Is There Still a Penalty for Having a Third Child?

Previously, the family planning policy had a directive prohibiting the birth of a third child for officials and public employees. Violations would be disciplined with measures such as fines, revocation of licenses, revocation of practice certificates, prohibition from holding positions, or being reprimanded by the agency where they work.

However, as of now, in Decree 176/2013/ND-CP Decree 176/2013/ND-CP, there is no mention of "handling the birth of the third child" anymore. Is the population policy being expanded?

In reality, the absence of regulations does not mean it is not prohibited. There are still some cases where agencies and organizations have regulations prohibiting the birth of a third child. Specifically:

In Decision 1531/QD-BTC by the Ministry of Finance, attached is the Regulation on disciplining officials and public employees of the Ministry of Finance who violate population and family planning policies. According to this, disciplinary measures are stipulated as follows:

"1. Disciplinary form of "Reprimand": applicable to officials and public employees who give birth to a third child.

....

Officials and public employees violating the population and family planning policy, in addition to considering disciplinary measures corresponding to the aforementioned forms, during the enforcement of the Disciplinary Decision, will not be considered for planning, nomination, promotion, transfer, or rotation as regulated."

Thus, if you are an official or public employee working at the Ministry of Finance and have a third child, the aforementioned disciplinary measures still apply.

On the other hand, according to Regulation No. 181/2013/QD-TW by the Politburo: "Communist Party members who violate one of the following cases causing less serious consequences or violation in the case of having a third child (unless otherwise regulated by law) will be disciplined by reprimand."

The cases regulated otherwise are those having a third child but not violating population and family planning policies according to Clause c, Point 10 Guideline 09-HD/UBKTTW in 2013 as follows:

- Couples having a third child, if both or one of them belongs to an ethnic minority with a population less than 10,000 people or belonging to an ethnic minority at risk of population decline (birth rate smaller than or equal to death rate) as officially announced by the Ministry of Planning and Investment.- Couples having their first birth with triplets or more.- Couples already with one biological child, having twins or more on their second birth.- Couples having a third birth or more, if at the time of birth, only one biological child is alive, including biological children given up for adoption.- Couples having a third birth, if they already have two biological children but one or both of them have disabilities or incurable diseases not of a genetic nature, certified by the provincial or central Medical Examination Council.- Having a third child or more before January 19, 1989 (the effective date of Decision No. 162-HDBT, October 18, 1988, by the Council of Ministers "On some population and family planning policies").

However, Binh Duong People's Committee has issued Decision 02/2015/QD-UBND handling disciplinary actions for officials, public employees, and workers violating population and family planning policies in Binh Duong province.

In summary, depending on the respective Ministries and localities, there are disciplinary regulations for officials and public employees having a third child.

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