Part I - General

FSD 1- Short title

Directive 1

1.01 These Directives may be cited as the Foreign Service Directives.

Effective date

The consolidated Foreign Service Directives are effective June 1, 2003, and reflect the following revisions:

Effective June 1, 2001:

FSD 1, 2, 3, 10, 15, 16, 17, 25, 30, 32, 41, 42, 45, 56, 58, 69 and 70.

Effective June 1, 2002:

FSD 1, 2, 15, 25, 32, 51, 64 and 70.

Effective June 1, 2003:

Changes were made throughout the directives to bring provisions in line with the relevant provisions of the revised Travel Directive, as applicable.

FSD 2 - Interpretation

Directive 2

2.01 In these directives, (listed alphabetically):

(a) Accompanied by one dependant (accompagné d'une personne à charge) means that one dependant is residing with the employee at the post for at least 8 months of any consecutive 12-month period.

(b) Accompanied by two or more dependants (accompagné d'au moins deux personnes à charge) means that two or more dependants are residing with the employee at the post for at least 8 months of any consecutive 12-month period; one of such dependants must be a dependent child.

(c) Annual salary (traitement annuel) means the employee's basic rate of pay or acting pay, unless otherwise specified, calculated on an annual basis, that is payable in respect of the regular duties performed by the employee in the department.

(d) Career foreign service employee (fonctionnaire qui fait carrière dans le service extérieur) means an employee as defined in FSD 3.01.

(e) Compensation day (jour de rémunération) means any day other than the one or two days per week designated as a day or days of rest at the post.

(f) Cross-posting (mutation à une autre mission) means the assignment of an employee from one post to another post.

(g) Crown-held accommodation (logement de l'État) means accommodation owned, leased, or controlled by the Crown and includes accommodation provided directly to an employee by the host government.

(h) Day (jour) when referring to or for the purpose of computing leave or allowances, means compensation day.

(i) Department (ministère) means a department or other portion of the public service of Canada,

(j) Dependant (personne à charge) means

(k) Dependent student (élève ou étudiant à charge) except as provided for in FSD 51.02(c) means a dependant within the meaning of subsection 2.01(j)(ii) or (iii), who is not residing with the employee because that student is in full-time attendance at an educational institution.

(l) Deputy head (administrateur général) in relation to a department, except where specified otherwise, means the deputy minister of the department, and in relation to other portions of the public service of Canada, means the chief executive officer thereof, or, if there is no chief executive officer, such person as the Governor in Council may designate as the deputy head for purposes of the directives.

(m) Employee (fonctionnaire) means a person to whom the Foreign Service Directives apply in accordance with FSD 3 - Application.

(n) Employee-couple (couple de fonctionnaires) means two individuals assigned to the same post, or to different posts, who are married to each other or who have signed the declaration in Appendix A to this directive where:

(o) Foreign assignment employee (fonctionnaire affecté à l'étranger) means an employee as defined in FSD 3.01.

(p) Headquarters (bureau principal) means the employee's normal place of duty in Canada as determined by the deputy head at the time the employee is assigned to duty outside Canada; for career foreign service employees, the headquarters city is Ottawa-Gatineau.

(q) Household effects (effets mobiliers) means the furniture, household equipment and personal articles of employees and their dependants (including motorcycles) but does not include other private motor vehicles (PMV), livestock or pets.

(r) Leave (congé) means authorized absence from duty and includes vacation leave, sick leave, special leave, compassionate and foreign service leave authorized under the directives and leave of any other type:

(s) Living expenses (frais de subsistance) means actual and reasonable expenses for accommodation, meals, laundry, drycleaning and valet services and attendant gratuities.

(t) Mission (Mission) means an office of a department outside Canada and is used interchangeably with "Post" throughout these directives.

(u) Period of temporary duty (période de service temporaire) means the time spent on official duty at a place outside the area normally serviced by the Post where the employee is stationed, and includes travelling time from the post to the place of temporary duty and return.

