New policy takes effect from February 2023

Regulations on schools of state agencies, socio-political organizations, and people's armed forces

The Government issued Decree No. 103/2022/ND-CP dated December 12, 2022 regulating schools of state agencies, political organizations, socio-political organizations, and people's armed forces, effective from February 1, 2023.

This Decree provides for the legal status, tasks and powers, organizational structure, training and fostering activities, teachers, learners, and management of schools of state agencies, political organizations, socio-political organizations, and people's armed forces (training and fostering schools).

The Decree stipulates that training and fostering schools are educational institutions of the national education system organized and operated according to Party regulations and law provisions.

Cases of illness are entitled to receive one-time social insurance benefits.

Circular 18/2022 of the Ministry of Health stipulates that cases of illness are entitled to one-time social insurance, effective from February 15. These are people with one of the life-threatening diseases such as cancer, paralysis, cirrhosis, leprosy, severe tuberculosis, HIV infection that has progressed to AIDS; people with diseases that reduce their ability to work by 81% or more and cannot control themselves, cannot live on their own and need complete care.

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This Circular has shortened the conditions for withdrawing social insurance at one time compared to Circular 56/2017. Previously, workers with life-threatening diseases had to simultaneously meet the condition of being unable to live independently and needing a caregiver. The second group is workers with other diseases that reduce their ability to work or have a disability of 81% or more, unable to live independently and needing a full caregiver.

Cases of signing labor contracts in administrative agencies and public service units

Decree No. 111/2022/ND-CP dated December 30, 2022 on contracts for certain types of work in administrative agencies and public service units takes effect from February 22, 2023.

The Decree specifies the contract performance tasks including:

1- Support and service work in administrative agencies and public service units to manage and apply regimes and policies according to the provisions of labor law, civil law and other relevant legal provisions, including:

- Driver, security guard, except for the cases specified in section 2 below;

- Reception, service; housekeeping; vehicle keeping; maintenance, repair, operation of headquarters, equipment, machinery serving the activities of agencies, organizations, and units;

- Other support and service jobs in the list of support and service positions in administrative agencies and public service units are not identified as civil servants or public employees according to the provisions of law.

2- Support and service work in administrative agencies to implement management and apply regimes and policies like civil servants, including:

- Protection at agencies and units: Central Party Office, President's Office, National Assembly Office, Government Office; Treasury or Treasury of valuable documents and seals of the State Bank, State Treasury, Tax seal warehouse, Customs seal warehouse;

- Drivers serving the Minister or positions equivalent to Minister or higher; drivers of specialized vehicles transporting money of the State Bank and the State Treasury;

- People doing other support and service work at important and confidential agencies at the Central level according to the decision of the head of the competent management agency.

3- Professional and technical jobs in the list of specialized job title positions and specialized job title positions used in common in public service units.

Revealing personal privacy and other secrets in film activities will be fined up to 50 million VND.

Effective from February 15, 2023, Decree 128/2022/ND-CP dated December 32, 2022 amending and supplementing a number of articles of Decree No. 38/2021/ND-CP dated March 29, 2021 of the Government regulating administrative sanctions for violations in the field of culture and advertising has been amended and supplemented by Decree No. 129/2021/ND-CP dated December 30, 2021.

Decree 128/2022/ND-CP amends regulations on fines for violations of regulations on prohibited content in cinematographic activities.

Specifically, a fine of 40-50 million VND will be imposed on cinema activities with one of the following contents: Distorting national history, denying revolutionary achievements; insulting the nation, celebrities, national heroes; incorrectly representing, slandering, or insulting the reputation of agencies, organizations, and the honor and dignity of individuals; revealing personal privacy and other secrets as prescribed by law, except in cases of administrative sanctions according to the provisions of the law on cyber security...

New organizational structure of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism

Decree No. 01/2023/ND-CP of the Government dated January 16, 2023 stipulating the functions, tasks, powers and organizational structure of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism takes effect from February 20, 2023.

Accordingly, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism is a Government agency, performing the function of state management of culture, family, physical education, sports and tourism nationwide; state management of public services in sectors and fields under the state management of the Ministry.

