Laws of Vietnam

DECREE No. 95/1998/ND-CP OF NOVEMBER 17, 1998 ON THE RECRUITMENT, EMPLOYMENT AND MANAGEMENT OF PUBLIC SERVANTS

THE GOVERNMENT

Pursuant to the Law on Organization of the Government of September 30, 1992;

Pursuant to the Ordinance on Public Employees issued on February 26,1998;

At the proposal of the Minister-Chairman of the Government for Organization and Personnel Commission,

DECREES:

Chapter I

GENERAL PROVISIONS

Article 1.- Public servants stipulated in this Decree comprise persons who are defined in Items 3 and 5, Article 1 of the Ordinance on Public Employees. More concretely, they are:

1. Persons who are recruited, nominated or assigned to a permanent public job, classified according to the level of training and specialization or to an administrative or professional category on the government payroll, receive their pay from the State budget and work at one of the following agencies:

a/ The Office of the President of the State;

b/ The Office of the National Assembly;

c/ Administrative offices of the State at the center, in the provinces and cities directly under the Central Government, districts, towns and cities in the provinces;

d/ The People’s Courts and People’s Procuracies at all levels;

e/ Representative Offices of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam in foreign countries;

f/ Schools, hospitals, scientific research agencies of the State;

g/ Press, broadcasting and television agencies of the State;

h/ Libraries, museums and cultural houses of the State;

i/ Other non-business organizations of the State;

2. Persons who are recruited or nominated or assigned with regular tasks at the agencies and units of the People’s Army and who are not officers, professional armymen and defense workers; who work at agencies and units of the People’s Public Security Service and who are not professional officers and non-commissioned officers.

Article 2.- In this Decree, the following terms are construed as follows:

1. "Category" designates a public servant title. Each category reflects the position and professional or specialization level, with specific criteria;

2. "Grade" is the salary indicator in a category;

3. "Category rise" is the rise from a lower category to a higher category;

4. "Category transfer" is the transfer from a public servant category of one specialization to the public servant category of another specialization of equivalent level;

5, "Recruitment" is the recruitment of a person to a State agency after he/she has passed the recruitment examinations;

6. "Nomination" is the decision to appoint a person to the official public servant category after he/she has passed the period of apprenticeship, or passed the examinations for category rise and for leading public servants;

7. "Public servant employing agency" is the agency that directly manages and organizes work for the public servant;

8. "The agency with managerial competence over public servants" is the agency that is assigned to manage the categories of public servants;

9. "Transfer" is the transfer of a public servant from one agency or unit to work at another agency, organization or unit;

10. "Special assignment" is the assignment of a public servant to work at another agency , organization or unit in a given period as required by the task or mission;

11. "Apprenticeship period" is the time after which the recruited person shall be appointed to his/her responsibility and task of his/her category.

Article 3.- Public servants are classified as follows:

1. Classification according to the level of training shall include:

a/ Public servants Class A are those with a level of professional training from tertiary education upward.

b/ Public servants Class B are those with a level of professional training at the vocational secondary and undergraduate education;

c/ Public servants Class C are those with primary professional training;

d/ Public servants Class D are those with professional training level under the primary level.

2. Classification according to position of work shall include:

a/ Leading public servants (commanding and executive posts);

b/ Professional and technical public servants;

Article 4.- The assignment of responsibilities in managing public servants must be based on the category of public servants and the classification defined in Article 3 of this Decree.

Chapter II

RECRUITMENT AND EMPLOYMENT OF PUBLIC SERVANTS

Section 1.- CONDITIONS OF RECRUITMENT

1. The recruitment of public servants must be based on the requirements of work, concrete posts and the assigned payroll.

The recruited person must have good ethics and meet the professional and technical criteria of the category for which he/she is recruited and the conditions stipulated in Article 6 of this Decree.

