THE PRIME MINISTER

Article 1.- To promulgate together with this Decision the Plan for implementation of March 18, 2002 Resolution No. 17-NQ/TW of the 5th plenum of the Party Central Committee (IXth Congress) on renovating, and raising the quality of, political systems in communes, wards and townships.

In furtherance of March 18, 2002 Resolution No. 17-NQ/TW of the 5th plenum of the Party Central Committee, IXth Congress, on renovating, and raising the quality of, political systems in communes, wards and townships; grasping thoroughly the Party Central Committee�s Directive No. 11-CT/TW of April 8, 2002 on the study, grasping and organization of implementation of the Resolutions of the 5th plenum of the Party Central Committee, the Government hereby promulgates the Implementation Plan with the following major contents:

I. TASKS TO BE SETTLED FROM NOW UP TO 2005

1. To clearly determine the functions and tasks of grassroots administrations, and to renovate and raise the efficacy of the People�s Councils and People�s Committees

- To clearly determine the functions, tasks and powers of the grassroots administrations in the system of 4-level State administration as prescribed by the Constitution in organizing the realization of the Party�s lines and the State�s policies, as well as economic, cultural, social, security and national defense targets in localities; performing the State administrative management in localities within the assigned competence; guiding and supervising the people�s self-managed activities, and creating convenience for the people and enterprises to do business according to law provisions. The superior authorities must not shift to the grassroots those tasks falling under their functions or force the grassroots to carry out all State administrative management jobs.

- To concretely decentralize the State management tasks, powers and responsibility to the grassroots administrations; clearly determine jobs to be performed by the grassroots administrations under superior authorities� authorization. The specific contents cover:

+ Assigning the grassroots administrations the responsibility for budget collection and spending; personnel arrangement and management; land management; protection of dykes and irrigation works; civil status management; management of investment projects with budget capital or capital mobilized from the people, and management of material foundations of education, healthcare and culture sectors in service of the people in the communes, wards and townships;

+ Authorizing the grassroots administrations to collect some taxes and mange natural resources; implement social policies with State budget, and perform security and national defense tasks;

+ The ward administrations shall not exercise all-sided management over production and daily-life activities in the localities like commune and township administrations, but have a very important task in urban management. Therefore, it is necessary to clearly determine the competence and responsibility of, and create conditions for, ward administrations to well carry out their tasks, especially in the management and implementation of plannings, as well as the management of land, dwelling houses, population, environmental hygiene and urban order.

- To renovate the organization of administrative agencies of grassroots level, reduce the number of the People�s Committees� members so as to make their operation more convenient and dynamic, attach importance to the responsibility and clarify the competence of the People�s Committees, the Committees� presidents and members. To consolidate the assisting apparatus, comprising the People�s Council and People�s Committee Offices and three sections: economic-financial section (including accountants), social-cultural section and political-administrative section, taking into account the differences between communes, wards and townships.

- To renew the mechanism for election of deputies to the People�s Councils, ensuring democracy in the nomination, self-nomination and selection so that deputies of the People�s Council become actual representatives of the people. To increase the number of deputies of the People�s Councils; to increase to an appropriate percentage the number of deputies who are not Party members. To raise the quality of the People�s Councils� sessions and surveillance activities.

2. To build the contingent of, as well as regimes and policies for, grassroots cadres

In the spirit of Resolution No. 17-NQ-TW of March 18, 2002 of the 5th plenum of the Party Central Committee (IXth Congress), grassroots political systems shall be staffed with full-time and part-time cadres. Full-time cadres are those who spend most of their working time carrying out the assigned tasks, including:

- Cadres holding posts through election: key personnel of the Party Committees, People�s Councils, People�s Committees, heads of the Fatherland Front Committees and socio-political organizations.

- Professional cadres recruited by the People�s Committees: police commander, militia commander, officials in charge of clerical work, land administration, finance-accounting, justice and socio-economic matters. The number of professional cadres shall be decided by the Government.

Full-time cadres in the grassroots shall comply with the working regimes and enjoy policies basically like State officials and employees; when they no longer work as full-time cadres but still fail to meet the conditions to enjoy the retirement regime, they may continue paying social insurance premiums by their own or enjoy lump-sum allowance according to the job-discontinuation regime. Grassroots officials and employees fully meeting the prescribed conditions shall be allowed to participate in the examination for recruitment to the higher-level official rank. From now to 2005, 70-80% of elected full-time cadres shall be trained and/or fostered to reach the prescribed standards; about 80% of full-time cadres shall obtain the intermediate or higher levels, for delta areas, and the primary or higher levels, for mountainous areas.