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism has 20 administrative organizations to assist the Minister in performing state management functions, including: 1- Department of Organization and Personnel; 2- Department of Planning and Finance; 3- Department of Legislation; 4- Department of Training; 5- Department of Science, Technology and Environment; 6- Department of Library; 7- Department of Ethnic Culture; 8- Department of Family; 9- Ministry Office; 10- Ministry Inspectorate; 11- Department of Cultural Heritage; 12- Department of Performing Arts; 13- Department of Cinema; 14- Department of Copyright; 15- Department of Grassroots Culture; 16- Department of International Cooperation; 17- Department of Fine Arts, Photography and Exhibition; 18- Department of Physical Education and Sports; 19- Vietnam National Tourism Administration; 20- Management Board of the Vietnam Ethnic Culture and Tourism Village.

In addition, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism also has 5 public service units serving the state management function of the Ministry, including: 1- Vietnam National Institute of Culture and Arts; 2- Culture Newspaper; 3- Culture and Arts Magazine; 4- Information Technology Center; 5- School of Cultural, Sports and Tourism Management Staff.

Salary guide for equipment and laboratory staff in high schools

Circular No. 21/2022/TT-BGDDT of the Ministry of Education and Training stipulating codes, standards for professional titles, appointment and salary arrangement for equipment and laboratory staff in public general education institutions and specialized schools takes effect from February 12, 2023.

Regarding salary arrangement instructions, the Circular clearly states that civil servants appointed to the professional title of equipment and testing officer code V.07.07.20 prescribed in this Circular shall apply the salary table for civil servants of type A0 in table 3 (professional and technical salary table for cadres and civil servants in State-owned service units) issued together with Decree No. 204/2004/ND-CP dated December 14, 2004 of the Government on salary regime for cadres, civil servants, public employees and armed forces.

Salary transfer in the case of recruitment and appointment to the position of equipment and testing officer who is currently a civil servant or official in another specialized field is carried out as follows:

In case the salary of civil servants and public employees of type A0 is being classified according to Table 2 (professional and technical salary table for cadres and public employees in State agencies) or Table 3 (professional and technical salary table for cadres and public employees in State public service units) issued together with Decree No. 204/2004/ND-CP, then the salary of civil servants of type A0 is classified;

In case the salary of civil servants and public employees is currently classified as type A1 or higher or type B, the salary will be re-classified according to the instructions in Clause 1, Section II of Circular No. 02/2007/TT-BNV of the Minister of Home Affairs guiding salary classification when promoting, transferring grades, and changing types of civil servants and public employees.

Support rice growers with no less than 50% of the cost

The Ministry of Finance issued Circular No. 02/2023/TT-BTC amending and supplementing a number of articles of Circular No. 18/2016/TT-BTC guiding the implementation of Decree No. 35/2015/ND-CP of the Government on management and use of rice-growing land.

Depending on specific conditions, localities will decide to implement the following: Support for rice growers: Use no less than 50% of the funding to support rice growers to apply new varieties, technical advances, and new technologies in rice production; support production linkage and product consumption.

The remaining budget is to carry out the following tasks: Analyzing the chemical and physical quality of specialized rice growing areas with high productivity and quality every 10 years for effective use and appropriate improvement measures: Based on technical and economic norms, the units prepare cost estimates and submit them to competent authorities for decision.

Improving the quality of land specialized for wet rice cultivation or remaining wet rice cultivation land: Based on the planning and land use plan for rice cultivation in each period approved by competent authorities of the locality, the quality of land specialized for wet rice cultivation in the area and the actual conditions of the locality, the Provincial People's Committee directs the District People's Committee to develop a plan to improve the quality of land specialized for wet rice cultivation or remaining wet rice cultivation land for the whole period and each year, and send it to the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development for synthesis and reporting to the Provincial People's Committee for approval.

Based on the approved plan to improve the quality of rice-growing land and technical and economic norms, the units shall prepare a budget for improving the quality of rice-growing land (increasing the thickness of the cultivation layer; raising the level of low-lying rice-growing land; increasing the flatness of the field surface; removing acidity and salinity from acid-contaminated and saline soils and other soil improvement measures) and submit it to the competent authority for decision as a basis for implementation.

