Vietnam: Amending and supplementing regulations on conditions and standards to be considered when promoting commune-level officials to district-level officials

According to Vietnam’s current regulations, commune-level officials defined in Clause 2 Article 61 of the Law on Officials of Vietnam, when no longer holding their positions for a given term, and commune-level civil servants defined in Clause 3. Article 61 of the Law on Officials may be considered for upgrading to district- or higher-level civil servants if they fully meet the conditions and criteria specified in Decree No. 24/2010/NĐ-CP of Vietnam’s Government, in which include the condition on woking duration, to be specific, having worked as commune-level official for full 60 or more months. If their working duration is interrupted and they have not yet received a lump-sum compulsory social insurance allowance, such working duration will be aggregated.

However, according to Clause 13 Article 1 of Decree No. 161/2018/NĐ-CP of Vietnam’s Government amending Clause 3 Article 25 of Decree No. 24/2010/NĐ-CP, a commune-level official must have a full working period of at least 60 months, excluding probation period (Decree No. 24/2010/NĐ-CP did not exclude the probation period); working periods for which the payment of compulsory social insurance contributions is interrupted and lump-sum payment of social insurance benefits is not yet made shall be accumulated. Decree No. 161/2018/NĐ-CP does not mention working time conditions for commune-level officials. Thus, it can be understood that the new regulations in Decree No. 161/2018/NĐ-CP do not require commune-level officials to have worked as a commune-level official for full 60 months or more to be considered for transformation into district-level officials.

Moreover, Decree No. 161/2018/NĐ-CP of Vietnam’s Government also stipulates that if a commune-level official is received and appointed to hold the position of department manager or higher, the promotion of the commune-level official to the district- or higher-level official shall be carried out at the same time with the appointment of the managerial position. The agency competent to manage the official shall not issue an employment decision; the decision to receive and appoint the official to the managerial position shall be valid as an employment decision.

The demotion of a district- or higher-level official to a commune-level official must not comply with the procedures specified above.

Nguyen Trinh

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