In order to materialize the above-said contents, it is necessary to concentrate efforts on performing the following tasks:

- To amend the Ordinance on Public Employees, clearly distinguishing three types of officials and employees: administrative officials and employees; public-service officials and employees and grassroots officials and employees.

- To step by step reduce the average age of, and formulate specific standards for each title of full-time cadres, formulate programs and curricula on training and fostering officials and employees of grassroots administrations.

- The localities shall elaborate the plannings and plans on training and fostering officials and employees, combining on-the-spot training and fostering with human resource development and mobilization of new graduates from colleges and universities to work for grassroots administrations, to strive to reach the targets set in the Resolution by the end of 2005.

- To implement the schemes on the regime of salary for full-time cadres and the regime of allowance for part-time cadres of the grassroots administrations.

- Based on the schemes on classification of provincial-level administrative units, to map out and implement the schemes on classification of the administrative units of communes, wards and townships.

- To compile new decree on cadres of grassroots administrations in replacement of the Government�s Decree No. 09/1998/ND-CP of January 23, 1998 amending and supplementing Decree No. 50/CP of July 26, 1995 on the regime of cost-of-living allowance for commune, ward and township cadres, Decree No. 40/1999/ND-CP of June 23, 1999 on commune police, Decree No. 46/2000/ND-CP of September 12, 2000 amending and supplementing a number of articles of Decree No. 35/CP of June 14, 1996 which details the implementation of the Ordinance on militia and self-defense force, and other documents related to regimes and policies for the cadres of grassroots administrations.

3. To assign the right to financial autonomy to the grassroots administrations and step by step ensure material foundations in service of various bodies in the grassroots political system

- To elaborate the schemes on financial autonomy for the grassroots level, expanding the revenues allowed to be left 100% for the grassroots administrations, encouraging the increase of revenue sources so as to ensure that grassroots administrations of average development level can balance their regular expenditures; to study financial mechanisms for two types of grassroots administrations: communes, wards and townships which can balance their regular expenditures and those which are incapable of balancing their regular expenditures, and work out incentive mechanism for grassroots administrations with budget revenues exceeding the assigned estimates.

- To formulate investment projects on the construction of working offices and procurement of necessary working facilities for grassroots political systems, suitable to the characteristics of each area and region, especially mountainous areas and areas meeting with difficulties. To strive for the target that by 2005 all communes, wards and townships shall have offices and necessary working facilities, and step by step conduct the modernization according to the requirements of computerizing the State administrative management system. To ensure the system of radio stations, culture-post houses for supply of information to people.

- To elaborate the investment projects on building culture houses in villages, hamlets and population groups.

4. To finalize the Regulation on democracy exercise in communes, wards and townships and step by step perfect the organization and operation of population communities

- To amend and supplement the Regulation on democracy exercise in communes, wards and townships on the principles of democratic centralism and promotion of the people�s mastery on the basis of exercising the right to direct democracy, bringing into full play the right to representative democracy and specifying the exercise of the people�s right in supervising grassroots organizations and cadres and replacing people who fail to gain enough confidence of the people. The promotion of democracy should be carried out together with the consolidation and enhancement of disciplines and order according to law.

- Villages and hamlets (referred collectively to as villages), urban quarters or population groups do not constitute an administrative level. The heads of villages, hamlets, urban quarters or population groups shall be elected directly by the people, and act as representatives of both the people and the commune, ward and township administrations in carrying out some administrative tasks authorized by the commune-level People�s Committees in their villages, quarters or population groups.

- To work out the Regulation on organization and operation of villages, urban quarters or population groups in order to bring into full play the sense of self-rule of the population communities, assisting one another in production, poverty alleviation, building up cultural life, preventing and combating social evils, and maintaining social order, safety and environmental hygiene.

5. To renew the superior authorities� direction of grassroots administrations

- Organizations in the political system from the central to district levels shall have to renew their direction methods, overcome bureaucracy, turn to the grassroots, enhance direct working sessions with the grassroots and people, together with grassroots administrations settle people�s troubles, organize the final review of fine models of grassroots and people�s initiatives. Each administration level shall formulate its specific regulation on the time for working at the grassroots, thus reducing the direction through paperwork and meetings.

- In 2002, together with the continued implementation of the campaign "The entire people unify to build cultural life," the Government shall coordinate with Vietnam Fatherland Front�s Central Committee in launching a campaign for economic renewal, titled "The entire people emulate in economic activities, each family makes itself, the grassroots community and the country rich."