2. Each year, the agencies and organizations of the ministries, ministerial-level agencies, agencies attached to the Government, Services, Commissions and branches, People’s Committees of the districts, cities and towns of the provinces and cities directly under the Central Government shall work out their plans of recruitment to propose to the ministries, ministerial-level Agencies, Agencies attached to the Government and the People’s Committees of the provinces and cities directly under the Central Government to approve within the payrolls assigned to the ministries, branches, provinces and cities.

Article 6.- The person who wishes to be recruited into a category of public servants must fully meet the following conditions:

1. He/she must be a Vietnamese citizen with a permanent residence in Vietnam;

2. A male applicant must be aged from full 18 to 40 years old; a woman applicant must be aged from full 18 to 35 years old. In case the applicant has been an officer in the armed forces or a public employee in a State enterprise, the recruitment age may be higher;

3. He/she must send an application with clear personal history and attached to the diplomas or training certificates required by the standard of the category of the recruitment;

4. He/she must be physically fit for public work;

5. He/she must be not in the period of examination for penal liabilities, serving a prison term or reformation without detention, under probation or subject to reeducation at the commune, ward or township or obligatory medical treatment or internment at reeducation centers.

Article 7.- Members of ethnic minorities, volunteers to work on highlands, deep lying and remote regions, offshore islands, war invalids, children of fallen heroes, heroes and heroines of the armed forces, labor heroes and heroines, graduates of various professional training courses with excellent marks shall be given priority in recruitment.

Section 2.- ORGANIZATION OF RECRUITMENT EXAMINATIONS

Article 8.- The recruitment of public servants must go through an examination according to the recruitment exams statute. Persons who do not go through a public servant recruitment examination shall not be recruited into the payroll of an agency as stipulated in Item 1, Article 1 of this Decree.

Article 9.- 30 days before the recruitment exam is held, the agency must publicly announce on the local mass media the conditions, criteria, number of persons to be recruited so that everyone can know and register for the exams.

Article 10.- The content of the recruitment exams of public servants into specialized branches shall be worked out and enacted by the Ministries, ministerial-level Agencies and Agencies attached to the Government in charge of these branches after reaching agreement in writing with the Government Commission for Organization and Personnel.

Article 11.- Within 30 days at the latest after the conclusion of the recruitment examination, the agency that organizes the exam must announce the results of the exam and notify the examinees.

Article 12.- The Government Commission for Organization and Personnel shall have to issue a statute on recruitment examination, guide, supervise, and inspect the Ministries, ministerial-level Agencies, Agencies attached to the Government and the People’s Committees of the provinces and cities directly under the Central Government in the recruitment examinations.

Section 3.- RECRUITMENT, JOB ACCEPTANCE

Article 13.- Within 30 days at the latest after the results of the examination are announced, the agency with recruitment competence shall issue the recruitment decision and put him/her on the pay scale in conformity with the criteria, category and grade of public servants and report it to the Government Commission for Organization and Personnel on the results of the exam and the category and pay scale to which the recruit is assigned.

Article 14.- The recruit must belong to the payroll of the agency, organization or unit to which the competent recruitment agency has assigned him/her and must have got at least five marks on the 10-point rating system for all the tests. The successful examinee is one among those who got the number of marks from the highest down to the lowest point permitted by the pay roll.

Article 15.- Within 30 days at the latest after the issue of the recruitment decision, the recruit must go to the agency to accept his/her job if the recruitment decision does not provide for another time limit.

In case the recruit has plausible reasons not to accept his/her job on time, he/she must send a written proposal to extend the time-limit for job acceptance and must get the consent of the agency employing public servants.

In case the person who has received the recruitment decision comes to accept his/her job later than the time-limit without plausible reason, the agency with recruitment competence shall issue a decision to annul the recruitment decision.

