Decision No. 159/2003/QĐ-TTg On the Implementation of a Pilot Scheme for Allocating Personnel Quotas and Operating Funds for the Year 2003 of the General Department of Customs

Pursuant to …;

Regarding the implementation of a pilot program for allocating personnel quotas and operating funds

 of the General Department of Customs in 2003

____________________

PRIME MINISTER

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

Pursuant to the Law 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;

At the proposal of the Minister of Finance,

DECISION:

Article 1. Implementing the pilot scheme of allocating personnel quotas and operating funds for the General Department of Customs under the Ministry of Finance in 2003.

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. Reform the management mechanism of personnel quotas and operating funds of the General Department of Customs; promote the reorganization, organization of the administrative apparatus, building a clean, strong force with high professional qualifications; focus on modernizing the information system and equipping modern technology to enhance efficiency and modernize management technology to effectively perform state functions and tasks.

2. Create autonomy in funding sources, practice thrift and combat waste in the use of funds to create conditions for investment development of the industry, training to improve the quality of cadres and civil servants, and increase income for cadres 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 initiative to organize, restructure the administrative apparatus and utilize labor in accordance with the national policy of streamlining personnel quotas. The allocated personnel quota for the General Department of Customs shall be within the total personnel quota allocated to the Ministry of Finance and shall not include the personnel quota of subordinate public service units of the General Department of Customs.

2. In cases where there is a change in the number of customs units due to establishment or merger at provincial or centrally-administered city levels or due to additional functions and tasks decided by competent authorities, the Minister of Finance shall propose to the competent authority to decide on adjusting the personnel quota accordingly.

3. Apart from the personnel quota allocated as provided for in Clause 1 of this Article, the General Department of Customs may proactively implement the hiring of labor in accordance with the Labor Code to ensure the completion of assigned tasks.

Article 4.

1. The level of pilot fund allocation from the state budget is 1.6% of the total revenue collected into the state budget in 2003 organized and implemented by the General Department of Customs.

Additionally, the General Department of Customs may use retained funds from customs fee revenues in accordance with current laws and other lawful sources (support from provinces and centrally-administered cities, stamps...) to supplement operating funds as prescribed by the competent authority.

2. The Ministry of Finance shall coordinate with the Ministry of Planning and Investment to proactively propose to the Prime Minister to decide on supplementing the insufficient funds compared to the approved budget for 2003 for the General Department of Customs to enable the General Department of Customs to implement the pilot scheme of allocating operating funds as stipulated in this Decision.

Article 5. The content of the allocation of operating funds includes:

1. Regular expenses: expenses for personnel, administrative management expenses; business activity expenses; departure and arrival expenses.

2. Short-term vocational training expenses for cadres and civil servants according to the program and plan of the agency.

3. Expenses for repairing infrastructure, purchasing assets to serve professional work according to the plan of the agency.

4. Expenses for maintaining and developing information technology applications according to the program and plan of the agency.

Article 6. The allocation of operating funds shall not apply to the following expenses:

1. Centralized construction expenses funded by the state budget;

2. Expenses for implementing the project of computerizing customs procedures as directed by the Prime Minister in Circular No. 805/CP-KG dated July 15, 2002;

3. Expenses for projects to equip specialized equipment for drug prevention and control, and projects to equip X-ray machines approved by the Prime Minister.

4. Expenses for modernizing information technology according to the government's program.

5. Training and development expenses for staff according to the state plan.

6. Expenses for implementing state-level and ministry-level scientific research topics.

7. Expenses for national target programs and other government projects.

8. Operating funds of subordinate public service units of the General Department of Customs shall be implemented in accordance with Decree No. 10/2002/NĐ-CP dated January 16, 2002 of the Government.

9. Expenses for implementing personnel quota reduction according to the regulations set by the State.

Article 7. The General Department of Customs may proactively use the allocated funds in accordance with actual needs within the allocated fund limit. Any unused funds in a year may be carried over to the next year for continued use.

The General Department of Customs may use savings from expenditures due to the implementation of the allocation 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. Training and vocational training expenses for cadres.

3. Additional subsidies outside the general policy for those who voluntarily retire during the process of labor restructuring and organization. Supporting subordinate public service units of the General Department of Customs if necessary.

4. Adjusting the minimum wage level for General Department of Customs cadres and civil servants up to 2.5 times the national minimum wage level.

5. Establishing funds: Income Stabilization Reserve Fund; Industry Development Fund; Reward Fund; Welfare Fund. The maximum contribution rate for the Reward and Welfare Funds shall not exceed three months' salary.

The General Department of Customs shall proactively establish expenditure standards and systems in accordance with its activities based on applying state-prescribed standards and within the allocated fund limit as stipulated in Article 4 of this Decision.

Article 8. During the period of piloting the allocation of operating funds, when the state changes policies and regulations, the General Department of Customs shall cover any additional expenses incurred under new policies and regulations. If due to objective factors, the allocated operating funds for the General Department of Customs are insufficient to maintain the minimum operational costs of the apparatus, the Minister of Finance shall report to the Prime Minister for review and adjustment as appropriate.

Article 9. The Minister of Finance is tasked with:

1. Leading the organization of mid-term reviews and evaluations to draw lessons from the guidance in implementing the pilot scheme of allocating personnel quotas and operating funds for the General Department of Customs in 2003; coordinating with relevant agencies to resolve arising issues and reporting the results to the Prime Minister.

2. Acting on behalf of the Prime Minister, report to the Standing Committee of the National Assembly for comments on the implementation of the pilot program allocating operating funds to the General Department of Customs at a stable rate of 1.6% of the total annual revenue collected and remitted to the State budget by the General Department of Customs over three years (from 2004 to 2006), and the contents stipulated in this Decision.

Based on the consensus opinion of the Standing Committee of the National Assembly, coordinate with relevant agencies to submit to the Prime Minister for continued implementation of the pilot program allocating staffing and operating funds for the General Department of Customs from 2004 to 2006.

Article 10. This Decision takes effect in the 2003 fiscal year. Abolish the bonus system for the General Department of Customs as provided in Decision No. 665/2000/QĐ-TTg dated July 14, 2000 of the Prime Minister.

The Minister of Finance shall take the lead in coordinating with relevant agencies to be responsible for guiding the implementation of this Decision.

Article 11. The Ministers of Finance, Home Affairs, Planning and Investment, Labor - Invalids and Social Affairs, Justice, and the Heads of relevant agencies shall be responsible for implementing this Decision./.