(v) Post (Mission) means an office of a department outside Canada and is used interchangeably with "Mission" throughout these directives.

(w) post (mission) means a city, community, or other geographic locality in which a "Post" is situated and is used interchangeably with "mission" throughout these directives.

(x) Senior officer (agent supérieur) for each department represented at a Post means the person at each Post designated by the deputy head as senior officer, or, if no such designation is made, the highest ranking employee of the department serving at the Post.

(y) Spouse or common-law partner (époux ou conjoint de fait) means the person married to the employee, or an individual who, with the employee, has signed the declaration in Appendix "A" to this directive; where the declaration is used, the common-law partner shall not be considered a dependant for purposes of the Foreign Service Directives unless the acceptability of the common-law partner accompanying the employee has been agreed to by the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs following consultation with the Head of Mission and the deputy head.

(z) Travel leave (congé de déplacement) means a period of absence with pay authorized by the deputy head to cover travelling time for a journey and during which the employee is deemed to be on duty for the purpose of any applicable accident compensation.

(aa) Travelling expenses (frais de déplacement) except as provided for under the Relocation Travel portion of Directive 15 for travel under that directive and/or FSD 64-Emergency Evacuation and Loss, means expenses for air transportation and local transportation to and from airports at the points of departure and destination and, when authorized in advance by the deputy head, for accommodation, meals and local transportation to and from the airport for a necessary stopover, where it is not possible or practicable to arrange an itinerary which will permit continuing travel to the approved destination.

(bb) Travelling time (temps de déplacement) means the time actually required for a journey including unavoidable or permissible stopovers referred to in FSD 15.06 but not exceeding the time required for the same journey by the most economic mode and the most direct route in the circumstances of each case as determined by the deputy head.

(cc) Unaccompanied (non accompagné) refers to an employee who is not accompanied by a dependant.

(dd) Unhealthy post (mission insalubre) means a post designated by Health Canada as an unhealthy post and listed in the Appendix to FSD 38 - Preventive medical services expenses.

Throughout the directives, unless otherwise specified:

(i) words in the singular include the plural, and words in the plural include the singular, and

(ii) where a word is defined, other parts of speech and grammatical forms of the same word have corresponding meanings.

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Appendix A - Declaration

Subject to Directive 2.01(y) this declaration will serve to designate an individual as a common-law partner for purposes of the Foreign Service Directives and for the relevant benefits to be accorded thereunder.

We, _________________________ and _________________________ solemnly declare that our relationship is and has been demonstrated by our cohabitation in a conjugal relationship. This relationship is and has been recognized for a period of at least one year in the community or communities in which we have lived.***

Where these conditions cease to exist we acknowledge the right of the deputy head to cease payments made on the basis of the existence of such conditions.

Where these conditions do not in fact exist we acknowledge the right of the deputy head to recover the amounts of money paid on the basis of the existence of such conditions.

*** In specific cases, this declaration may be used where there has been a break in the period of cohabitation for reasons beyond the control of the employee or the individual to be designated as common-law partner. See Appendix B.

Signed	________________________________ Employee
	________________________________ Common-law partner
	________________________________ Date
Signed	________________________________ for the deputy head
	________________________________ Date

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Appendix B

1. Agreement has been reached in the National Joint Council (NJC) to interpret the Declaration in Appendix A to recognize a conjugal relationship in certain situations where there has been a break in the qualifying period of cohabitation.
2. The NJC Committee on Foreign Service Directives will consider individual cases where cohabitation started prior to the posting or cross-posting, but the one-year qualifying period was disrupted when the person to be designated as the common-law partner was unable to accompany the employee to post.
3. The separation must be for reasons beyond the reasonable control of the employee or the individual to be designated as the common-law partner. Such reasons may relate to education, health, disposal of a principal residence, custody disputes and contractual obligations. The circumstances justifying payment of Family Separation Expenses (FSD 15.34) and/or FSD 16 - Assistance for a principal residence, will be used as a guide.
4. It will be the responsibility of the employee to demonstrate that a continuing conjugal spousal relationship has been established and that this relationship has been recognized for a period of at least one year, including the approved period of disruption, in the community or communities in which they have lived. The NJC FSD committee may request evidence or information to corroborate the statements provided by the employee.
5. In general, a person to be designated as a common-law partner shall be placed in neither a more nor a less favourable situation than a spouse.

