti-corruption work;

d) Staff, civil servants, and officials under the establishment of the provincial Steering Committee's working group who are engaged in specialized anti-corruption work.

2. Principles of application

a) The person holding a position or appointed to a rank shall enjoy the responsibility allowance in anti-corruption activities (hereinafter referred to as responsibility allowance) according to their position or rank;

b) Members of the Central Steering Committee and provincial Steering Committee shall cease to enjoy the responsibility allowance from the month immediately following the month in which they stop performing their duties as members of the Steering Committee and staff, civil servants, and officials of the Steering Committee transfer out of the establishment of the Central Steering Committee's Office and the provincial Steering Committee's working group;

c) During the period of suspension from work pursuant to a decision of the competent authority, the persons mentioned in Clause 1 of Section I of this Circular shall be governed by the provisions of Clause 4, Article 10 of Government Decree No. 35/2005/NĐ-CP dated March 17, 2005, on disciplinary measures for cadres and civil servants;

d) The persons mentioned in Clause 1 of Section I of this Circular shall not enjoy the responsibility allowance in the following cases:

Time spent on overseas assignments, work, or study in accordance with Clause 4, Article 8 of Government Decree No. 204/2004/NĐ-CP dated December 14, 2004, on salary regulations for cadres, civil servants, officials, and armed forces personnel, during which they receive 40% of their salary;

Time spent studying in Vietnam without directly participating in anti-corruption activities for three consecutive months or more;

Time off for personal reasons without pay for one consecutive month or more;

Time off due to illness or maternity leave exceeding the prescribed duration under the Law on Social Insurance.

3. Rate of responsibility allowance

a) Persons specified in Clause 1 of Section I of this Circular who are under the establishment of the Central Steering Committee's Office or the provincial Steering Committee's working group shall apply the responsibility allowance rate as a percentage (%) of their current salary plus leadership position allowance and seniority allowance beyond the ceiling (if applicable) as follows:

A rate of 20% applies to officials with a salary grade equivalent to that of a Minister or higher; senior experts; officials and civil servants with a grade equivalent to Senior Specialist or higher;

A rate of 25% applies to officials and civil servants with a grade equivalent to Specialist or higher;

A rate of 30% applies to officials and civil servants with a grade equivalent to Specialist or lower.

b) Members of the Central Steering Committee who are not under the establishment of the Central Steering Committee's Office and members of the provincial Steering Committee who are not under the establishment of the provincial Steering Committee's working group shall apply the responsibility allowance rate as a coefficient relative to the minimum wage as follows:

A rate of 1.0 applies to members of the Central Steering Committee who are not under the establishment of the Central Steering Committee's Office;

A rate of 0.8 applies to members of the provincial Steering Committee who are not under the establishment of the provincial Steering Committee's working group.

4. Calculation Method

a) The amount of responsibility allowance calculated as a percentage (%) of the current salary plus leadership position allowance and seniority allowance beyond the ceiling (if applicable) as stipulated in point a, Clause 3, Section I of this Circular shall be calculated using the following formula:

b) The amount of responsibility allowance calculated as a coefficient relative to the minimum wage as stipulated in point b, Clause 3, Section I of this Circular shall be calculated using the following formula:

II. REMUNERATION SYSTEM FOR CASES OF BEING SECONDED OR SUMMONED FOR A LIMITED PERIOD TO PERFORM ANTI-CORRUPTION TASKS

Cases of being seconded or summoned for a limited period to perform anti-corruption tasks pursuant to a decision of the Head of the Central Steering Committee or a decision of the Head of the provincial Steering Committee (hereinafter referred to as secondment or summons) shall be subject to the remuneration system as follows during the period of secondment or summons:

1. In the case of secondment or summons involving officers and professional military personnel of the People's Army; officers and technical officers of the People's Public Security Force, the remuneration shall be calculated as follows:

a) If currently holding a salary grade of 7.30 (equivalent to the rank of Senior Colonel) or higher, the remuneration shall be calculated based on the responsibility allowance rate for a Senior Specialist who is seconded or summoned;

b) If currently holding a salary grade of 6.00 (equivalent to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel) to less than 7.30, the remuneration shall be calculated based on the responsibility allowance rate for a Specialist who is seconded or summoned;

c) If currently holding a salary grade below 6.00, the remuneration shall be calculated based on the responsibility allowance rate for a Junior Specialist who is seconded or summoned.

2. Officials, civil servants, and public employees who are temporarily assigned, summoned, or in other cases as stipulated in Clause 1, Section II herein shall be entitled to remuneration in the following circumstances:

a) If they have not yet been granted duty allowance according to profession or preferential allowance according to profession or special allowance (excluding seniority allowance for profession) of the military or police (hereinafter referred to collectively as "allowance according to profession"), then they shall be entitled to remuneration at the level equivalent to the duty allowance corresponding to their current position or rank of civil servant or public employee, as guided by this Circular.