- To submit to the National Assembly the amendment and supplementation of the Law on Organization of the People�s Councils and People�s Committees, the Ordinance on Public Employees, the Law on associations, regulations on the organization and working style of grassroots administrations, and policies towards cadres of grassroots administrations.

II. IMPLEMENTATION PLAN

1. Contents to be implemented in the last six months of 2002:

a) To amend and supplement the Ordinance on Public Employees.

b) To formulate a decree on the tasks and powers of commune, ward and township administrations in economic, financial, land, socio-cultural, security and national defense management.

c) To amend and supplement the Decree on the democracy regulation in communes, wards and townships.

d) To formulate a scheme on classification of the administrative units of communes, wards and townships.

e) To formulate a scheme on standards of full-time cadres and the planning and training of commune, ward and township cadres.

f) To formulate a scheme on the regime of salary for full-time cadres and the regime of allowance for part-time cadres, as well as other regimes and policies for commune, ward and township cadres.

g) To promulgate the Regulation on the organization and operation of villages, hamlets, urban quarters and population groups.

The managing agency: The Government Commission for Organization and Personnel.

h) To formulate a scheme on financial mechanism and creation of conditions for the grassroots administrations to take budgetary initiative.

The managing agency: The Ministry of Finance.

i) To formulate a scheme on the plans, programs and curricula for training commune, ward and township cadres.

The managing agency: The National Administration Institute.

j) To formulate schemes on the building of communes� centers (comprising administrative as well as cultural and sport quarters), and culture houses of villages and hamlets.

The managing agencies:

The Ministry of Construction shall conduct the survey and elaborate the plannings and designs.

The Ministry of Planning and Investment shall elaborate plans and allocate investment capital.

The Ministry of Finance shall allocate funding for the construction and procurement of equipment and facilities.

The People�s Committees of the provinces and centrally-run cities shall organize the implementation.

2. Tasks to be implemented in 2003:

a) To amend the Law on Organization of the People�s Councils and People�s Committees; and the Law on Election of Deputies to the People�s Councils.

b) To draft a decree on cadres of commune, ward and township administrations.

The managing agency: The Government Commission for Organization and Personnel.

III. IMPLEMENTATION ORGANIZATION

1. To organize the thorough study of the Resolution and Directive No. 11-CT/TW of April 8, 2002 among the ministries, central branches and local administration system. The ministers, the heads of the ministerial-level agencies or agencies attached to the Government shall have to organize the thorough study of the Resolution among officials and employees of their units. The presidents of the provincial/municipal People�s Committees shall have to organize the thorough study of the Resolution among officials and employees of administrations of different levels, from the provincial to grassroots levels. Through the study and grasping, to accurately assess the present situation in their respective localities, and determine causes of the administrations� weakness so as to seek effective remedies; to create the unity of mind and action for the implementation of the Resolution.

2. Based on the overall program on State administrative reform in the 2001-2010 period (Decision No. 136/2001/QD-TTg of September 17, 2001) and the Government�s plan for implementation of Resolution No. 17-NQ/TW of March 18, 2002 of the 5th plenum of the Party Central Committee, the ministries and central branches assigned the main responsibility to perform the tasks shall have to coordinate with the concerned ministries, branches and localities in formulating and taking initiative in organizing the performance and fulfillment of these tasks within the prescribed time limits.

In the course of studying the amendment of the Law on Organization of the People�s Councils and People�s Committees and the Law on Election of Deputies to the People�s Councils, the ministries, branches and localities shall, within their competence, take initiative in organizing the performance of the mentioned tasks; the matters falling under the competence of the Government and Prime Minister shall be reported to the Government and the Prime Minister for consideration and decision.

3. Local administrations of various levels, first of all the presidents of the provincial-level People�s Committees, shall be answerable to the Government for organizing the implementation of the Resolution of the 5th plenum of the Party Central Committee (IXth Congress) in their localities, take initiative in drafting up specific plans and organizing the implementation thereof; and attain the targets within the time limits set in the Resolution and the Government�s Plan.

4. The standing body of the Central Emulation and Commendation Council shall coordinate with Vietnam Fatherland Front�s Central Committee in working out the objectives, requirements, contents and norms of the new economic campaign, elaborating the plan for the organization of this movement so as to implement it right after the first session of the XIth National Assembly.

5. The Ministry of Finance shall have to ensure necessary funding for the implementation of the tasks mentioned in Section II of this Plan.

6. The Government Commission for Organization and Personnel shall have to submit to the Prime Minister for promulgation documents guiding the implementation of the above-mentioned plan; supervise, urge, inspect and periodically report to the Prime Minister the plan implementation results and suggest solutions to arising problems.

Prime Minister
PHAN VAN KHAI