Detailed Rules of Tianjin Economic Technological Development Area on Administration of the Provident Fund for Housing of Foreign Funded Enterprises

(Adopted the meeting of the Administrative Commission of Tianjin Economic Technological Development Area)

Article 1 [legislative purpose] In order to strengthen the administration of the provident fund for housing of the foreign funded enterprises in Tianjin Economic Technological Development Area (hereinafter referred to as " TEDA"), these Provisions are formulated in accordance with the Regulations of Tianjin Municipality on the Provident Fund for Housing and the Interim Provisions of Tianjin Economic Technological Development Area on the Provident Fund for Housing of Foreign Funded Enterprises .

Article 2 [application scope] These Detailed Rules shall apply to the foreign funded enterprises registered in TEDA (hereinafter referred to as "Employing Units") and the Chinese staff and workers who have formed labor relationships with them and received wages for more than one month.
Employing units that hire workers who are not the local permanent residents and provide lodging to them may not pay the provident fund for housing.

Article 3 [administrative department] TEDA shall establish the Management Committee of the Provident Fund for Housing (hereinafter refer` red to as "Management Committee") to work as the decision-making institution to administer the provident fund for housing. Its major functions are as follows:

(1) publicizing and promoting the system of the provident fund for housing and formulating policies on the provident fund for housing;

(2) accepting, examining and approving the applications submitted by employing units to raise the payment ratio of the provident fund for housing;

(3) supervising and inspecting the payment and utilization of the provident fund for housing in the employing units;

(4) responsible to formulate measures on withdrawal and use of the management fee of the provident fund for housing;

(5) responsible to formulate management measures on the reserves for loan risk of the provident fund for housing and examine the use of the reserves for loan risk of the provident fund for housing;

(6) formulating the upper line of loan from the provident fund for housing based on the accumulation and collection size of the provident fund for housing;

(7) other functions to perform.

The Management Committee is composed of the responsible members of relevant departments of TEDA such as labor, legislature, TEDA trade union, social insurance, real estate, finance, and banking and representatives from the employing units, representatives from staff and workers and relevant experts.

The office of the Management Committee is set up in TEDA labor administrative department. TEDA labor administrative department shall perform the function of routine work.

Article 4 [handling agency] TEDA social security agency shall be the operating agency; its major functions are as follows:

(1) responsible for registration, collection, sort-out, disbursement, use and accounting of the provident fund for housing;

(2) responsible for examination and approval of applications for loans of the provident fund for housing;

(3) establishing accounts of the provident fund for housing for the employing units and individual staff and workers who pay in time the fund and managing the bookkeeping, and handling in time the procedures of alteration or cancellation in case of changes of the labor relationship;

(4) arranging order in granting loan of the provident fund for housing according to the number of years when the provident fund for housing has been paid;

(5) withdrawing the reserves for loan risk and the management fee of the provident fund for housing within their prescribed authority.

Article 5 [operating bank] The operating bank refers to the commercial bank, designated by TEDA Administrative Commission and with approval by the Chinese People's Bank, to be entrusted with the business of deposit and loan of the provident fund for housing, its major functions are as follows:

(1) entrusted by TEDA social security agency, accepting and preliminarily examining the loan applications of staff and workers' provident fund for housing;

(2) responsible for handling loan business of the provident fund for housing;

(3) collecting the handling charge as stipulated on loans of the provident fund for housing extended under trust;

(4) accepting in a cooperative approach the supervision and inspection by TEDA social security agency and providing relevant business data as required;

(5) rechecking and replying in writing within five days disagreements between the balance of their accounts of the provident fund for housing and the actualities discovered by staff and workers or employing units.

Article 6 [ rights and obligations of staff and workers] The staff and workers who pay the provident fund for housing are entitled to the following rights:

(1) right to demand timely and full payment of their provident fund for housing from their employing units for them;

(2) right to inquire about the records of their payments of the provident fund for housing and the balance in their individual accounts of the provident fund for housing;

(3) right to withdraw as stipulated the provident fund for housing to cover their expenses on housing items;

(4) right to apply for loan of the provident fund for housing in case of insufficiency to cover expenses on their housing items.

