Decree No. 23/2012/NĐ-CP stipulates certain benefits for individuals who participated in the war to protect the country and international missions in Cambodia and assisting Laos after April 30, 1975, having served at least 20 years in the military or police and have been discharged, demobilized, or retired.

DECREE

Regulations on certain benefits for individuals participating in wars to protect the country and international missions in Cambodia and assisting Laos after April 30, 1975 who have served at least 20 years in the military or police and have been discharged, demobilized, or retired The Government promulgates this Decree to regulate certain benefits for individuals directly participating in wars to protect the country along the southwestern border and northern border, international missions in Cambodia, and assisting Laos after April 30, 1975 who have served at least 20 years in the military or police and have been discharged, demobilized, or retired, This Decree stipulates retirement benefits, one-time allowances, health insurance, and funeral expenses for individuals directly participating in wars to protect the country along the southwestern border and northern border, international missions in Cambodia, and assisting Laos (hereinafter referred to collectively as individuals directly participating in wars to protect the country and international missions) after April 30, 1975 who have served at least 20 years in the military or police, or cryptographic services and have been discharged, demobilized, or retired.

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Pursuant to the Law on Organization of the Government dated December 25, 2001;

At the proposal of the Minister of National Defense, the Minister of Public Security;

1. This Decree applies to officers, professional soldiers, non-commissioned officers, and soldiers belonging to the People's Army (referred to as military personnel); officers, non-commissioned officers, and soldiers belonging to the People's Public Security (referred to as public security personnel); and personnel engaged in cryptographic work with salaries equivalent to those of military or public security personnel (referred to as cryptographic personnel) who were conscripted or recruited after April 30, 1975, directly participated in wars to protect the country and international missions for at least 20 years in the military, public security, or cryptographic services, and are currently not receiving retirement benefits, disability benefits, or monthly war veteran benefits under any of the following circumstances:

Article 1. Scope of Regulation

c) Military personnel, public security personnel, or cryptographic personnel who had a decision to change careers before April 1, 2000 but could not implement the career change regulations or who were discharged from service and returned to their home regions without having their discharge, demobilization, or retirement benefits resolved;

Article 2. Applicability

d) Military personnel, public security personnel, or cryptographic personnel who were resolved for discharge, demobilization, or retirement and then went to work in international cooperative labor or were sent by units to work in international cooperative labor and returned to the country before April 1, 2000 and were resolved for discharge, demobilization, or retirement.

a) Have been demobilized, discharged, or retired before April 1, 2000;

b) War invalids with a labor capacity reduction of 81% or more undergoing rehabilitation at war invalid rehabilitation centers or those who have returned home from such centers;

a) Individuals who do not meet the conditions specified in Clause 1 of this Article;

d) Violating laws and currently serving a prison sentence or life imprisonment, or having been convicted of crimes endangering national security without being rehabilitated; having had their military or public security titles revoked; or having been dismissed from employment;

2. This Decree does not apply to the following subjects:

g) Individuals specified in Clause 1 of this Article who have passed away but have no surviving spouse or children, biological parents, or legally recognized foster parents.

b) Subjects currently receiving retirement benefits or working and receiving salaries from the state budget who have joined mandatory social insurance or are currently receiving disability benefits or monthly war veteran benefits;

c) Deserters, surrenders, traitors, or those who responded to recruitment;

1. Directly participating in wars to protect the country means directly performing combat duties, or directly supporting combat operations along the southwestern border and northern border, or conducting anti-Fulro operations in the Central Highlands within the areas and time periods specified in Clause 2 and Points a, b, and c of Clause 3 of this Article.

đ) Those who illegally left the country, are residing illegally abroad, or have been declared missing by a court;

e) Military or public security personnel conscripted or recruited before April 30, 1975;

2. Areas where armed conflicts occurred during wars to protect the country include counties along the southwestern border and northern border, including border island counties and areas such as Hoang Sa, Truong Sa, DK1; provinces in the Central Highlands and adjacent areas where armed conflicts occurred.

Article 3. Provisions on the territory and time of occurrence of wars for national defense and international missions

a) Actual working time in the military, public security, or cryptographic services that has contributed to social insurance or is considered to have contributed to social insurance for the purpose of enjoying retirement benefits includes: time as an officer, professional soldier, non-commissioned officer, soldier, defense industry worker, public security industry worker, or cryptographic personnel. If there are interruptions in this working period, they will be accumulated.

