Circular No. 25-TC/HCP/P1 guiding the implementation of Directive No. 123-ttg dated May 31, 1960 of the Prime Minister on abolishing the bicycle system for official use in agencies.

CIRCULAR

Guidelines for Implementing Directive No. 123-TTg dated May 31, 1960 of the Prime Minister on the abolition of the bicycle system for officials in agencies

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In compliance with Directive No. 123-TTg dated May 31, 1960 of the Prime Minister, which assigned the Ministry of Finance the responsibility to guide the implementation of the abolition of the bicycle system for officials in agencies and enterprises, after reaching consensus with the Ministry of Interior and the Ministry of Labor, we hereby specify the detailed guidelines for implementing the aforementioned Directive:

2. Individuals who have registered as the principal investigator of a Research Project or Pilot Production Project and those participating in its implementation shall not participate in the Evaluation and Selection Council for that Research Project or Pilot Production Project (hereinafter referred to as the Council). In necessary cases, members of the Council may be staff members of the organization registering as the principal investigator of the Research Project or Pilot Production Project, but not more than one person and they cannot serve as Chairperson, Vice-Chairperson, or reviewing member.

The Standing Committee of the Council of Ministers at its meeting on May 18, 1960 decided:

1. To abolish the system of providing bicycles (including motorcycles and motorbikes) exclusively for officials responsible for work in all sectors and levels (including senior officials at both central and local levels).

Each agency or enterprise shall retain only a few bicycles for essential work units such as emergency transportation departments and catering services in collective dining halls. If an agency or enterprise deems it unnecessary to retain any bicycles, the head of the agency or enterprise shall decide accordingly.

2. For officials who must travel frequently and would be hindered without a bicycle, the State will sell bicycles to them at a reduced price or lend them money to purchase bicycles, which will be deducted from their salaries over time.

II. SPECIFIC PROVISIONS

1. Scope of Implementation of the Prime Minister's Directive.

The abolition of the system of providing bicycles (including motorcycles and motorbikes) this time applies uniformly to administrative agencies, public institutions, enterprises, Party organizations, mass organizations, and associations, from the central to local levels.

2. Eligibility for purchasing bicycles from the agency or borrowing money to buy bicycles.

As in previous sales rounds, during this round, the condition determining whether officials, workers, and employees can purchase bicycles from the agency or receive assistance from the agency to buy bicycles from Commerce remains that they need to use bicycles regularly due to work requirements, and if they do not have bicycles, it will significantly impede their work. Agencies must strictly adhere to these conditions and not extend the scope of selling bicycles or lending money to purchase bicycles to those who do not meet these criteria. This must be done to achieve the goal of the policy to abolish the bicycle system this time, which is to ensure work efficiency and internal unity within the limited material resources and financial capacity.

Specifically, officials who previously had the standard to use personal bicycles will now be prioritized to purchase the bicycles currently in use. In exceptional cases where it is deemed necessary to adjust the allocation of bicycles for better suitability, the agency may decide to sell other bicycles to them.

Officials, workers, and employees who purchase bicycles from the agency or borrow money to buy bicycles must use their own bicycles for work when necessary and are entitled to receive bicycle depreciation allowances according to current regulations. Within one year and before fully repaying the agency for the purchased bicycle or the borrowed money to buy a bicycle, they may not sell the bicycle without permission. Those who have already purchased bicycles from the agency in previous rounds are not eligible to purchase bicycles from the agency again or borrow money to buy another bicycle this time.

After selling bicycles to those who meet the eligibility criteria, if there are still bicycles remaining, the agencies and sectors shall report to the finance department at the same level to reallocate the remaining bicycles to agencies and sectors that lack bicycles for sale. It is strictly prohibited to expand the scope of selling bicycles to those who do not meet the eligibility criteria.

3. Pricing of Bicycles.

During the previous round of bicycle sales, due to the lack of specific and unified pricing principles among agencies and sectors, there was inconsistency in pricing: some places priced accurately while others priced too low, leading to disputes and envy.