The staff and workers should perform the following obligations:

(1) observing the relevant provisions on the provident fund for housing and making timely and full payments to the provident fund for housing;

(2) repaying in time the principal and interests of their loans of the provident fund for housing in accordance with the repayment amounts and mode stipulated by the loan contracts.

Article 7 [ payment ratio] In case that employing units apply to raise the payment ratio of the provident fund for housing, the maximum payment ratio of employing units may be raised to 15 % subject to discussion and adoption of the applications by the staff and workers' congress or the enterprise trade union and consent on their applications by TEDA labor administrative department.

Article 8 [tax exemption] The provident fund for housing and the repayments of the loans of the provident fund for housing to be paid by staff and workers shall not be included in the tax basis of the individual income tax of the staff and workers. Those who withdraw from the provident fund for housing as per these Detailed Rules shall be free from the individual income tax.

Article 9 [interest rate] The interest rate for the deposits of the provident fund for housing to be placed in the current year and the interest rate for the deposits of the provident fund for housing placed by staff and workers and carried forward from the previous years and the interest rate for loan of the provident fund for housing by individual staff and workers shall be carried out as per the provisions of the Chinese People's Bank.

Article 10 [loan qualifications] The staff and workers who pay in time and fully the provident fund for housing may, subject to the following conditions, apply for loan from the provident fund for housing when they purchase, build or overhaul the houses of their ownership:

(1) those who have urban permanent household registers;

(2) those who have a stable job and income, good credit and capability to repay the principal and interests of the loan;

(3) those who pay in time and fully the provident fund for housing.

Article 11 [ loan requirements ] The borrowers who apply for loan from the provident fund for housing are required to provide the following papers:

(1) identifications ( referring to the residential identification card, household register book and other valid residential documents);

(2) contracts, agreements and other documents of approval for legal purchase, building and overhauling of houses of their ownership;

(3) documents of approval such as the land use certificates ( or land use permits) planing permits issued by the planing and land departments of the district-county level for those who build their own houses;

(4) property certificates of their own houses for those who overhaul their own houses;

(5) the invoices, original receipts for the first payment made at the operating bank (or deposit certificates for their own funds) for those who have funds above 20 % of the total price for purchase, building and overhauling of houses of their ownership;

(6) certificates of stable economic income of the families of the borrowers;

(7) the list of mortgage or collateral, certificates of the ownership, and the certificates of consent for mortgage or pledge from the person who has the right of disposition, the evaluation certificates of the mortgage from the authorized department, the written consent for guarantee from the guarantor and the certificate of the guarantor's credit for those who have assets which is confirmed by TEDA real estate department as mortgage or pledge, or competent units or individuals to serve as guarantors;

(8) other conditions stipulated by laws and regulations.

Article 12 [withdrawal scope] The staff and workers who are in conformance with the following conditions may withdraw and use the provident fund for housing in their own individual accounts:

(1) The staff and workers who purchase, build or overhaul their own houses without getting loan from the provident fund for housing, may withdraw the provident fund for housing in their own accounts and in their spouses' accounts.

(2) The staff and workers who purchase-change the public-owned houses or purchase the public-owned houses in mode of forward buying without getting loan from the provident fund for housing, may withdraw the provident fund for housing in their own accounts and in their spouses' accounts.

(3) The staff and workers who have applied for housing loan may, on the strength of the loan contract, repayment vouchers, withdraw the provident fund for housing newly paid by themselves and their spouses after signing the loan contract to repay the principal and interest of the loan; the borrowing staff and workers who pay off the loan in non-installment way may withdraw the balance in the accounts of theirs and their spouses.
(4) Withdrawal for other items.

Those who withdraw the balance of their provident fund for housing as per Paragraph (1), should withdraw within six months as of the date of validity of the house-purchasing contract or agreement, date of approval on building or overhauling their own houses. The houses which have been purchased, built or overhauled before the date of enforcement of these Detailed Rules shall not be bound by this Paragraph.

