National Guidelines in Vietnam - Government

Circular Guiding the Implementation of a Number of Articles of Decree No. 23-CP of 18 April 1996 of the Government with Specific Stipulations about Women Labour (Circular No. 3-LDTBXH/TT) of 13 January 1997

This Circular gives more details on a number of points raised in Decree No. 23-CP. It states that, to have the capacity to work and sign work contract, a female worker must be at least fifteen years old (article I.1).

After having defined various working regimes in article II.1 (flexible, part time and home work), Circular No. 3 stipulates that enterprises and trade unions must determine the working regimes that best suit women workers and apply them on the basis of the principle of mutual consent and mutual benefit (article II.2). This working regime must not be used to discipline a women worker who has violated labour discipline. Moreover, employers must not take advantage of the flexible work regime to assign and use women’s labour for night-shift work in contravention of labour legislation (article II.2). Together with the trade union, the enterprise must arrange a suitable time-table for each women worker in the following priority order: women more than three months pregnant; women having to nurse babies under twelve months old; women with frail health; and women with difficult family situations (article II.3).

Moreover, enterprises must consult with trade unions to determine reserve occupations for women workers (a job different from the one a woman worker is practising which is to be used, until retirement, when she can no longer continue her current job). The enterprise must provide training for women for these reserve occupations (article III.1 and 2).

Article IV provides methods to determine the enterprises that are to be considered as employing many female workers, as stipulated in article 5 of Decree No. 23-CP of 18 April 1996.

Article V provides guidance for the policy of preferential treatment of the enterprises using a large women workforce. Notably it states the conditions for an enterprise to qualify for capital borrowing (article V.1) and the conditions to qualify for consideration for non-refundable support packages (article V.2).

Article VI defines the usual extra costs due to the employment of women workers that are to be taken into consideration for tax reduction:

1. the sixty-minute break per day during the period of nursing a child under twelve months;

2. supplementary allowances for women having pre-school aged children;

3. purchase of equipment for the creches;

4. the thirty-minute break for sanitation;

5. one hour of working time less per day for pregnant women up to the seventh month;

6. allowances to women after childbirth;

7. hiring teachers for the creche;

8. purchase of additional labour protection equipment;

9. building separate bathrooms and toilets;

10. organizing health checks; and

11. organizing anniversaries of women.

Finally, article VII of the Circular determines the steps to be taken in order to transfer women workers doing prohibited works to suitable jobs.

Circular Guiding the Implementation of Decree No. 23-CP of 18 April 1996 of the Government Detailing and Guiding the Implementation of a Number of Articles of the Labour Code regarding Specific Provisions on Female Labourers (Circular No. 79/1997/TT-BTC) of 6 November 1997

This Circular applies to enterprises that employ a large number of female workers, a notion which is defined in article I.1 and I.2. Article II.1.3 provides more detailed guidance on the part of the total annual investment capital that enterprises are allowed to use to improve the working conditions of women workers, for works such as:

1. installation of the anti-heat, noise-reducing or dust-absorbing system at workshops and factories;

2. building of make-shift tents on construction sites, farms and other open-air workplaces;

3. building fixed bathrooms and toilets for women at workshops, factories or mobile ones at open-air workplaces;

4. building, repair and procurement of non-durable property for the nurseries and kindergartens of enterprises.

Article II.2.1 mentions additional expenses incurred by enterprises as a result of employing a large number of women workers which may be accounted into the costs of business operations:

1. the expenses of on job-retraining;

2. salaries and salary allowances for female teachers at nurseries;

3. expenses of medical check-ups;

4. allowances for female workers after their first or second childbirth;

5. payment for working overtime during breastfeeding time, if, for some objective reason, a mother does take leave to breastfeed her baby but instead keeps working for the enterprise.

Circular Providing Guidelines for Entering into Labour Contracts in respect of a Number of Forms of Cultural and Service Activities (Circular No. 04-LDTBXH-TT) of 12 February 1995

Paragraph 1 of this Circular states the obligation for employers in certain establishments (such as dancing halls, karaoke, massage services, hotels, guest houses, sanatoriums, rental apartments, basic inns, restaurants, cafes and snack-bars) to enter into written labour contracts with female employees working as dancing girls, waitresses or servers.