FSD 3 - Application

Directive 3

3.01 Unless otherwise indicated, these directives apply to career foreign service employees and to foreign assignment employees on assignment outside Canada other than a training or developmental assignment, where:

(a) career foreign service employees are employees who, as a condition of employment, serve abroad pursuant to a rotational pattern throughout the span of their careers. This rotational service normally involves assignments to a number of posts but occasionally, due to operational requirements, assignments may be limited to one or a few posts;

(b) foreign assignment employees are employees who have made no commitment to serve abroad throughout the span of their careers pursuant to a rotational pattern, but who serve an occasional assignment at a post, which is normally for a minimum of one year;

(c) an assignment means an assignment to an office of the Government of Canada at a post or,

(d) where leave with pay is authorized and no financial assistance or related benefits are provided to the employee by the host organization, an assignment means an assignment to:

except that

(e) notwithstanding Section 3.01(f), FSD 15 - Relocation, may be applied, in part, to training andor developmental assignments to a recognized educational institution, as follows:

(f) with the agreement of the employee's bargaining agent and subject to consultation with Treasury Board staff, in order to meet operational requirements:

(g) Where an employee is claiming a dependant for the purposes of these directives, it is the responsibility of the employee to inform the employer of any change or event which affects the application of these directives. Payments made after eligibility changes are subject to recovery.

Instructions

1. The Foreign Service Directives apply to non-public servants on assignment with a department or agency at a Post, under the Interchange Canada Program or the Business/Government Executive Exchange Program, as specified in the Assignment Agreement.

2. In applying Section 3.01(f), care should be taken to ensure that employees:

(a) do not receive double benefits, or

(b) are not treated more favourably than employees serving outside Canada under the provisions of the Foreign Service Directives.

3. The provisions for short-term relocation outside Canada and the USA normally apply to periods of assignment in excess of four months but less than one year, where the employee accepts the assignment on an unaccompanied basis and the Foreign Service Directives do not apply. These short-term relocation provisions are attached to this directive. For periods of assignment of less than four months, the provisions of the Travel Directive shall apply.

3.02 Subject to Sections 3.07 and 3.08, the directives apply to an employee during the period of assignment outside Canada except where a directive specifies or implies that its provisions apply while the employee is in Canada.

3.03 Employees in support of Canadian Forces (CF) outside Canada:

(a) Foreign assignment employees assigned to serve outside Canada in support of Canadian Forces (CF) members who are in permanent or training positions established by the National Defence Headquarters (NDHQ) Deputy Chief of Defence Staff (DCDS) are subject to certain provisions of the Military Foreign Service Instructions (MFSI), as specified in Section 2 of the MFSI. They are also subject to certain provisions of the Foreign Service Directives (FSD), as directed by the Treasury Board or the President of the Treasury Board from time to time and specified in the MFSI.

(b) Career foreign service and foreign assignment employees deployed outside Canada in support of the CF on DCDS controlled international operations are subject to the relevant provisions of Section 3 - Operations Allowances of the MFSI. They are also subject to certain provisions of the FSD, as directed by the Treasury Board or the President of the Treasury Board from time to time and specified in the MFSI, notwithstanding that the period of deployment may be less than one year.

Instructions

1. The benefits and allowances will vary based on the period of deployment as provided for in the MFSI.

2. Changes to Section 3 - Operations Allowances of the MFSI subsequent to April 1, 2003 shall be reported to the National Joint Council Committee on the Foreign Service Directives.