Example 1: Mr. Nguyen Van A, a Senior Specialist Officer and Director of a Department under Ministry N, was summoned on a temporary basis from September 1, 2007 to April 30, 2008 to participate in anti-corruption tasks pursuant to the decision of the Head of the Central Steering Committee. Mr. A currently holds Grade 5 with a salary coefficient of 7.64 for the Senior Specialist Officer rank (code 01.001) and receives leadership position allowance with a coefficient of 1.00.

The amount of remuneration that Mr. A is entitled to from September 2007 to December 2007 is:

(7.64 + 1.00) x 450,000 VND/month x 20% = 777,600 VND/month.

The amount of remuneration that Mr. A is entitled to from January 2008 to April 2008 is:

(7.64 + 1.00) x 540,000 VND/month x 20% = 933,120 VND/month.

Example 2: Ms. Tran Thi H, a Military Officer of the rank of Major (current salary coefficient 6.60), was temporarily assigned on a temporary basis from January 1, 2008 to participate in anti-corruption tasks pursuant to the decision of the Head of the Provincial Steering Committee K.

According to the provisions of point b, Clause 1, Section II herein, the amount of remuneration that Ms. H is entitled to is calculated based on the duty allowance of the Main Specialist rank (25%). Therefore, Ms. H is entitled to the amount of remuneration from January 2008 as follows:

6.60 x 540,000 VND/month x 25% = 891,000 VND/month.

b) If they are currently receiving allowance according to profession but the total salary (including leadership position allowance, seniority allowance for profession, and seniority allowance exceeding the ceiling, if applicable) plus the current allowance according to profession is lower than the total salary plus the duty allowance corresponding to their current position or rank of civil servant or public employee, as guided by this Circular, then they shall be entitled to remuneration at the level of the lower amount.

III. SOURCE OF FUNDS AND METHOD OF PAYMENT

1. Funding sources

The source of funds for paying duty allowances and remuneration for officials, civil servants, and public employees who are temporarily assigned or summoned as guided by this Circular shall be allocated within the annual state budget estimate of the Office of the Central Steering Committee on Anti-Corruption and the Office of the People's Committee of provinces and centrally-administered cities, as provided for in the State Budget Law.

2. Method of payment

a) Duty allowance is paid together with monthly salary and settled according to the current laws on financial management regulations.

b) Duty allowance shall not be used to calculate contributions or benefits under social insurance and health insurance schemes.

c) The method of paying remuneration for officials, civil servants, and public employees who are temporarily assigned or summoned for less than a full month as guided by Section II of this Circular shall be implemented as follows:

If the period of temporary assignment or summoning is 11 working days or more, then they shall be entitled to full-month remuneration; if it is less than 11 working days, then they shall be entitled to half-month remuneration.

IV. IMPLEMENTATION

1. This Circular shall take effect 15 days after its publication in the Official Gazette.

2. The time when duty allowances in anti-corruption activities and remuneration for officials, civil servants, and public employees who are temporarily assigned or summoned as guided by this Circular shall be enjoyed is determined as follows:

a) For members of the Central Steering Committee, it shall be counted from the date the Resolution No. 1039/2006/NQ-UBTVQH11 dated August 28, 2006 of the Standing Committee of the National Assembly on the organization, tasks, powers, and operational rules of the Central Steering Committee on Anti-Corruption comes into effect.

b) For officials, civil servants, and public employees under the permanent staff of the Office of the Central Steering Committee and those temporarily assigned or summoned pursuant to the decision of the Head of the Central Steering Committee, it shall be counted from the date Decision No. 13/2007/QD-TTg dated January 24, 2007 of the Prime Minister on the establishment, functions, powers, organizational structure, and operational rules of the Office of the Central Steering Committee on Anti-Corruption comes into effect.

c) For members of the provincial Steering Committee and officials, civil servants, and public employees under the permanent staff of the provincial Steering Committee's office and those temporarily assigned or summoned pursuant to the decision of the Head of the provincial Steering Committee, it shall be counted from the date Resolution No. 294A/2007/UBTVQH12 dated September 27, 2007 of the Standing Committee of the National Assembly on the organization, tasks, powers, and operational rules of the provincial Steering Committee on Anti-Corruption comes into effect.

d) In cases stipulated in point a, b, and c, Clause 2, Section IV of this Circular, if the competent authority issues a decision after the relevant documents come into effect, then they shall be entitled to duty allowances in anti-corruption activities and remuneration (if any) for temporary assignment or summoning from the date of the decision of the competent authority.

During implementation, if there are any difficulties, ministries, sectors, and localities should report to the Ministry of Home Affairs for coordination with the Ministry of Finance to study and resolve them./.