Sector 4.- APPRENTICESHIP, NOMINATION

Article 16.- The person recruited as public servant must go through a period of apprenticeship. This period starts from the date the recruit accepts his/her job:

1. For Class A servants, the apprenticeship period is 12 months. For doctors who are public servants, it is 9 months;

2. For Class B public servants, the apprenticeship period is 6 months;

3. For Class C public servants, the apprenticeship period is 3 months.

1. The agency employing public servants shall have to guide the apprentice on the functions, tasks, internal regulation and statute of the agency, on the relations among the units in the agency and with related agencies;

2. The agency employing public servants shall have to assign a public servant of the same category, capable and experienced in the same profession to guide the apprentice.

1. During the apprenticeship period, the apprentice shall receive 85% of the coefficient of the start-up salary of the category of recruitment and other interests like any public servant in the agency.

2. Persons recruited for work on the highlands, in deep-lying and remote areas, on offshore islands or in noxious or dangerous branches and trades shall receive 100% of the coefficient of the start-up salary of the category of recruitment during the apprenticeship period in addition to allowances and preferential treatment according to the general provisions.

3. Public servants assigned by the agency or organization or unit to guide the apprentice stipulated in Item 4, Article 17 of this Decree shall receive the responsibility allowance of 0.3 compared with the minimum salary during the period of guidance for the apprentice.

1. After the apprenticeship period, the apprentice shall make a report on the result of the apprenticeship; the guider shall make a written appreciation report on the result of the apprenticeship and report to the agency employing the public servant.

2. The head of the agency employing the public servant shall evaluate the ethical quality and the working result of the apprentice. If the apprentice achieves the desired result of the category, the head of the agency shall propose to the agency with managerial competence over public servants to issue a decision to officially assign the apprentice to his/her category.

3. If the apprentice does not achieve the mark of the category, the head of the agency employing public servants shall propose to the agency with managerial competence over public servants to annul the recruitment decision.

Article 20.- During the period of apprenticeship if the apprentice violates the work regulation of the agency and provisions of law, the head of the agency employing public servants shall, depending on the nature and extent of the violation, propose the agency with managerial competence over public servants to issue a decision annulling the recruitment decision.

Article 21.- After the apprentice period if the apprentice is not appointed to the category, he/she shall receive an allowance of a month’s salary and the transport fare to his/her place of permanent residence.

Sector 5.- CATEGORY RISE AND TRANSFER

The category rise of a public servant shall have to go through a category rise examination as prescribed.

1. The consideration for category rise exam for public servants must be based on the requirement and work position of the agency where the public servant is working.

2. Public servants taking part in a category rise exam must have all the diplomas and certificates of training and fostering and other necessary conditions as required by the examination category and must be appointed by the Preliminary Recruitment Council of the Ministries, ministerial-level Agencies, Agencies attached to the Government or the People’s Committee of the province and city directly under the Central Government to take part in the exam.

Article 24.- Each year the Ministries, the ministerial-level Agencies, the Agencies attached to the Government, the People’s Committees of the provinces and cities directly under the Central Government shall work out their plans and propose the number of persons to sit at category rise exams and send the plans to the Government Commission for Organization and Personnel so that the latter shall allocate the number of participants in the exams.

1. The Ministries, the ministerial-level Agencies, the Agencies attached to the Government, the People’s Committees of the provinces and cities directly under the Central Government shall set up Councils for preliminary recruitment in order to evaluate the ethical quality, working records and professional abilities of public servants and send public servants to the category rise exams.

2. The Council for Preliminary Recruitment shall have 05 or 07 members comprising:

a/At central agencies:

- The Chairman of the Council is a leader of the Ministry, ministerial-level Agency or Agency attached to the Government;

- The Vice Chairman of the Council shall be the Head of Department for Organization and Personnel (or equivalent) of the Ministry, ministerial-level Agency or Agency attached to the Government;

- The members of the Council shall comprise a number of Department Heads of the specialization departments under the Ministry, ministerial-level Agency or Agency attached to the Government.

b/ In the provinces and centrally-run cities:

- The Chairman of the Council is a leader of the People’s Committee of the province or centrally-run city;

- The Vice Chairman of the Council is the Head of the Department for Organization of the province or centrally-run city;

- The members of the Council shall include a number of Heads of the specialized departments (or equivalent level) of the province or centrally-run city.

