Bill on specialist privates and non-commissioned officers passes Grand National Assembly plenary

The Bill on Amendments to the Specialist Non-Commissioned Officers Law and Certain Other Laws was adopted by the Assembly.

Under the bill, physicians commissioned as officers after studying at medical or dental faculties on behalf of and at the expense of the Ministry of National Defence or the Ministry of Interior, who are discharged before completing their obligatory service period by court or disciplinary board decision, or who resign in accordance with applicable legislation, will be barred from practising medicine for a period calculated by multiplying the ratio of the duration of their state-funded education to their total obligatory service period by the remaining obligatory service period. Personnel other than those who cannot be provided with accommodation aboard submarine vessels at domestic ports will not receive an additional accommodation allowance.

Under the bill, army houses, military casinos, barracks canteens, shift dormitories, veteran rehabilitation homes, and private, local, and winter training centres are military buildings and possess the character and nature of military premises.

Officers who leave the Armed Forces for any reason will not be re-enlisted as regular active-duty personnel in the Armed Forces, except for the exceptions set out in the law. The service record system for specialist non-commissioned officers is also being reorganised under the bill. The service record year runs from 2 May to 2 May of the following year. A service record document is drawn up for specialist non-commissioned officers as of the first 2 May following the date on which their contract is signed and they are taken into service. However, if the period between the date of enlistment and the following 2 May is less than three months, the first service record document is drawn up on the date on which three months are completed.

Specialist non-commissioned officers will be required to have a service record score of 60 percent or above

To apply for the non-commissioned officer examination, specialist non-commissioned officers must have received at least four years of service records since the date of their enlistment as specialist non-commissioned officers, and the average of their current service record scores must be 90 percent or above of the full service record score; likewise, the average of their current service record scores since the date of their enlistment as specialist non-commissioned officers as of the date of application to the non-commissioned officer vocational college entrance examination must be 90 percent or above of the full service record score.

Contracted privates and non-commissioned officers who have completed at least seven years of service and are separated with a positive character reference, provided they meet all other conditions set out in the relevant legislation except for examination requirements and have not yet reached the age of 41 as of the application date, may be appointed — within quota and appointment authorisations — to the positions of enforcement and protection officer, neighbourhood and district watchman, forest protection officer, administrative detention personnel, protection and security officer, municipal enforcement officer, firefighter, driver, and support personnel at public institutions and organisations, whether on a permanent or contracted basis.