3. An employee on relocation to and/or from a Mission ceases to be on travel status while in receipt of the allowances and benefits under the MFSI. (revised October 1, 2004)

3.04 The directives apply to each employee of an employee-couple to the same extent as they do to an unaccompanied employee except:

(a) where a dependant resides with the employee-couple at the post, one employee shall be considered as unaccompanied and the other employee as accompanied by one dependant or by two or more dependants, as appropriate;

(b) where specific provisions in a particular directive dictate otherwise.

3.05 Unless specifically provided for in a particular directive, where an employee claims a dependant, such dependant shall be identified with that employee for the duration of the posting.

3.06 The substantive authority of the directives is contained in the sections of each directive. Where there appears to be a discrepancy between the provisions outlined in the introduction to a directive and the operative section of the directive, the latter shall govern. Instructions and guidelines are designed to clarify provisions.

3.07 Where, due to operational requirements as determined by the deputy head, an employee at a place of duty in Canada who has been notified officially of an assignment outside Canada is subsequently notified officially that the assignment has been cancelled or changed, the deputy head shall, to the extent considered necessary,

(a) authorize the application of the following directives, where these directives have been applied in anticipation of the employee's posting:

(b) authorize the application of Directive 15 - Relocation - subsequent to the cancellation or change of assignment, to provide such additional assistance as is considered necessary to facilitate a departmental program or to rectify what would otherwise be an obvious injustice to the employee as a result of the cancellation or change in the employee's posting; and/or

(c) recommend to the President of the Treasury Board such additional assistance as is considered appropriate to the circumstances,

3.08 Section 3.07 shall also apply to a Head of Mission designate whose proposed appointment has been cancelled or changed by the deputy head through no fault or choice of the employee.

Instruction

Sections 3.07 and 3.08 also apply to situations where a confirmed posting is cancelled or changed as a result of medical unsuitability of an employee or an accompanying dependant as determined by the deputy head on the advice of Health Canada.

3.09 In situations other than those described in Sections 3.07 and 3.08 where an assignment outside Canada has been cancelled or changed, the deputy head may recommend to the President of the Treasury Board such assistance as is considered necessary to facilitate a departmental program or to rectify what would otherwise be an obvious injustice to the employee.

Instruction

This section is designed for those situations where a posting is cancelled or changed through fault or choice of an employee, rather than as a result of operational requirements as determined by the deputy head.

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Appendix A - Short-term relocation outside Canada and the USA

Because of the varying living conditions outside Canada, special short-term relocation provisions have been developed to cover periods of assignment abroad when the Foreign Service Directives do not apply.

These provisions will normally apply to periods of assignment in excess of four months, but less than one year, where the employee accepts the assignment on an unaccompanied basis.

(a) Housing and living allowances

(i) Housing

The degree to which the deputy head will authorize housing assistance depends on whether employees continue to be financially responsible for housing at the home location.

The deputy head will authorize the payment of actual and reasonable costs for accomodation and utilities, including installation, at the temporary place of duty.

Where possible, employees will be placed in self-contained accommodation, either commercial or Crown-held.

When employees do not have a principal residence, either owned or rented, or when this residence is rented out and the employee receives income from the rental, the employee will be required to pay a shelter cost in accordance with FSD 25 - Shelter, of the Foreign Service Directives. This reflects the principle that employees are responsible for one set of housing expenses.

(ii) Meal cost assistance

Meal cost assistance is based on necessary expenditures over and above what the employee normally spends for food. The degree to which the deputy head will authorize assistance in defraying the cost of meals depends on:

- whether the employee has meal-preparation facilities in the accommodation at the temporary location, and

- the cost of food at that location.

Upon arrival at the new location, the employee will receive the location meal allowance for the first 21 days. This recognizes the difficulties inherent in a situation where the language, culture, currency and food may differ significantly from the Canadian norm.

Where self-contained accommodation with meal-preparation facilities is used, the employee will be entitled to a daily meal allowance equivalent to 65% of the dinner meal allowance for that location.

Where meal-preparation facilities are not available at the accommodation, the employee will be entitled to a daily meal allowance equivalent to 65% of the daily meal allowance for that location.