Article 26.- Within 30 days at the latest after the publication of the result of the category rise examination, the successful examinee shall be assigned to the category of his/her examination and shall receive his/her pay according to the salary coefficient of that category.

1. Public servants who are transferred from one specialization to another or who are recruited and receive salary of the public servant category before the issue of Decree No. 26-CP of May 23, 1993 of the Government provisionally providing for the new regime of salaries in the enterprises and who are admitted to the agencies in the administrative and non-business sector, must meet the specialization and professional criteria of the category from which they are transferred and must belong to the payroll assigned to the agency.

2. The agency employing public servants when accepting the transferred public servant shall have to set up a Control Council to test the standard and capacity of the public servant. If the latter meets all the professional criteria of the new category, the agency employing the public servant shall receive him/her and issue a nomination decision according to its competence or propose the agency with managerial competence over public servants to nominate him/her.

3. The Control Council has 05 or 07 members including:

- The Chairman of the Council who is head of the agency or his/her deputy;

- The Vice Chairman of the Council who is Head of the Department for Organization and Personnel of the agency;

- The members of the Council comprising a number of leading officials of the specialization department, a number of capable public servants with a given professional standard working in the same or higher category.

4. The Control Coucil has the following tasks:

- To examine the diplomas and training and fostering certificates as required by the new category, the written working process evaluation of the former agency;

- To interview the transferred public servant about his/her knowledge and perception of politics, social affairs and specialty;

- To check the capacity of the transferred public servant in writing managerial documents according to the requirement of the task of the category;

- The Control Council shall meet to evaluate the result. If it deems that the public servant meets the requirement it shall propose the agency with managerial competence over public servants to assign him/her to the category.

5. When considering a category transfer it is forbidden to combine grade with category rise.

Section 6.- ASSIGNMENT AND SPECIAL ASSIGNMENT

1. The agency with managerial competence over public servants is entitled to send public servants to work at agencies, organizations and units at the center or in the localities according to the requirements of the tasks and public duties.

2. This detailing shall be performed in the following cases:

a/ When it is necessary to strengthen or complement the agency, organization or unit in the quantity and quality of the contingent of public servants in order to assure the fulfillment of the task assigned;

b/ To carry out the rotation of public servants between the center and the localities, among the branches and domains according to the planning of the contingent of public servants.

When assigning a public servant to a task it is necessary to take into account his/her family circumstances and his/her own circumstances.

3. Public servants who are assigned to work on the highlands, in deep-lying and remote areas or on offshore islands shall enjoy, besides annuities according to preferential policies, a number of other preferential policies according to the common regulations of the State.

1. At the requirement of the tasks or public duty, the agency with managerial competence over public servants may send him/her on special assignment to work for a given period at another agency, organization or unit. The time limit for such special assignment shall not exceed three years.

2. The special assignment of public servants shall be performed in the following cases:

a/ Unexpected and urgent tasks for which the assignment of public servants is still impossible.

b/ Certain tasks which demand settlement within a given time.

3. The public servant on special assignment must obey the work allocation of the agency, organization or unit at the place where he/she is detailed. The agency or organization which sends a public servant on special assignment shall have to pay his/her salary and ensure his/her other interests.

4. The public servant on special assignment on highlands, in deep-lying and remote areas and on offshore islands shall enjoy preferential policies according to the common regulations of the State.

5. The evaluation of public servants on special assignment shall be conducted by the agency employing them. The written evaluation must be sent to the agency which sends them and kept in the personal files.