Circular Providing Guidelines for Implementation of Decree 72-CP of 31 October 1995 of the Government with respect to Recruitment of Labour (Circular No. 16-LDTBXH-TT) of 5 September 1996

This Circular provides guidelines on recruitment criteria. The criteria may only include professional skills, educational background, health status, age and other conditions which are consistent with the provisions of law (article II.2 (a)). This means that sex may not be a recruitment criterion. In addition, among applicants, priority must be given, inter alia, to female employees (article II.2 (c)).

Circular on Social Insurance (Circular No. 06-LDTBXH-TT) of 4 April 1995

Article II of Part B this Circular gives specific details about the maternity leave regime, notably:

1. the individuals who are entitled to maternity leave benefits in respect of the first and second child (paragraph 1);

2. the criteria for the determination of the length of the maternity leave period (paragraph 2);

3. the maternity leave periods in cases where a child dies after birth (paragraph 3); and

4. the rate of maternity leave benefits (paragraph 6).

National Plan of Action for the Advancement of Women in Vietnam by the Year 2000

Immediately after the Beijing Conference and with the authorization of the government, the National Committee for the Advancement of Women in Vietnam (NCFAW) formulated the National Plan of Action. Adopted by Decision of the Prime Minister (on the Adoption of the National Plan for Action for the Advancement of Women in Vietnam by the Year 2000) (Decision No. 822 TTg) of 4 October 1997, the National Plan comprises an overall objective and eleven specific objectives. The overall objective is to:

1. improve the material and spiritual life of women;

2. enhance and bring into full play their qualification, capacity and role;

3. ensure the performance by women of their functions and their full and equal participation in all sorts of activities, especially in political, economic, cultural and social fields, in the cause of industrialization and modernization of the country towards the goal of "wealthy people, a powerful country, a just and civilized society".

The eleven specific objectives are the following:

1. Create job opportunities, increase income, contribute to poverty alleviation and hunger eradication, and improve the quality of life for women.

2. Create equal opportunities for women in education, training and in improving their educational level in all areas.

3. Improve health care for, and the protection of, women and children.

4. Enhance the role and position of women in leadership and decision-making.

5. Protect and promote women’s rights and facilitate women’s participation in social activities.

6. Enhance the role of the family.

7. Develop the role of women in the management of the environment and natural resources, contributing to sustainable development and to the improvement of the living environment.

8. Intensify communication activities to enhance the awareness of equal rights among men and women.

9. Contribute to preserving and strengthening peace.

10. Enhance the capacity of national machinery for the advancement of Vietnamese women.

11. Protect the girl-child and facilitate their development in all fields.

For each one of these specific objectives, the National Plan provides for a detailed list of actions to be taken (Part III of the Plan). The management and implementation of these actions have been assigned to the following agencies:

1. The Ministry of Planning and Investment, in coordination with the NCFAW, works out plans for implementing the National Plan of Action, according to set targets. This includes establishing priority targets and selecting from them key ones for implementation at the first stage.

2. The Ministry of Planning and Investment is responsible for planning the implementation of the Plan and allocating implementation responsibilities to the relevant ministries, branches and localities. This is done on the basis of consensus with NCFAW and the Ministries, branches and localities concerned.

3. The Minister of Finance deals with the budget for the implementation of the Plan.

4. NCFAW has the responsibility of coordinating measures with the Ministries, branches and localities concerned to intensify organizational, inspection and control activities and to assess achievements in the implementation of the Plan.

5. The People’s Committees at provinces and cities directly under central authority must work out and implement the measures adopted to gradually implement the Plan of Action within their respective domains.

6. Social and mass organizations must implement the Plan by undertaking activities in support of their female members, and by participating in the supervision of the implementation of the Plan by the localities concerned.

All of the agencies assigned actions under the Plan are responsible for establishing the required implementation measures. These agencies must also make annual reports to the Prime Minister through the Ministry of Planning and Investment on the status of the implementation of the Plan of Action.

Broadly speaking, every year the government must provide funds so that the goals of the Plan can be reached, including funds for international projects. Ministries, branches and cities must also allocate an appropriate fund for the implementation of the Plan of Action. Finally, NCFAW, ministries, branches, social and mass organizations, provinces and cities must seek to raise funds both from domestic and foreign sources to support the implementation of the Plan.

Ministries, branches, provinces and cities are also responsible for conducting regular monitoring of the implementation of the Plan. NCFAW is responsible for monitoring and supervising the implementation of the Plan, for reporting annual implementation status, for providing advice to the government on annual reviews, for reporting to the United Nations and, finally, for the review of the Plan (the review is scheduled for the year 2000.).