Special circumstances

Where, due to special circumstances such as heavy workload, difficulty of finding food, or extremely limited restaurant facilities, the deputy head deems the meal allowances outlined above as inadequate, the employee may be authorized such meal allowance as may be considered reasonable, not to exceed the full daily meal rate.

This provision is intended to recognize those circumstances where the employee cannot reasonably be expected to prepare food in the temporary accommodation.

(iii) Laundry and dry-cleaning allowance

Employees occupying accommodation which does not have a washer and dryer will be reimbursed the actual costs of laundry.

Dry cleaning costs will not normally be reimbursed, except where the deputy head is satisfied that dry cleaning costs significantly exceed those in Canada. Employees shall be reimbursed 50% of the actual costs of cleaning upon presentation of receipts.

(b) Commuting assistance

Financial assistance to cover excess home/office commuting costs will be authorized in accordance with the provisions for Commuting Assistance under FSD 30 - Post Transportation and Related Expenses.

(c) Incidental relocation expenses

Employees may claim for actual and reasonable expenses, not to exceed the provisions in FSD 15 - Relocation, of the Foreign Service Directives, up to the limit specified in FSD 15.31.

(d) Storage and shipment of household effects

The deputy head shall determine whether any or all of the employee's household effects shall be shipped and/or stored, in accordance with FSD 15 - Relocation, of the FSDs. This decision will be based on such factors as family circumstances, the length of the assignment, and the temporary accommodation to be occupied.

Where the deputy head authorizes household effects for shipment, the weight shall not exceed 50% of the limit for furnished accommodation, in accordance with FSD 15.14.

The deputy head may authorize the storage of household effects, including a PMV, if the employee is no longer maintaining a principal residence.

Household effects authorized for storage are covered by the government's insurance policy. Household effects authorized for shipment are self-insured by the government, in accordance with FSD 15 - Relocation.

All arrangements for shipment and storage, including insurance, will be made by the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade.

(e) Weekend travel home

Employees who have dependants residing in the employee's principal residence are entitled to travel home in accordance with the relevant provisions of the Travel Directive.

(f) Telephone calls home

Employees who have dependants residing in the employee's principal residence shall be reimbursed the cost of a weekly ten-minute direct-dialed long-distance telephone call home at discount rates, where available and practicable.

(g) Post differential allowance

(i) Where the assignment is to a hardship post, and the employee occupies self-contained accommodation, the post differential allowance is payable in accordance with FSD 58, and

(ii) FSD 58.10 shall apply where the assignment is to a hardship post for which an additional amount of post differential allowance or special payment is established to recognize extraordinary conditions arising out of active hostilities, notwithstanding that the employee may not be otherwise subject to FSD 58 - Post differential allowance.

(h) Employee accompanied by dependants

In rare and unusual cases, deputy head approval may be granted for the spouse and dependants normally residing with the employee to accompany the employee.

This option is only available when the dependants accompany the employee for the period of the assignment. Where such accompaniment is approved, the employee must provide proof of comprehensive family coverage under the PSHCP. In exceptional circumstances, the deputy head may authorize the employee to precede the dependants. Family visits, however, will not be reimbursed.

The only assistance provided in these cases will be the family's transportation costs, up to the equivalent of the total cost of the employee's travel home entitlements.

Employees selecting this option will be required to waive their entitlements to weekend travel home, telephone calls home, and to the meal allowances.

Where the post index is above 100, the Post Living Allowance shall be paid.

No additional housing will be provided, or additional housing costs reimbursed.

The employee and any authorized dependant at post shall be entitled to the provisions of FSD 39 - Health Care Expenses, FSD 41 - Health Care Travel and FSD 42 - Medical and/or dental expense advance.

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Appendix B

April 27, 2004

Application

1. FSD 3.03(b) provides for the payment of certain allowances and benefits to career foreign service and foreign assignment employees deployed outside Canada in support of the Canadian Forces (CF) on Deputy Chief of Defence Staff (DCDS) controlled international operations. Specifically, FSD 3.03(b) states that these employees are subject to the relevant provisions of Section 3 - Operation Allowances of the Military Foreign Service Instructions (MFSI).