Article 30.- Public servants who are assigned to the following jobs shall be assigned to jobs according to their capacities, aptitudes, branches and specialties of their training and ensured regimes and policies as prescribed by law after they cease to hold such jobs:

1. They are elected, approved or appointed to hold posts according to terms at agencies of the National Assembly, the Government, the People’s Courts of various levels, the Supreme People’s Procuracy, the People’s Committees and People’s Councils of various levels;

2. They are elected to specialized posts at the agencies of the Communist Party of Vietnam, the Vietnam Fatherland Front, the Vietnam General Confederation of Labor, the Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union, the Vietnam Women’s Union, the Vietnam Peasants’ Union, the War Veterans Association;

3. They are assigned to posts of specialized members of the Managing Boards, General Director, Deputy General Director, Director, Deputy Director, Chief Assistant of the State enterprises or enterprises with State investments;

4 . They are discharging their military service duty.

Chapter III

MANAGEMENT OF PUBLIC SERVANTS

Article 31.- The Government Commission for Organization and Personnel is the agency to help the Government manage public servants. It has the following tasks:

1. To elaborate draft Law and Ordinance on public servants for the Government to submit to the National Assembly and the Standing Committee of the National Assembly for promulgation;

2. To elaborate and submit to the Government for ratification the planning and plan for building the contingent of public servants and for training and fostering this contingent;

3. To elaborate and submit to the Government for promulgation the regime of salaries and other policies and remuneration regimes toward public servants;

4. To manage the quantity, to assign and decide the salary and raise the category for high-level public servants (high-level specialists and equivalent categories);

5. To issue regulations on recruitment examina-tions, category rise examinations and evaluation of public servants;

6. To issue, amend and supplement professional titles and criteria and categories of public servants at the proposal of ministries, ministerial-level Agencies and Agencies attached to the Government;

7. To elaborate the criteria of payrolls and submit them to the Prime Minister and manage the quantity of public servants under Government management in the whole country;

8. To assume the prime responsibility for organization of category rise examinations from main specialists to high- level specialists and equivalent categories;

9. To organize the inventory of public servants in the whole country;

10. To inspect and supervise the Ministries, branches, localities and grassroots in the implemen-tation of State regulations on public servants;

11. To direct and organize the settlement of complaints and denunciations against public servants as prescribed by the legislation on complaints and denunciations.

Article 32.- The Ministries, ministerial-level Agencies and Agencies attached to the Government have the following tasks:

1. To manage the quantity of, nominate, decide the pay and category pay rise for public servants from main specialist category and equivalent downward;

2. To elaborate and propose to the Government Commission for Organization and Personnel to issue professional criteria of public servant categories according to professional branches and to guide their implementation;

3. To organize the recruitment examination, training and fostering of public servants according to the Government regulations;

4. To organize category rise examinations from staff personnel to main personnel and from main personnel to specialist, from specialist to main specialist and equivalent categories;

5. To distribute the norms, to manage the payrolls and salary fund and to carry out other policies of remuneration for public servants in the organizations directly managed by the Ministries and branches;

6. To organize the inventory of public servant categories according to each specialty in the whole country and public servants directly managed by the Ministries and branches;

7. To guide, inspect and control the implementation of the State regulations on public servants within specialized branches in the whole country and public servants under the jurisdiction of the Ministries and branches;

8. To settle complaints and denunciations against public servants as prescribed by the legislation on complaints and denunciations.

Article 33.- The Ministries, ministerial-level Agencies and Agencies attached to the Government are assigned the following managerial responsibilities over the categories of public servants according to their specializations:

1. The Government Commission for Organization and Personnel shall manage the specialized public servant category of the Administrative branch and Archives branch;

2. The State Inspectorate manages the specialized public servant category of the inspectorate branch;

3. The Ministry of Finance manages the category of specialized public servants of the finance branch;

4. The Ministry of Justice manages the category of specialized public servants of the justice branch;

5. The State Bank manages the category of specialized public servants of the banking branch;

6. The General Department of Customs manages the category of specialized public servants of the customs branch;

7. The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development manages the category of specialized public servants of the agriculture, forest ranger and water conservancy branch;

8. The Ministry of Construction manages the category of specialized public servants of the construction branch;

9. The Ministry of Science, Technology and Environment manages the category of specialized public servants of the scientific and technical branches;

