Decision No. 109/2005/QĐ-TTg On the Implementation of a Pilot Scheme for Allocating Personnel Quotas and Operating Funds for the General Department of Customs for the Period 2005-2007

DECISION OF THE PRIME MINISTER

On the implementation of the pilot scheme for allocating personnel quotas and operating funds

of the General Department of Customs for the period 2005-2007

PRIME MINISTER

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

Pursuant to the Decree on Thrift and Prevention of Waste dated February 26, 1998;

Pursuant to the Overall Program on Administrative Reform of the State for the period 2001 - 2010 issued together with Decision No. 136/2001/QĐ-TTg dated September 17, 2001 of the Prime Minister;

Pursuant to Decree No. 96/2002/NĐ-CP dated December 19, 2002 of the Government on the functions, tasks, powers, and organizational structure of the General Department of Customs;

Pursuant to the opinion of the Standing Committee of the National Assembly in Circular No. 307/UBTVQH11 dated December 24, 2004 regarding the continued implementation of the pilot scheme for allocating personnel quotas and operating funds for the Tax and Customs sectors;

At the proposal of the Minister of Finance,

DECISION:

Article 1. The pilot scheme for allocating personnel quotas and operating funds shall be implemented for the General Department of Customs under the Ministry of Finance for a period of three years, from 2005 to the end of 2007.

Article 2. The implementation of the pilot scheme for allocating personnel quotas and operating funds for the General Department of Customs must ensure the following objectives and requirements:

1. Reforming the management mechanism for personnel quotas and operating funds of the General Department of Customs; promoting the restructuring, organization, and building of a clean, strong, and highly professional workforce; allocated funds linked to results and effectiveness of state budget revenue collection activities; granting autonomy and accountability to unit heads in organizing work, utilizing labor, and managing financial resources.

2. Creating autonomy in the utilization of allocated operating funds, practicing thrift, and combating waste; focusing on modernizing information technology and equipping with advanced technical equipment to enhance efficiency and modernize management technology to fulfill state functions and tasks effectively, meeting international integration conditions; strengthening training and supplementing income for officials and civil servants.

3. Implementing transparency and democracy in accordance with the provisions of the law, ensuring the legitimate rights of customs officials and civil servants.

Article 3. Regarding the allocation of personnel quota:

1. The Minister of Finance shall allocate personnel quotas to the General Department of Customs in accordance with its assigned functions and tasks as stipulated and based on the proactive organization and restructuring of the management apparatus and utilization of labor in compliance with the State's policy of streamlining personnel quotas. The allocated personnel quota for the General Department of Customs shall be within the total number of state administrative personnel quotas allocated to the Ministry of Finance and shall not include the personnel quotas of subordinate public service units.

2. In cases where additional customs units are established or merged at provincial and centrally-administered city levels or when new functions and tasks are added according to decisions by competent authorities, the Minister of Finance shall coordinate with the Minister of Home Affairs to report to the Prime Minister for decision-making.

3. Apart from the allocated personnel quotas, the General Department of Customs may enter into contracts for work outsourcing and labor contracts for certain positions in accordance with Decree No. 68/2000/NĐ-CP dated November 17, 2000 of the Government on implementing the system of contracts for certain types of work in state administrative agencies and public service units.

Article 4. Regarding the level and content of allocated operating funds:

1. The level of allocated funds from the state budget is 1.6% of the total annual revenue collected into the state budget organized and implemented by the General Department of Customs.

2. Allocated funds shall be used for the following purposes:

a) Regular expenses: expenses for personnel (including salary increases, work outsourcing fees, and labor contracts for certain positions as stipulated in Clause 3 of Article 3 of this Decision); administrative management expenses; business activity expenses; expenses for implementing and coordinating tasks; expenses for departure and arrival.

Based on the personnel quota and allocated fund level, the average salary expenditure across the sector shall not exceed 1.8 times the salary regime prescribed by the State for officials, civil servants, and employees.

b) Expenses for modernizing the sector, enhancing material infrastructure, purchasing, and repairing assets serving professional work.

c) Costs for maintaining and developing, modernizing information technology.

d) Training and short-term professional development expenses for officials and civil servants according to the program and plan of the Customs sector.

The General Department of Customs shall proactively establish expenditure standards and systems suitable for its special operations based on applying national standards and within the scope of allocated funds as stipulated in this Article.

Article 5. In addition to the allocated funds specified in Article 4 of this Decision, the General Department of Customs shall annually utilize the following sources of funds:

1. Funds from the state budget for implementing specific tasks:

a) Centralized construction expenses funded by the state budget.

b) Costs for implementing national-level scientific research projects.

c) Expenses for national target programs; training and development expenses for officials and civil servants and other government programs and projects.

d) Operating expenses for subordinate public service units under the General Department of Customs in accordance with the State's regulations for public service units.

đ) Expenses for implementing personnel quota streamlining in accordance with the State's regulations.

2. Funds retained from customs fees, charges, and other lawful revenues shall be used to finance tasks as prescribed by law within the customs domain.

Article 6. The General Department of Customs shall proactively utilize allocated funds in accordance with actual needs and within the allocated fund limit. Unspent allocated funds at the end of the year may be carried over to the next year for continued use. Savings from expenditures due to the allocation scheme shall be used for the following purposes:

1. Supplementing funds for enhancing material infrastructure and equipment to support anti-smuggling and customs operations; expenses for applying and developing information technology.

2. Supplementing funds for the training and development tasks of the sector.

3. Additional subsidies outside the general policy for those voluntarily retiring during the restructuring and reorganization process; supplementing income for customs officials and civil servants to create motivation to complete assigned political tasks and meet the actual income parity requirements within the civil service system; expenses to support subordinate public service units under the General Department of Customs.

4. Establishing a development fund for sector activities and a reserve fund for stable income; expenses for rewards and welfare, with the maximum annual reward and welfare expenditure not exceeding three months' salary.

Article 7. During the period of implementing the quota, if the State changes policies or systems, the General Department of Customs shall bear its own additional expenses according to the new policies and systems. In cases where objective factors lead to the allocated budget for the General Department of Customs being insufficient to ensure the minimum expenditure required to maintain operations, the Minister of Finance shall submit to the Prime Minister for consideration and adjustment as appropriate.

Article 8. Responsibilities of the Ministry of Finance:

1. Implementation guidance for this Decision.

2. Take the lead and coordinate with the Ministry of Home Affairs and relevant agencies to perform the following tasks:

a) Regularly organize inspections, interim reviews, and evaluations to draw lessons from the pilot implementation of staffing quotas and operational funding for the General Department of Customs.

b) By the third quarter of 2007, organize a comprehensive review and evaluation of the results of the pilot implementation of staffing quotas and operational funding for the General Department of Customs, and on that basis, submit to the Prime Minister proposals for staffing quotas and operational funding to be applied in the subsequent phase.

Article 9. This Decision takes effect fifteen days after its publication in the Official Gazette and applies to fiscal years from 2005 to 2007.

Repeal Decisions No. 159/2003/QĐ-TTg dated August 4, 2003, and No. 158/2004/QĐ-TTg dated August 31, 2004, of the Prime Minister regarding the pilot implementation of staffing quotas and operational funding for the General Department of Customs in 2003 and 2004.

Article 10. The Ministers of Finance, Home Affairs, Planning and Investment, Justice, and the heads of relevant agencies are responsible for enforcing this Decision./.