Circular No. 232/2009/TT-BTC on the level of collection, system of collection, payment, management, and use of preventive healthcare fees and border health quarantine fees

CIRCULAR

Regulations on the level of collection, collection system, payment, management, and use of preventive healthcare fees and border health quarantine fees

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Pursuant to Decree No. 57/2002/NĐ-CP dated June 3, 2002 of the Government detailing the implementation of the Ordinance on Fees and Charges;

Pursuant to Decree No. 24/2006/NĐ-CP dated March 6, 2006 of the Government amending and supplementing some articles of Decree No. 57/2002/NĐ-CP dated June 3, 2002 of the Government detailing the implementation of the Ordinance on Fees and Charges;

Pursuant to Decree No. 118/2008/NĐ-CP dated November 27, 2008 of the Government stipulating the functions, tasks, powers, and organizational structure of the Ministry of Finance,

At the request of the Ministry of Health through Circular No. 128/BYT-DPMT dated January 8, 2009 and Circular No. 6722/BYT-DPMT dated October 5, 2009, the Ministry of Finance hereby promulgates the following regulations:

Article 1

1. To issue together with this Circular the Table of Collection Levels for Preventive Healthcare Fees and the Table of Collection Levels for Border Health Quarantine Fees to be uniformly applied throughout the country;

2. The levels of preventive healthcare fees and border health quarantine fees prescribed in Clause 1 of this Article shall apply at preventive healthcare facilities that are state administrative agencies or public institutions under the preventive healthcare system; They shall not apply at preventive healthcare facilities operating commercial services related to preventive healthcare according to permits issued by competent state authorities;

3. If the levels of preventive healthcare fees and border health quarantine fees are prescribed in Vietnamese Dong (VND), they shall be collected in VND; If the levels are prescribed in United States Dollars (USD), they may be collected in USD or VND based on the conversion rate from USD to VND published by the State Bank of Vietnam at the time of fee collection;

4. For preventive healthcare services not specified in the Table of Collection Levels for Preventive Healthcare Fees issued together with this Circular, the levels prescribed in Circular No. 14/TTLB dated September 30, 1995 of the Joint Circular of the Ministry of Finance - Ministry of Health - National Price Control Board - Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs guiding the collection of part of hospital fees and Joint Circular No. 03/2006/TTLT-BYT-BTC-BLĐTB&XH dated January 26, 2006 of the Joint Circular of the Ministry of Health - Ministry of Finance - Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs supplementing Joint Circular No. 14/TTLT dated September 30, 1995 of the Joint Circular of the Ministry of Health - Ministry of Finance - Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs - National Price Control Board guiding the collection of part of hospital fees shall apply. In cases already specified in the Table of Collection Levels issued together with this Circular, the levels prescribed in this Circular must be applied;

Article 2. The subjects required to pay fees according to the levels prescribed in Article 1 of this Circular are organizations and individuals of Vietnam and foreign organizations and individuals who are provided the following services by the Vietnamese preventive healthcare agency:

1. Preventive healthcare testing.

2. Border health quarantine.

3. Quality inspection of various types of vaccines, immunological products, bactericidal and insecticidal preparations in household and healthcare fields.

4. Vaccination and medical insect control.

Article 3. Preventive healthcare fees and border health quarantine fees are revenue items belonging to the state budget, managed and used as follows:

1. State agencies having the function of implementing preventive healthcare work as prescribed by the Ministry of Health (hereinafter referred to collectively as the fee-collecting agency) are entitled to retain 90% (ninety percent) of the total amount of fees actually collected, except for the fee-collecting agency for border health quarantine in Ho Chi Minh City which retains 80% (eighty percent) thereof, to cover costs for specialized preventive healthcare work and fee collection as follows:

a) Payment of salaries or wages, allowances, contributions based on salaries or wages, according to current regulations for direct fee collectors (excluding salary costs for civil servants already receiving salaries according to current regulations);

b) Costs for preventive healthcare, health quarantine, and fee collection including:

- Inspection, testing, quarantine, and preventive healthcare quarantine costs;

- Inspection of preventive healthcare work implementation;

- Payment of remuneration for hiring experts for inspection, testing, certification, and quarantine in preventive healthcare and border health quarantine;

- Conference, seminar, and certification board meeting costs for preventive healthcare and border health quarantine;

c) Direct costs for fee collection such as office supplies, office materials, telephone, electricity, water, travel expenses according to current standards and norms;

d) Regular maintenance and major repair costs for assets, machinery, and equipment directly serving preventive healthcare work and fee collection; depreciation of fixed assets for performing preventive healthcare work and fee collection;

đ) Purchase costs for materials, raw materials, and other expenses directly related to preventive healthcare work and fee collection;

e) Awards and welfare benefits for staff directly engaged in preventive healthcare work, services, and fee collection within the unit, on average, up to a maximum of three months' actual salary if the annual income exceeds the previous year, and up to two months' actual salary if it is lower or equal to the previous year, after ensuring the costs prescribed in points a, b, c, d, and đ of this clause;

Each year, the fee-collecting agency must settle accounts based on actual figures. After settling accounts according to regulations, the unspent fee amount in the year may be carried over to the next year for continued expenditure according to prescribed regulations. The retained fee amount for the fee-collecting agency to cover fee collection costs does not reflect in the state budget.

2. The fee-collecting agency is responsible for paying 10% (ten percent) of the collected fees into the state budget; specifically, the fee-collecting agency for border health quarantine in Ho Chi Minh City pays 20% (twenty percent) of the collected fees into the state budget according to the current state budget classification.

Article 4. This Circular takes effect 45 days after its issuance and replaces Decision No. 63/2007/QĐ-BTC dated July 18, 2007 of the Ministry of Finance stipulating the collection, payment, management, and use of preventive healthcare fees and border health quarantine fees.

With respect to the revenue from the "health inspection fee for foreign entrants entering Vietnam through land border gates," which some units with preventive health functions have been collecting according to Decision No. 63/2007/QD-BTC dated July 18, 2007 of the Ministry of Finance regarding the collection, payment, management, and use of preventive health fees and cross-border health quarantine fees, such collection shall not be made under this Circular. The budget of the State shall cover the expenses for conducting health inspections on foreign entrants entering Vietnam.

Article 5. Other contents related to the collection, payment, management, use, receipt vouchers, and publicizing the regulations on the collection of preventive health fees and cross-border health quarantine fees, which are not addressed in this Circular, shall be implemented in accordance with the guidance provided in Circular No. 63/2002/TT-BTC dated July 24, 2002 of the Ministry of Finance guiding the implementation of laws and decrees on fees and charges, Circular No. 45/2006/TT-BTC dated May 25, 2006 amending and supplementing Circular No. 63/2002/TT-BTC dated July 24, 2002 of the Ministry of Finance guiding the implementation of laws and decrees on fees and charges, and Circular No. 60/2007/TT-BTC dated June 14, 2007 of the Ministry of Finance guiding the implementation of certain provisions of the Law on Tax Administration and guiding the implementation of Decree No. 85/2007/NĐ-CP dated May 25, 2007 of the Government detailing and guiding the implementation of certain provisions of the Law on Tax Administration.

Article 6. During the implementation process, if there are any difficulties, organizations and individuals are requested to promptly report them to the Ministry of Finance for research and supplementary guidance.