Joint Circular No. 22/2001/TTLT-BTCCBCP-BTC guiding the adjustment of living expense index for officials and civil servants working at Vietnamese representative offices abroad.

JOINT CIRCULAR

Guidelines for adjusting living expense indices for officials and civil servants working at Vietnamese representative offices abroad

||| Guidelines for living expenses for officials and civil servants working at Vietnamese representative offices abroad shall be implemented according to Decree No. 105/CP dated June 22, 1965 of the Council of Ministers (now the Government). During the implementation process, inconsistencies have arisen such as inconsistent living expense indices among officials and civil servants within the same representative office and the living expense indices not being fully aligned with domestic salary scales. To address these issues, following the Prime Minister's directive in Circular No. 34/CP-VX dated January 11, 2001 of the Government regarding adjustments to living expense levels for representative offices, after reaching consensus with the Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Joint Office of the Government's Organizational and Cadre Affairs and the Ministry of Finance hereby provides guidelines for adjusting living expense indices for officials and civil servants working at Vietnamese representative offices abroad as follows:

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||| I. OBJECTS AND SCOPE OF APPLICATION

Officials and civil servants under the establishment of Vietnamese representative offices abroad who receive living expenses outside the country funded by the state budget.

||| II. PRINCIPLES FOR ADJUSTING LIVING EXPENSE INDICES

1. Ensuring balance between the salary scale in the country and the living expense indices abroad, and uniformity in the living expense system among officials and civil servants from different sectors within the same representative office.

2. The living expense index shall be based on the position or rank held at the representative office (according to diplomatic rank and job title recorded in the decision to assign work abroad).

3. The level of living expenses for officials and civil servants working at representative offices shall be calculated based on indices. The living expense indices for each position and rank currently working at Vietnamese representative offices abroad shall be determined based on a minimum living expense level of 100% (the current minimum level applied to each representative office), a maximum living expense index of 250%, and the domestic salary scale.

4. The source for adjusting the living expense indices as stipulated in this Circular shall be included in the regular operating budget of Vietnamese representative offices abroad.

||| III. METHODS FOR ADJUSTING NEW LIVING EXPENSE INDICES

1. Attached to this Circular is a table of living expense indices for officials and civil servants working at Vietnamese representative offices abroad, including four tables for transitioning to new living expense indices as follows:

Table 1: applicable to officials and civil servants holding diplomatic positions.

Table 2: applicable to officials and civil servants in administrative, public service, Party, and mass organizations sectors.

Table 3: applicable to military and police specialists not holding diplomatic positions.

Table 4: applicable to technical logistics officials, administrative staff, and service personnel.

2. For those in their probationary period, they shall receive 85% of the first-level living expense index corresponding to their position.

1. Based on the provisions of this Circular, ministries and sectors with officials and civil servants working at Vietnamese representative offices abroad shall review the positions of officials and civil servants to transition to the new living expense indices as required and periodically report to the Joint Office of the Government's Organizational and Cadre Affairs and the Ministry of Finance on the use of the living expense fund of Vietnamese representative offices abroad.

IV. IMPLEMENTATION

2. This Circular takes effect from May 1, 2001.

The adjustment source for living expense indices for officials and civil servants working at Vietnamese representative offices abroad in 2001 will be arranged in the 2001 budget estimates of ministries and sectors.

3. Abolish all regulations on living expense indices for officials and civil servants working at Vietnamese representative offices abroad issued by ministries and sectors before May 1, 2001. As for the spouse allowance for diplomatic officials, it shall continue to be implemented according to the provisions of Circular No. 41 TT/LB dated July 1, 1997 of the Joint Ministry of Finance and Foreign Affairs.

4. For Vietnamese enterprises with overseas representative offices, the living expense indices in Tables 2 and 4 shall be applied to calculate the living expenses for employees working at these representative offices.

In the course of implementation, if there are any difficulties, please reflect them back to the Joint Office for consideration and resolution./.

During implementation, if there are any difficulties, they are requested to be reported by the ministries, sectors, and Vietnamese representative offices abroad to the joint ministry for consideration and resolution./.