Supplementing Cases of Officials and Public Employees Subject to Disciplinary Actions from September 20, 2023 - Is it Correct?
What are the 04 levels of disciplinary actions for violating behaviors of government officials and public employees?
On September 20, 2023, the Government issued Decree 71/2023/ND-CP amending Decree 112/2020/ND-CP concerning the disciplinary treatment of government officials.
The 04 levels of disciplinary actions for violating behaviors of government officials and public employees are specified in Clause 2 Article 6 of Decree 112/2020/ND-CP as follows:
Disciplinary actions for violations
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2. The levels of the violations are determined as follows:
a) Violations causing minor consequences are those with minor nature, extent of harm, and impact within the internal scope, affecting the reputation of the agency, organization, or working unit.
b) Violations causing serious consequences are those with significant nature, extent of harm, and impact beyond internal scope, creating bad public opinion among officials and public employees, and citizens, reducing the reputation of the agency, organization, or working unit.
c) Violations causing very serious consequences are those with very significant nature, extent of harm, and impact on the entire society, creating severe public discontent among officials and public employees, and citizens, tarnishing the reputation of the agency, organization, or working unit.
d) Violations causing particularly serious consequences are those with exceptionally significant nature, extent of harm, and broad impact on the entire society, creating extreme public discontent among officials and public employees, and citizens, severely damaging the reputation of the agency, organization, or working unit.
Thus, there are 04 levels of violations:
- Violations causing minor consequences.- Violations causing serious consequences.- Violations causing very serious consequences.- Violations causing particularly serious consequences.
Is it accurate that supplementary cases for disciplinary actions involving government officials and public employees start from September 20, 2023?
Is it accurate that additional cases for disciplinary actions involving government officials and public employees will be applied from September 20, 2023?
Based on the regulations on disciplinary actions for violations in Clause 1 Article 6 of Decree 112/2020/ND-CP (amended by Clause 5 Article 1 of Decree 71/2023/ND-CP) as follows:
Disciplinary actions for violations
1. officials and public employees who violate the regulations on the obligations of officials and public employees; the prohibitions for officials and public employees; the internal regulations and rules of the agency, organization, or unit; violations of ethics, lifestyle, or law during the enforcement of public duties, or other violations related to public service activities are subject to disciplinary actions by the party, unions, and administrative disciplinary actions.
Thus, compared to the old regulations, the new regulations have added the case of "committing other violations related to public service activities which are subject to disciplinary actions by the party, unions" to the group of behaviors subject to disciplinary actions.
To be specific, the behaviors subject to disciplinary actions for government officials and public employees include:
- Violating the regulations on the obligations of officials and public employees;- Violating the prohibitions for officials and public employees;- Violating the internal regulations and rules of the agency, organization, or unit;- Violating ethics, lifestyle, or law during the enforcement of public duties or other violations related to public service activities which are subject to disciplinary actions by the party, unions.
In which cases are government officials and public employees exempted from disciplinary responsibility?
According to the provisions of Article 4 of Decree 112/2020/ND-CP regarding cases exempted from disciplinary responsibility as follows:
Cases exempted from disciplinary responsibility
1. Having lost civil capacity when committing violations as verified by competent authorities.
2. Complying with decisions of superiors as stipulated in Clause 5 Article 9 of the Law on Officials.
3. Being confirmed by competent authorities that the violation occurred in urgent situations, force majeure events, or due to objective obstacles according to the Civil Code when executing public duties.
4. officials and public employees who have committed violations that would have been subject to disciplinary actions but have since passed away.
Referring to Clause 5 Article 9 of Law on Officials 2008 as follows:
Obligations of officials in the performance of public duties
...
5. Complying with decisions of superiors. If there are grounds to believe that such decisions are unlawful, officials and public employees must promptly report in writing to the decision issuer; if the decision issuer persists in the decision with a written order, officials and public employees must comply but do not bear responsibility for the consequences of executing the decision and must concurrently report to the immediate superior of the decision issuer. The decision issuer shall be responsible before the law for the decision made.
Thus, government officials and public employees are exempted from disciplinary responsibility in the following cases:
- Loss of civil capacity when committing violations confirmed by competent authorities.- Complying with superior's decisions in case such decisions are unlawful and officials and public employees have reported in writing to the decision issuer but the decision issuer persists in the decision in writing.- Violations occurring under urgent situations, force majeure events, or due to objective obstacles when executing public duties (confirmed by competent authorities).- officials and public employees who have committed violations that would have been subject to disciplinary actions but have since passed away.
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