Considering the practical situation on the sending of laborers and specialists abroad to work for definite periods of time, and in furtherance of the Prime Minister’s opinions at Official Dispatch No. 2175/VPCP-VX of May 22, 2001 of the Government’s Office, the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs hereby jointly guide the amendments and supplements to a number of points in Joint Circular No. 16/2000/TTLT-BTC-BLDTBXH of February 28, 2000 as follows:

1. To annul Point 1.1c, Clause 1, Part A and Clause 2, Section III, Part B on the administrative expense for labor registration, supervision and management of laborers under individual contracts signed directly by the laborers with foreign employers.

2. To annul the phrase "and fines" at Clause 3, Part A; heading of Section III, Part B and Clause 1, Section III thereof.

3. To add to Clause 4, Part A the following contents:

In cases where the laborers are paid for part or whole of the expenses by their employers, enterprises must not collect such expenses from the laborers.

4. On the levels of deposits:

To replace Appendix 01/LT and adjust the maximum deposit levels of the laborers as follows:

- For those who are sent to work or study in the Republic of Korea, Japan and Taiwan, the deposit level shall be equal to one-way airfares and 1-month contractual wage.

- For those who are sent to work in other countries (including officers and crew members), the deposit level shall be equal to one-way airfares.

Labor-exporting enterprises shall open their deposit accounts at the State Treasuries to remit the whole amounts of deposits collected from the laborers and manage them according to Decree No. 152/ND-CP.

5. To amend Points a and b, Clause 2, Section I, Part B as follows:

In order to ensure the consistency regarding the levels of service charges collected from laborers by enterprises, the service charges shall comply with the following:

a) In cases where the contractual wages paid by the employers to the laborers do not cover the meals, accommodation, labor accident insurance and health insurance for the laborers during their working terms in foreign countries, the service charge level shall be equal to 10% of the contractual wages. Particularly for officers and crew members working on board sea freighters, the service charge level shall be equal to 16% of contractual wages.

b) In cases where the contractual wages cover the meals, accommodation, labor accident insurance and health insurance which cannot be separated from one another, the service charge level shall be equal to 5% of the contractual wages; for officers and crew members working on board sea freighters, the service charge level shall be equal to 8% of contractual wages. If the expenses for meals, accommodation, labor accident insurance and health insurance can be separated from one another, the service charge level shall comply with the provisions at above-said Point a.

6. To supplement Point 4a, Section II, Part B as follows: "Brokerage commissions of labor-exporting enterprises in the exploitation of labor-supplying contracts shall comply with Circular No. 01/2000/TT-BTC of January 5, 2000 of the Ministry of Finance guiding the payment of commissions for export transactions and brokerage".

7. To replace the provisions on the handling of violations in Clause 6, Section II, Part B, with the following:

"Labor-exporting enterprises which breach the financial regimes prescribed in this Circular shall be handled according to the provisions of the Government’s Decree No. 38/CP of June 25, 1996 stipulating administrative sanctions against violations of labor legislation".

This Circular takes effect 15 days after its signing. The contents not mentioned in this Circular shall still comply with Joint Circular No. 16/2000/TTLT-BTC-BLDTBXH of February 28, 2000.

In the course of implementation, if any troubles arise, the ministries, branches, localities, enterprises and laborers are requested to report them to the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs for study and settlement.

For the Minister of Finance
Vice Minister
LE THI BANG TAM

For the Minister of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs
Vice Minister
NGUYEN LUONG TRAO