New Prominent Policies Effective from the Beginning of May

1. New regulations on tuberculosis examination and treatment

On February 26, 2016, the Ministry of Health issued Circular 04/2016/TT-BYT regarding examination and treatment (KCB) for tuberculosis (TB) patients, drug-resistant TB, suspected TB, latent TB, and individuals using TB-related healthcare services.

Participants in Health Insurance (BHYT) when undergoing TB treatment are entitled to benefits within the scope of entitlement, the benefit level as stipulated by the law on BHYT and the regulations in Circular No. 04/2016.

The BHYT fund will pay the costs of BHYT KCB for individuals with latent TB who possess a BHYT card.

In case a KCB facility does not have anti-TB drugs to treat a patient being treated for another disease but is found to have TB, drug-resistant TB and cannot be transferred to a TB KCB facility:

- The patient can use anti-TB drugs provided by the specialized TB KCB facility after a consultation between the two KCB facilities;- The BHYT fund pays the drug costs for the receiving KCB facility.

Circular 04/2016/TT-BYT takes effect from May 1, 2016.

2. Principles of prescription in outpatient treatment

This content is mentioned in Circular 05/2016/TT-BYT regulating outpatient treatment prescriptions issued on February 29, 2016.

The prescription of drugs in outpatient treatment must comply with the following principles:

- Only prescribe drugs after having examination results, disease diagnosis.- Prescribe drugs suited to the disease diagnosis and severity.- The quantity of prescribed drugs follows the Ministry of Health's Guidelines on Diagnosis and Treatment or sufficient for a maximum of 30 days unless otherwise specified in this Circular.- Do not prescribe combined finished products containing addictive substances, psychoactive substances, and precursors not listed by the Ministry of Health.

Do not prescribe in the prescription:

+ Drugs, substances not intended for disease prevention and treatment;+ Drugs not legally circulated in Vietnam;+ Nutritional supplements;+ Cosmetics.

Circular 05/2016/TT-BYT takes effect from May 1, 2016, and replaces Decision 04/2008/QD-BYT.

3. Guidance on adjusting construction contract prices

On March 10, 2016, the Ministry of Construction issued Circular 07/2016/TT-BXD guiding the adjustment of construction contract prices.

This Circular guides the cases eligible for price adjustment for contracts with adjustable unit prices. Specifically, the cases are as follows:

- The actual work volume completed and accepted increases or decreases by more than 20% of the corresponding work volume specified in the contract.- Addition of a reasonable work volume for which no unit price is available in the contract.- Adjusting the entire unit price or some specific unit prices for work agreed upon by the contracting parties to adjust after a certain period from the contract's effective date.- Force majeure cases stipulated in clause 2, Article 51 of Decree 37/2015/ND-CP and other force majeure cases such as encountering casto caves, mud pockets, artifacts, archaeological finds during construction that were unforeseeable at the contract signing and accepted by the investment decision maker.

Circular 07/2016/TT-BXD takes effect from May 1, 2016, and replaces Circular 08/2010/TT-BXD.

4. New regulations on construction consulting contract prices

This regulation is mentioned in Circular 08/2016/TT-BXD guiding some contents of construction consulting contracts effective from May 1, 2016.

The construction consulting contract prices include:

- The construction survey consulting contract price includes: material costs, labor, construction machinery, general costs, camp setup, survey plan preparation and report, survey team relocation, taxable income before tax, and VAT.

- The construction investment feasibility study report preparation consulting contract price, construction design consulting, and construction supervision consulting contract price include:

+ Expert costs, material, machinery, management, professional liability insurance, taxable income before tax, and VAT.+ Necessary costs for finalizing the construction consulting product after meetings, assessments, and approvals.+ Field trip costs.+ Travel costs for acceptance processes as requested by the contracting parties.+ Author supervision costs for construction design consulting.+ Other related costs.

Construction consulting contract prices do not include:

- Costs for the contracting party's meetings.- Costs for appraisal and approval of the consulting contract product.- Other costs agreed upon not to include in the contract price.

Circular 08/2016/TT-BXD replaces Circular 08/2011/TT-BXD.

5. Methods of payment for construction contract performance

According to Circular 09/2016/TT-BXD, payment methods for construction contract performance are guided as follows:

- For lump-sum contracts: payment may be made by a percentage of the contract price corresponding to each payment stage or by the value of the corresponding work volume in the contract for each payment stage.- For fixed unit price contracts: payments are made based on the actual completed work volume (including increased or decreased volumes if any) accepted corresponding to the payment stage multiplied by the unit price in the contract.- For adjustable unit price contracts: payments are made based on the actual completed work volume (including increased or decreased volumes if any) accepted corresponding to the payment stage multiplied by the adjusted price agreed upon in the contract.- For combined-cost contracts: payments are made corresponding to the payment rules for each contract price type mentioned above.

Payment may be made once or multiple times. Additionally, the payment stage can be based on time, work, construction phase, part of the building, construction item, or project.

The payment time is the date agreed upon in the construction contract corresponding to the payment stage.

Circular 09/2016/TT-BXD takes effect on May 1, 2016, and replaces Circular 09/2011/TT-BXD.

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