Article 13 [withdrawal for purchase, building or overhauling of one's own houses] The staff and workers may go through the single withdrawal procedure with the operating bank as of the date of signing the house-purchasing contract. The staff and workers may withdraw the balance of their provident fund for housing paid before the month of signing the house-purchasing contract and may not withdraw their provident fund for housing to be paid after the date of signing the house-purchasing contract.

The staff and workers who withdraw their provident fund for housing to purchase their own houses should hold the house-purchasing contracts or agreements signed with house-selling units and their duplicates. The house-purchasing contracts include Tianjin municipal sales contract on commodity houses, Tianjin municipal contract on cooperative raising funds for building houses, sales agreement on public-owned houses, agreement on purchase of houses for resettlement and so on. The contracts should be filed with Tianjin municipal real estate departments for the record, and stamped with the special seal of contract registered and filed. The staff and workers who withdraw their provident fund for housing to purchase their own houses should hold the following certificates:

(1) the house-purchasing contracts signed with the house selling units;

(2) the house-purchasing invoices or the special receipts for real estate and Tianjin certificates of payment of deed tax;

(3) their identification cards;

(4) marriage certificates, household register books and identification cards of their spouses in case that their spouses purchase houses.

The staff and workers who withdraw their provident fund for housing to purchase houses with private ownership should hold the following certificates:

(1) Tianjin municipal house property sales deed and the house property ownership certificate of the house to be purchased;

(2) the house-purchasing invoices and Tianjin certificates of payment of deed tax;

(3) their identification cards;

(4) marriage certificates, household register books and identification cards of their spouses in case that their spouses purchase houses.

The staff and workers who withdraw their provident fund for housing to build their own houses should hold the following certificates:

(1) the land use certificates ( or land use permits) and planing permits issued by the planing and land departments of the district-county level;

(2) the valid invoices of purchasing materials;

(3) their identification cards;

(4) marriage certificates, household register books and identification cards of their spouses in case that their spouses build houses.

The staff and workers who withdraw their provident fund for housing to overhaul their own houses should hold the following certificates:

(1) the house property ownership certificate;

(2) the certificate of overhaul appraisal approved by the housing administrative department of the district-county level and its duplicates;

(3) the valid invoices of purchasing materials on overhauling of the house;

(4) marriage certificates, household register books and identification cards of their spouses in case that their spouses overhaul houses.

Article 14 [withdrawal to repay loan] The staff and workers who apply for loans for housing may repay the principal and interest of the loans due in the accumulative months by drawing, in the month or the accumulative months, the balance in the provident fund for housing newly paid by themselves and their spouses after the loan.

Article 15 [withdraw for purchase-change of public-owned houses] The staff and workers who purchase-change the public-owned houses or purchase the public-owned houses in mode of forward buying without getting loan from the provident fund for housing, may withdraw the balance of the provident fund for housing in their own accounts and in their spouses' accounts paid before the purchase-change of public-owned houses. The staff and workers should hold the following certificates:

(1) the lease contracts of public-owned houses;

(2) the agreement on house adjustment signed by the enterprises of purchase-change or Tianjin municipal form of purchase-change of public-owned ( unit- managed-property) houses( moving-in);

(3) the receipts of payment on house adjustment prepared by the enterprises of purchase-change;

(4) their identification cards;

(5) marriage certificates, household register books and identification cards of their spouses in case that their spouses purchase-change houses.

Article 16 [ withdrawal on leaving the work posts to rest or retire] The staff and workers who have left their posts to rest shall withdraw the provident fund for housing on the strength of the Certificate of Leaving the Work Posts to Rest issued by the Bureau of Veteran Cadres under the Municipal Party Committee or the Form of Examination and Approval of Leaving the Work Posts to Rest approved by the department of the same level and its duplicates. The staff and workers who have retired shall withdraw the remaining principal and interest in their accounts of the provident fund for housing on the strength of the Certificate of Retirement or the Form of Examination and Approval of Retirement of Staff and Workers issued by TEDA labor administrative department, and their identification cards.

Article 17 [withdrawal on transferring the household register out of the municipality] The staff and workers who transfer their household register out of the municipality shall withdraw the remaining principal and interest in their accounts of the provident fund for housing on the strength of the certificate of household register issued by the public security organ where the household is registered and its duplicates.