Invest in construction and maintenance of agricultural and rural infrastructure works in the commune, with priority given to investment in transportation and irrigation systems on rice-growing land.

Reclamation and restoration of unused land into specialized rice-growing land or remaining rice-growing land: Expenditure level according to regulations in Clause 4, Article 7 of Decree No. 35/2015/ND-CP of the Government on management and use of rice-growing land.

This Circular takes effect from February 20, 2023.

50% reduction in fees when registering for permanent residence through the online public service portal

Circular No. 75/2022/TT-BTC of the Ministry of Finance regulating the collection rates, collection, payment and management of residence registration fees takes effect from February 5, 2023. Accordingly, citizens will receive a 50% reduction in fees when registering for permanent residence through the Online Public Service Portal.

The Circular clearly states that Vietnamese citizens, when carrying out residence registration procedures (permanent residence registration, temporary residence registration, temporary residence extension, household separation) with the residence registration agency according to the provisions of the law on residence, must pay fees according to the provisions of this Circular. The fee levels are as follows:

New regulations on buying, transferring and carrying foreign currency abroad

Circular 20/2022/TT-NHNN of the State Bank of Vietnam guiding one-way money transfer activities from Vietnam to foreign countries and payment and money transfer for other current transactions of residents who are organizations and individuals takes effect from February 15, 2023.

The Circular stipulates that cases of purchasing, transferring, and carrying foreign currency abroad to serve the purposes of funding and aid of organizations include:

a) Purchase, transfer, and carry foreign currency abroad for funding and aid according to commitments and agreements between the State, the Government, local authorities and foreign countries. Funding and aid sources are budget funds or the funding and aid organizations themselves;

b) Purchase and transfer foreign currency abroad to finance and provide aid to overcome the consequences of natural disasters, epidemics, and wars. The funding and aid sources are voluntary contributions from domestic organizations and individuals and/or the funding and aid organizations themselves;

c) Purchase and transfer foreign currency abroad to finance programs, funds and projects established by domestic and/or foreign organizations for the purpose of supporting and encouraging development in the following fields: culture, education (scholarship sponsorship), and health. The funding source is the funding source of the sponsoring organization itself.

In addition, the Circular also clarifies cases of purchasing and transferring money one-way abroad by organizations to serve other purposes.

Expenditure level for implementing administrative and educational measures at commune and ward levels

Circular No. 82/2022/TT-BTC of the Ministry of Finance stipulating the content and expenditure levels from the state budget to implement the regime of applying administrative educational measures at communes, wards and towns takes effect from February 15, 2023.

According to the Circular, the State budget spends on testing for drugs in the body and determining drug addiction status for subjects according to the provisions of the Law on Drug Prevention and Control, Clause 1, Article 18 of Decree No. 120/2021/ND-CP and professional guidance of the Ministry of Health: The level of spending on testing for drugs in the body is based on legal invoices and vouchers for spending and within the budget approved by competent authorities.

The level of expenses for drug addiction testing according to medical service prices is decided by competent authorities for public facilities qualified to determine drug addiction status and within the budget approved by competent authorities.

Expenses for transferring subjects to their place of residence or to social protection facilities include: Expenses to support subjects during the journey: Meal allowance of VND 70,000/day/person, maximum of 03 days; room rental fee (if any) according to the level prescribed in Circular No. 40/2017/TT-BTC.

Paying for transportation or hiring a vehicle to take the subject back to their place of residence or to a social protection facility: Expense level according to the price of common public transportation applied locally.

Business trip expenses for the person assigned to transfer the object: Content and expense level according to regulations in Circular No. 40/2017/TT-BTC.

Expenses for care, nurturing, cultural education support, career guidance, vocational training, and job search support for minors at social protection facilities: Apply the content and expense levels of social protection beneficiaries being nurtured and cared for at social protection facilities according to local regulations.

Eliminate foreign language and IT certificates for some civil servants

According to Circular 30/2022 of the Ministry of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs, from February 12, some officials will continue to have their foreign language and IT certificates removed. These include chief occupational safety inspectors; occupational safety inspectors; and occupational safety inspection technicians.

The Ministry of Education and Training abolishes these two certificates for equipment and testing officers applying according to Circular 21/2022 and for educational officers applying according to Circular 22/2022.