10. The General Department of Meteorology and Hydrology manages the category of specialized public servants of the meteorology and hydrology branch;

11. The Ministry of Education and Training manages the category of public servants specialized in education and training;

12. The Ministry of Health manages the category of public servants specialized in medical care;

13. The Ministry of Culture and Information manages the category of public servants specialized in culture and information;

14. The Physical Training and Sports Commission manages the category of public servants specialized in physical training and sports;

15. The National Reserve Department manages the category of public servants specialized in national reserve.

Article 34.- The Ministries, ministerial-level Agencies and Agencies attached to the Government are assigned by the Government to manage the category of public servants along the specialization line stipulated in Article 33 of this Decree. They shall have to carry out the following contents after consulting the Government Commission for Organization and Personnel:

1. The content of the recruitment examinations for public servants into the specialized categories;

2. The content of the category rise examinations for public servants of different specialized branches stipulated in Item 4, Article 32 of this Decree;

3. The content and organization of the training and fostering of public servants of different specialized branches;

4. The content and organization of the category rise examinations for the categories of public servants according to the specialized branches under the management by the Ministries and branches.

Article 35.- The People’s Committees of the provinces and cities directly under the Central Government (hereafter commonly called provinces) has the following tasks:

1. To organize the management of public servants from the category of main specialists and equivalent downward;

2. To allocate the number, manage the payrolls and the salary fund of the public servants in the province;

3. To organize the implementation of the salary regime and other remuneration policies toward public servants in the province;

4. To organize the recruitment examinations for public servants, the category rise examinations from staff personnel to main personnel, and from main personnel to specialists and equivalent categories according to the general regulations and the examination contents of the Ministries managing the category of public servants along the specialization line;

To organize the training and fostering of public servants according to the common regulations;

5. To organize the inventory of public servants under the jurisdiction of the province;

6. To guide, inspect and control the implementation of the State regulations on public servants under the jurisdiction of the province;

7. To settle complaints and denunciations against public servants under provincial jurisdiction as prescribed by the legislation on complaints and denunciations.

Article 36.- The agency employing public servants shall have:

1. To organize the employment and allocation of public servants according to the right category and positions of work and strictly comply with Articles 16, 17, 18, 19 and 21 of this Decree;

2. To organize the implementation of the legislation on public servants, and policies and regimes of the State toward public servants;

3. To propose to the agency with managerial competence over public servants the requirements on recruitment, nomination, category rise, category transfer, assignment, special assignment, putting outside the category, training, fostering of public servants in the agency;

4. To evaluate public servants under its mana-gement as prescribed;

5. To supervise and inspect public servants in the implementation of the regulations stipulated in Chapter III of the Ordinance on Public Employees;

6. To inventorize and report on the situation of public servants under its jurisdiction to the agency managing public servants of higher level as prescribed;

7. To settle complaints and denunciations against public servants under its jurisdiction;

8. To perform the awarding and disciplining of public servants according to its competence and propose the competent level to award and discipline as prescribed.

Article 37.- The agency employing public servants shall set up and keep the personal files of public servants. All developments in the process of work of the public servants from the time of their recruitment and nomination till their cessation of work must be recorded and kept in the files of public servants.

The compilation and keeping of public servant dossiers shall conform to the guidance of the Government Commission for Organization and Personnel.

Chapter IV

IMPLEMENTATION PROVISIONS

1. This Decree takes effects 15 days after its signing.

2. This Decree replaces Decree No. 24-CP of November 8, 1962 of the Government Council issuing the Statute of Recruitment of State Workers, Public Employees and Decision No. 256-TTg of July 15, 1975 of the Prime Minister on the regime of apprenticeship for persons recruited into State agencies.

Article 39.- The Ministers, the Heads of ministerial-level agencies, the Head of agencies attached to the Government, the Presidents of the People’s Committees of the provinces and cities directly under the Central Government shall have to implement this Decree.

On behalf of the Government

Prime Minister