Payment Authorization

in the USSR, a written order from an account holder instructing the holder’s bank to transfer the appropriate amount of funds from the holder’s current account to the account of the recipient. Payment authorizations are used in payments for goods and services and in liquidation of indebtedness. They are also used for transferring funds in non-commodity transactions and for meeting such financial obligations as payments to the budget, to the agencies of the Central Administration of State Insurance, to the social and other insurance systems, and to other institutions. A payment authorization can be of the local type, used for payments to recipients in the same city, or it can be of the intercity type, used for payments to enterprises in other cities. The minimum amount for a payment authorization has been set at 10 rubles for local and 25 rubles for intercity payments. Authorizations are valid for ten days. A payer who is transferring funds simultaneously to several payees may use a consolidated payment authorization. The State Bank of the USSR and the Bank for Foreign Trade of the USSR use foreign-currency payment authorizations for transferring funds to foreign natural and legal (juridical) persons.