For cases where individuals transferred to work in agencies, units, or organizations outside the military, public security, or cryptographic services and then stopped working or were discharged, demobilized, or retired and went to work in international cooperative labor or were sent to work in international cooperative labor and then were discharged, demobilized, or retired, or were severely wounded veterans undergoing rehabilitation at veteran rehabilitation centers managed by the Ministry of Labor, Invalids, and Social Affairs, the working time outside the military, public security, or cryptographic services, time spent in international cooperative labor, and time spent in rehabilitation at severely wounded veteran rehabilitation centers managed by the Ministry of Labor, Invalids, and Social Affairs shall not be counted towards retirement benefits as stipulated in this Decree.

The Minister of National Defense shall specify the adjacent territories where military conflicts have occurred.

3. The time of occurrence of military conflicts during wars for national defense and international missions shall be determined as follows:

a) In the southwestern border from May 1975 to January 7, 1979;

b) In the northern border from February 1979 to December 31, 1988;

c) Fulro suppression from May 1975 to December 1992;

d) Performing missions to assist Laos from May 1975 to December 31, 1988;

đ) Performing international missions in Cambodia from January 1979 to August 31, 1989.

The time of performing international missions for certain special units of the Ministry of National Defense and the Ministry of Public Security shall be specified by the Minister of National Defense and the Minister of Public Security.

Article 4. Retirement Benefits

1. The period of service for calculating retirement benefits shall be defined as follows:

b) Working time for calculating retirement benefits, if there is a fractional month, less than three months will not be counted, from three to six months inclusive will be counted as half (1/2) of the benefit level of one year of social insurance contribution, and more than six months up to twelve months will be counted as the benefit level of one year of social insurance contribution.

2. The monthly pension level for individuals specified in Clause 1 of Article 2 of this Decree is calculated based on the actual number of years served in the military, public security, or cryptographic services. The pension level and the average monthly salary used as the basis for social insurance contributions are defined as follows:

a) Pension level: for every fifteen years, it is calculated as 45% of the average monthly salary used for social insurance contributions; thereafter, for each additional year of social insurance contribution, an additional 3% is added for women and 2% for men. The maximum monthly pension level is 75% of the average monthly salary used for social insurance contributions.

b) The average monthly salary used for social insurance contributions to calculate the monthly pension is the average of the last five years' (sixty months) monthly salary before discharge, demobilization, or retirement, transfer to another career, or transfer to a veteran rehabilitation center managed by the Ministry of Labor, Invalids, and Social Affairs, or before going to work in international cooperative labor.

c) The monthly salary for the last five years used for social insurance contributions includes: salary according to rank, grade, and various allowances for seniority and leadership positions (if applicable) converted into corresponding salary coefficients as prescribed in Decree No. 204/2004/NĐ-CP dated December 14, 2004 of the Government on salary systems for cadres, civil servants, officials, and armed forces personnel. The salary coefficient for the rank of Sub-Lieutenant is 3.90.

In cases where the subject is entitled to subsistence allowance, the monthly pension amount shall be calculated as one month's minimum wage as prescribed by the Government for each period.

b) The average monthly salary for social insurance contributions to calculate the monthly pension is the average monthly salary of the last 5 years (60 months) before discharge, discharge from military service, resignation, transfer to another profession, or transfer to the rehabilitation unit under the Ministry of Labor - Invalids and Social Affairs management, or before going abroad for international labor cooperation.

c) The monthly salary for social insurance contributions of the last 5 years includes: salary according to rank, grade, and seniority allowances, leadership position allowances (if any), converted into corresponding salary coefficients as prescribed in Decree No. 204/2004/NĐ-CP dated December 14, 2004 of the Government on salary system for officials, civil servants, public employees, and armed forces personnel. The salary coefficient for the rank of Sub-Lieutenant is 3.90.

Article 5. One-time allowance system and medical insurance, funeral expenses regime

1. The subjects specified in Points a, c, and d Clause 1 Article 2 of this Decree who had passed away before January 1, 2012, including those who passed away while on active duty or while working, their surviving relatives shall be entitled to a one-time allowance of VND 3,600,000, including: spouse or partner; biological or adopted children; biological father or mother or legal guardian.

2. The subjects specified in Clause 1 Article 2 of this Decree who have not yet enjoyed medical insurance benefits shall be entitled to such benefits according to the laws on medical insurance; upon passing away, the person handling funeral arrangements shall be entitled to funeral expenses, and surviving relatives shall be entitled to monthly survivor's allowance or one-time survivor's allowance and other benefits as pensioners under the current laws on social insurance.