Article 18 [withdrawal on settling out of the territory] The staff and workers who go to settle abroad, in regions of Hong Kong, Macao or Taiwan shall withdraw the remaining principal and interest in their accounts of the provident fund for housing on the strength of the cards of exit from the territory issued by the public security organ, or passports and visa, or the certificates of settlement.

Article 19 [withdrawal on total loss of work capability] The staff and workers who have completely lost their capability to work and terminated the labor relationship with their employing units shall withdraw the remaining principal and interest in their accounts of the provident fund for housing on the strength of the certificates of dissolution of labor relationship of their employing units, certificates of hospitals above the district-county level, the written verification of work capability of injured and sick staff and workers of Tianjin municipality issued by TEDA or Tianjin Labor Verification Committee.

Article 20 [withdrawal on death] In case that staff and workers who are on the job decease or are declared legal death by the court, their legal inheritors or legatees shall withdraw the remaining principal and interest in their accounts of the provident fund for housing on the strength of the certificate of legal medical death, the certificate of cancellation of household register as well as the personal identification cards and the household register books.

Article 21 [withdrawal by workers from other provinces and cities and by peasant-workers] In case that the staff and workers who are not of household register of this municipality or are of rural household register of this municipality terminate their labor relationship with their employing units and leave this municipality or go back to the countryside to do farm work, they shall withdraw the remaining principal and interest in their accounts of the provident fund for housing on the strength of the certificates of termination of their labor relationship, certificates of workers from other provinces and cities going back to their original places, their identification cards and the residential household register books.

Article 22 [carrying forward the housing deposit fund] The balance of the housing deposit fund paid by the staff and workers before the implementation of these Detailed Rules shall be totally carried forward to the accounts of the provident fund for housing, but disbursements shall be made as per the stipulations of the provident fund for housing.

The staff and workers who have purchased houses before the date of implementation of these Detailed Rules may make a single withdrawal of the remaining principal and interest in their accounts of the housing deposit fund occurred before the date of April 1st , 2002.

The staff and workers who have withdrawn the housing deposit fund shall, provided that there are two full years of their payment in succession after withdrawing the balance of the housing deposit fund, be qualified to apply for loan from the provident fund for housing.

The employing units that have practiced the use of the housing deposit fund in an overall-planned way should carry out adjustment and transition within two years and shall implement these Detailed Rules as of April 1, 2004.

Article 23 [withdrawal of the sterilized fund] With respect to those whose old age pension insurance relationship was transferred out of TEDA but their housing deposit fund was sterilized at TEDA social security agency during the implementation period of the former housing deposit fund, provided that there are no occurrences of cases under Articles 10 through 22 of these Detailed Rules, they may go through the procedures of withdrawing the provident fund for housing three years after their old age pension relationship was transferred out of TEDA on the strength of the form of transferring the old age pension insurance relationship and their identification cards.

Article 24 [increment and yield] Provided that normal disbursements from the provident fund for housing are ensured, TEDA social security agency may, upon approval by TEDA Administrative Commission, use it to buy the State bonds or entrust the financial institutions with operations to keep value and add value. The increment and yield will be used as the loan risk reserve, management expenses for TEDA social security agency and loan handling charges for the operating banks. That is, 80 % of the increment and yield shall serve as the loan risk reserve of the provident fund for housing, 15 % of the increment and yield shall serve as management expenses for TEDA social security agency, and 5 % of the increment and yield shall be used to pay the operating banks for handling charges on loan of the provident fund for housing.

The loan risk reserve is used to compensate for loan risks that staff and workers (mortgagers or pledgers) fail to repay in time and fully the total principal and interest of loans and operating risks of the department concerned.

Article 25 [settlement of disputes] In case that any dispute concerning the specific stipulations of the provident fund for housing arises between staff and workers and their units, they may apply to TEDA labor arbitration committee for arbitration.

Article 26 [right of interpretation] The Administration Commission of TEDA shall be responsible for the interpretation of these Detailed Rules.

Article 27 [implementation date] These Detailed Rules shall enter into force as of April 1, 2002.