To ensure reasonable and balanced pricing of bicycles between agencies, during this round, the following pricing method should be applied:

a) For central agencies and Hanoi: The bicycle sale committee of each agency, after reviewing and categorizing the existing bicycles, will select a number of bicycles as benchmarks (including good and bad quality bicycles, democratic and imperial brands) and bring them to the bicycle and motorcycle trading shop of the Hanoi Motorbike and Bicycle Company to request pricing based on the stable purchase price of the shop. The shop will issue a pricing certificate to the agencies. The cost of pricing the bicycles shall be borne by the agency. The bicycle sale committee of the agency is responsible for setting prices for other bicycles based on the benchmark prices, ensuring balance and avoiding pricing based on original cost minus depreciation.

b) In other regions:

Regions with bicycle trading shops of Commerce shall apply the same pricing method as in the central area and Hanoi.

In areas without bicycle trading shops of Commerce, a regional joint pricing committee shall be established, including representatives from the finance department and the local bicycle sales shop of Commerce.

The price sold to officials, workers, and employees shall be the stable purchase price of Commerce (which is about 10% lower than the retail price), not based on the original cost minus depreciation.

Since the price sold to officials, workers, and employees generally follows the purchase price of Commerce, the pricing process must be cautious and accurate to avoid undervaluing, which could create an imbalance between those purchasing bicycles from the agency and those borrowing money to buy new bicycles from Commerce (these individuals will deduct the loan amount from their salary over time).

4. Payment for Purchasing Bicycles.

Individuals purchasing bicycles from the agency shall pay as follows:

- At the time of signing the contract and receiving the bicycle, they must pay at least 1/5 of the value of the bicycle purchased. The remaining amount will be deducted from their salary over a maximum period of 12 months.

Specifically, for the initial payment, if it exceeds 1/5 of the bicycle's value, a 10% discount on the payment will be granted; otherwise, no discount will be given.

Particularly, for officials and workers (including responsible officials) facing difficult family circumstances or purchasing high-value bicycles that cannot be paid according to the general provisions above, the agency will coordinate with the Trade Union to consider and decide on reducing the initial payment and extending the repayment period.

In the event that the purchase price of the vehicle has not been fully repaid and the employee must be transferred to another position, the agency must record on the employee's termination pay slip the outstanding amount and the remaining months for repayment so that the new agency can continue to recover the full amount upon receiving the employee for work. The agency must also report this to the financial department at the same level and the financial department where the employee will be transferred. The funds collected will be remitted to the financial department where the employee will be transferred.

5. Procedures for submitting proceeds from vehicle sales.

The budget allocated for employees to borrow to purchase vehicles at each level is the monthly revenue from vehicle sales (including immediate proceeds from sales and monthly installments from the current sale and previous sales).

For administrative and public service agencies (excluding those under the Vietnam Labor Party, the General Federation of Trade Unions, and the All-Vietnam Federation of Trade Unions at all levels), the proceeds will be consolidated into the management of the financial department. To facilitate tracking and allocating budgets for employees who have the opportunity to borrow to purchase vehicles, starting from August 1960, administrative and public service agencies will deposit the proceeds from vehicle sales into the account titled "Proceeds from Bicycle Sales" opened at the State Bank under the name of the Ministry of Finance (if it is a central agency) or the Department of Finance (if it is a local agency).

Each time money from bicycle sales is deposited into the bank, the agency must immediately inform the same-level financial department to facilitate reconciliation with the bank.

To ensure strict cash management, both the Ministry of Finance and the financial departments of regions, cities, and provinces will only provide temporary advances to agencies through checks (drawn from the aforementioned account) to settle payments with the Trading Store selling bicycles.

The State Bank will issue guidelines regarding this matter.

For agencies under the Vietnam Labor Party, the proceeds from bicycle sales will be centralized and managed by the Party's Budget Office and resolved according to general regulations; for the General Federation of Trade Unions and the All-Vietnam Federation of Trade Unions at all levels, they will be managed and resolved according to general regulations by the General Federation of Trade Unions.

For enterprises, the proceeds from bicycle sales will:

- Be recovered into their own working capital if it is movable property.

- Be returned to the state if it is fixed property.

If it is deemed necessary for cadres, workers, and staff to borrow money to purchase bicycles, enterprises may retain the proceeds from bicycle sales to lend out but must not exceed the amount received and must carefully track recovery.

6. Loan procedures.

The current policy of abolishing official bicycles mainly aims to resolve the existing number of bicycles within agencies. The provision of loans to cadres will only be considered and resolved for certain agencies due to development requirements or because the current number of official bicycles is insufficient, necessitating additional bicycles for cadres who frequently need to travel by bicycle but do not currently have one.