Article 6. Documents and procedures for processing entitlements

1. The documents for processing retirement benefits and one-time allowance are stipulated as follows:

a) The application dossier for retirement benefits includes: 01 application form of the subject; original documents or documents considered as originals or related documents (originals or certified copies from competent authorities) proving that the subject meets the conditions for enjoying benefits as stipulated in Clause 1 Article 2 and Article 3 of this Decree.

b) The application dossier for one-time allowance (for deceased subjects) includes: 01 application form of the subject’s relative; original documents or documents considered as originals or related documents (originals or certified copies from competent authorities) proving that the subject meets the conditions for enjoying benefits as stipulated in Clause 1 Article 2 and Article 3 of this Decree.

2. Procedures and deadlines for processing retirement benefits and one-time allowance are implemented as follows:

a) The subjects specified in Clause 1 Article 2 of this Decree or their relatives are responsible for submitting 01 set of application dossiers as prescribed in Clause 1 of this Article to the People's Committee of the commune where they are registered as permanent residents.

b) Within no more than 7 working days from the date of receiving complete dossiers as prescribed, the People's Committee of the commune completes the consolidation and reporting of dossiers to the Military Command for military personnel and cipher officers; and to the Public Security Department at the district level for public security personnel.

c) Within no more than 7 working days from the date of receiving complete dossiers as prescribed (in each batch), the Military Command completes the review, consolidation, and reporting to the Military Command of the Military Region and the Command of the Capital Military Region; the Public Security Department at the district level completes the review, consolidation, and reporting to the Public Security Department at the provincial level and the Fire Prevention and Fighting Department.

d) Within no more than 7 working days from the date of receiving complete dossiers as prescribed (in each batch), the Military Command completes the review, finalization of dossiers, and reporting to the Command of the Military Region; the Public Security Department at the provincial level and the Fire Prevention and Fighting Department complete the review, finalization of dossiers, consolidation, and reporting to the Social Insurance of the Ministry of Public Security.

đ) Within no more than 10 working days from the date of receiving complete dossiers as prescribed (in each batch), the Command of the Military Region and the Command of the Capital Military Region complete the verification and finalization of dossiers for military personnel and cipher officers, and transfer them to the Social Insurance of the Ministry of Defense.

e) Within no more than 30 working days from the date of receiving complete dossiers as prescribed (in each batch), the Social Insurance of the Ministry of Defense completes the review, issues decisions on retirement benefits and one-time allowances for military personnel and cipher officers, and transfers them to the Social Insurance of Vietnam for implementation; the Social Insurance of the Ministry of Public Security reviews, issues decisions on retirement benefits and one-time allowances for public security personnel, and transfers them to the Social Insurance of Vietnam for implementation.

Article 7. Sources of funds for implementation

The funds for implementing the regime and policies stipulated in this Decree shall be guaranteed from the state budget in accordance with the laws on the state budget.

Article 8. Responsibility for Implementation

1. The Ministry of National Defense, the Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs, and the Ministry of Finance shall provide guidance on implementing the benefits for subjects who are military personnel and cipher officers as specified in Clause 1 Article 2 of this Decree.

2. The Ministry of Public Security, the Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs, and the Ministry of Finance shall provide guidance on implementing the benefits for subjects who are public security personnel as specified in Clause 1 Article 2 of this Decree.

3. The Ministry of Finance is responsible for allocating annual funds to implement the policies stipulated in this Decree according to the laws on state budget.

4. The Vietnam Social Security shall be responsible for receiving and disbursing benefits for the subjects as prescribed in this Decree.

5. The confirmation and approval of beneficiaries of the regimes and policies stipulated in this Decree must ensure transparency, strictness, accuracy, and convenience.

6. Those who falsify or forge dossiers to enjoy benefits shall be disciplined or criminally prosecuted depending on the nature and severity of the violation, and must return the amount received and compensate for any losses (if any) according to the laws.

Article 9. Implementation Provisions

1. This Decree takes effect from May 19, 2012.

2. The subjects specified in Clause 1 Article 2 of this Decree shall be entitled to monthly retirement benefits starting from January 1, 2012.

3. The Ministers, Heads of Ministries equivalent to ministries, Heads of government agencies, Chairmen of provincial People's Committees under the central city, are responsible for enforcing this Decree./.