2. Following approval of FSD 3.03, a number of MFSI allowances and benefits, which apply to deployed CF members, were allocated sections of Chapter 10 - Military Foreign Service Instructions of the Compensation and Benefits Instructions (CBI) for the Canadian Forces, other than Section 3 - Operation Allowances. Although not specifically referred to in FSD 3.03(b), they meet its intent and are included in this agreement to ensure complete coverage of career foreign service and foreign assignment employees. For greater certainty, the applicable MFSI sections are limited to the following:

Note: The MFSI reference includes the CBI Chapter Number plus the applicable Section.

3. The employee will be subject to the National Joint Council Travel Directive and be deemed in travel status while travelling to and from the post that is the home location of the deployment.

4. The employee will remain subject to those Foreign Service Directives applicable to the circumstances encountered. However, the employee is not entitled to any benefit or allowance under the FSD, which is duplicated under the MFSI listed in paragraph 2 of this MOA.

5. The entitlement to the above allowances and benefits under the MFSI is predicated on the deployment status, as defined in MFSI 10.3.03 - Application by Deployment Status.

6. Amendments to the allowances and benefits listed in this Chapter shall be reported to the Foreign Service Directives Committee of the National Joint Council by the Department of National Defence representative on that committee. The MFSI is available on the following Website: http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/webarchives/20071206122939/http://www.dnd.ca/dgcb/dcba/mfs/.

Effective Date

7. This memorandum is effective 23 July 2003, which is the approval date of the MFSI, and shall terminate when agreed to by the parties.

SIGNED AT OTTAWA, THIS 27^th DAY OF THE MONTH OF APRIL 2004

THE TREASURY BOARD OF CANADA ___________________________________ G.R. Clayburn, CD	THE PROFESSIONAL ASSOCIATION OF FOREIGN SERVICE OFFICERS ___________________________________ Diane Buenger
	THE PROFESSIONAL INSTITUTE OF THE PUBLIC SERVICE OF CANADA ___________________________________ Lyette Babin, CD
	THE PUBLIC SERVICE ALLIANCE OF CANADA ___________________________________ Andrée Massicotte

FSD 4 - Accountable advances

Introduction

It is the employer's policy that an accountable advance will be available to an employee for any expenses that may be authorized under the Foreign Service Directives.

Directive 4

4.01 The deputy head may authorize an accountable advance to an employee in anticipation of any admissible expense of an accountable nature authorized under the directives and such an advance shall not be unreasonably withheld.

4.02 An employee who receives an accountable advance shall account for and repay in full any unexpended balance within ten days or within other specific time limits as defined in these directives, after the purpose for which the advance was made has been fulfilled.

4.03 When an employee fails to account for an advance or to repay in full any unexpended balance within the time limits specified in Section 4.02, no further advances are to be paid to that employee until the outstanding advance has been accounted for.

Instructions

1. The deputy head shall be be responsible for ensuring that the amount of an advance is directly related to the amount of the anticipated admissible expense.

2. An accountable advance made to an employee who fails to account for it or to repay in full any unexpended balance within the specified period shall be subject to recovery from any moneys due from the Crown, pursuant to the relevant provisions of the Financial Administration Act. When such outstanding advance has not been accounted for within three months from the date after the purpose for which the advance was made has been fulfilled, the deputy head may authorize automatic recovery from any moneys due from the Crown.

3. The regulation previously described in this directive as well as all other regulations that apply to accountable advances are defined in the Accountable Advance Regulations which, pursuant to section 38 of the Financial Administration Act provide detailed regulations respecting the issuing of, accounting for, repayment and recovery of accountable advances.

Guideline

Where pre-audit of a claim indicates reimbursement to an employee will be necessary and it is anticipated that the final settlement may be delayed, an employee may be issued an advance, or further advance, pending settlement of the claim. The advance or further advance shall be limited to the total amount outstanding as indicated by the pre-audit.