On the afternoon of December 20, the Office of the President held a press conference to announce the President's Order promulgating: Law amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Law on Pharmacy; Law on Juvenile Justice; Law on Geology and Minerals; Law on People's Air Defense; Law amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Law on Officers of the Vietnam People's Army;
Law amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Law on Health Insurance; Law amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Law on Planning, the Law on Investment, the Law on Investment under the public-private partnership model and the Law on Bidding; Law on Public Investment; Law on Electricity.
The Law amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Law on Officers of the Vietnam People's Army was passed by the National Assembly at the 8th Session with 458/459 delegates in favor. The Law takes effect from December 1, 2024.
Article 15 of the Law stipulates the highest military rank with the position and title of an officer. Accordingly, the military rank of General has no more than 3, including: Minister of National Defense; Chief of the General Staff and Director of the General Political Department.
Senior Lieutenant Generals and Navy Admirals: no more than 14, including: Deputy Minister of National Defense, Navy Admirals (no more than 6 people); Deputy Chief of the General Staff, Deputy Director of the General Department of Politics (each position has the highest military rank of Senior Lieutenant General, no more than 3). In addition, there are also Directors and Political Commissars of the National Defense Academy.
The positions and titles with the highest military ranks are Lieutenant General, Vice Admiral of the Navy; Major General, Rear Admiral of the Navy, with a number of no more than 398.
Thus, the total number of highest general ranks is 415 people.
Still according to the provisions of the new law, the seconded military officer elected to hold the position of Chairman of the National Defense and Security Committee has the highest military rank of Senior Lieutenant General.
Regarding the highest age of active service (retirement age) for officers according to military rank, the newly passed Law stipulates an increase of 1 to 5 years compared to the current law.
Previously, the maximum age limit for officers serving in the army was 46 years old for lieutenants; 48 years old for majors, 51 years old for lieutenants, 54 years old for lieutenants, 57 years old for male colonels, 55 years old for female colonels; 60 years old for male generals, 55 years old for female generals.
According to the new law, the maximum age limit for officers serving in the army at the rank of Lieutenant is 50 years old (increased by 4 years); Major is 52 years old (increased by 4 years); Lieutenant Colonel is 54 years old (increased by 3 years); Senior Colonel is 56 years old (increased by 2 years); Colonel is 58 years old (increased by 1 year for men, 3 years for women); General is 60 years old (maintained for men, increased by 5 years for women).
When the military has a need, officers with sufficient political, moral, capacity, health and volunteer qualities may have their service age extended for no more than 5 years. In special cases, their service age may be extended according to regulations of the Minister of National Defense.
According to the explanation of the National Assembly Standing Committee, increasing the retirement age of officers will maintain a contingent of officers with basic training, courage, qualifications, experience, health in command, management, research, and consulting, and a number of highly qualified officers to have more time to serve the army, meeting the requirements of building a modern army.
This also ensures that basic officers have enough years of social insurance participation to receive a maximum pension of 75%.