In cases where additional bicycles are needed, the agency will handle it as follows:

- Individuals who qualify for bicycles and have the ability to purchase them independently should request the financial department to issue a letter of introduction to purchase bicycles from the Trading Store.

- Individuals who need bicycles for work but lack the ability to purchase them independently should have the agency coordinate with the trade union to assess and decide on the loan amount, then request the same-level financial department to study and submit to the Administrative Committee for approval of the maximum loan amount per person not exceeding 250 dong.

Central administrative and public service agencies should report to the Ministry of Finance a list of individuals requiring loans, the loan amounts required, and the nature of their work, arranged in priority order for the Ministry of Finance to gradually resolve based on the proceeds obtained and the supply capacity of the Trading Store. Loan requests from levels two and three must be approved by the first-level unit. The loan amount per person shall not exceed 250 dong.

Given the limited budget for cadres, workers, and staff to borrow to purchase bicycles within the scope of proceeds from bicycle sales, and considering the limited supply capacity of the Trading Store, agencies must be extremely cautious: only consider eligible candidates for loans and carefully evaluate before proposing loans to cadres, workers, and staff.

Letters of introduction for preferential bicycle purchases from the Trading Store are uniformly issued by the financial department.

The loan amount for purchasing bicycles will be deducted from salary over a period of 12 months. For cadres facing difficulties in repaying within this period, the agency will coordinate with the trade union to extend the repayment period.

The regulation for cadres borrowing money to purchase bicycles will be implemented from now until June 1961 when it will cease.

7. Motorcycles and motorbikes.

From now on, all administrative, public service, enterprise, party, and mass organizations at central and local levels are prohibited from purchasing additional motorcycles and motorbikes.

While awaiting plans for resolution, central agencies and localities with such vehicles must report to the Ministry of Finance the current number of vehicles, including those of subordinate units, by August 15, 1960, along with a list of individuals wishing to purchase motorcycles and motorbikes (if any). At the same time, they must strictly manage these vehicles, establish clear usage rules, reserve them exclusively for specific cadres (specifically, heads of units) to use only when truly necessary, and ensure that without motorcycles or motorbikes, work schedules cannot be guaranteed.

If an agency has cadres, workers, or staff wishing to purchase official motorcycles or motorbikes, the agency may sell them back according to the procedures for selling official bicycles stipulated above.

Note: Loans for purchasing motorcycles or motorbikes outside are not allowed.

8. Leadership Implementation.

a) At the central level: Based on the provisions above, ministries, central agencies, and mass organizations should proactively study and directly lead implementation for subordinate units. The Ministry of Finance will not directly resolve issues for second and third-level units.

Second and third-level units under central agencies located in localities must closely coordinate with the Administrative Committee where they are headquartered to ensure overall price balance.

b) At the local level: The Administrative Committee is responsible for leading the implementation of the policy to abolish official bicycles for subordinate agencies.

During the implementation process, if difficulties arise that cannot be resolved by ministries or committees, they should report to the Ministry of Finance for research and resolution.

Note: After receiving Directive No. 123-TTg dated May 31, 1960 of the Prime Minister, any agency that sold public bicycles before the issuance of this Circular by the Ministry of Finance must adjust accordingly to comply with the provisions set forth in this Circular (regarding prices, eligible buyers or borrowers for purchasing bicycles, loan procedures...).

9. Report.

After completing the sale of bicycles, motorcycles, and motor vehicles owned by the state, central ministries, central mass organizations, provincial administrative committees, and city committees shall immediately report the results of the vehicle sales to the Ministry of Finance along with necessary data:

- Staff establishment.

- Number of personal bicycles.

- Number of public bicycles sold in previous rounds.

- Number of public bicycles sold in this round.

- Number of bicycles retained (reasons).

- Surplus number of bicycles.

- Revenue from previous bicycle sales.

- Amount collected and deposited into the State Treasury:

a) Collected from the end of 1959 and earlier.

b) Collected from the beginning of 1960 to July 1960.

- Amount still to be collected from August 1960.

- Revenue from this round of bicycle sales.

- Revenue collected in August.

- Monthly revenue thereafter.

- Number of individuals requiring loans to purchase bicycles.

- Loan amount.