8 new policies take effect in March 2018

1. Credit card usage regulations

People from 15 years old to under 18 years old who do not have lost or have limited civil capacity are allowed to use debit cards, credit cards, and prepaid cards (under the old regulations, these subjects must have their own assets to ensure the performance of obligations in using the card to be allowed to use these types of cards).

Persons from 6 years old to under 15 years old who do not have lost or have limited civil capacity and whose legal representative agrees in writing to use the card may use a debit card or prepaid card instead of using a prepaid card or debit card without overdraft as before.

In addition, regarding the limit for withdrawing foreign currency cash abroad, a card can only withdraw a maximum amount of foreign currency cash equivalent to 30 million Vietnamese Dong in one day.

The above Circular takes effect from March 3, 2018.

2. Collect land use fees for increased area

The collection of land use fees when granting Land Use Right Certificates for the increased land area due to re-measurement compared to the land use right documents for households and individuals currently using the land is regulated as follows:

If a household or individual already has a Land Use Rights Certificate for that plot of land, they must pay land use fees for the additional area due to re-measurement according to the policy and land prices at the time the Certificate was issued.

In case households and individuals already have other land use rights documents, they must pay land use fees for the additional land area according to the policy and land price at the time of the decision to recognize the additional land use rights of the competent State agency.

(Circular 10/2018/TT-BTC on amending and supplementing a number of articles on land use fee collection, effective from March 1, 2018).

3. Tighten management of imported used cars

Imported used cars must be inspected for technical safety and environmental protection quality for each car according to regulations. Imported unused cars must be inspected by the quality management agency according to regulations for each imported car batch. The representative car model of each car type in the imported car batch must be inspected and tested for emissions and technical safety quality according to regulations.

During the inspection, if the used car is found to have some technical or structural changes from abroad compared to the original vehicle from the manufacturer, the importing enterprise must present documents from the foreign vehicle management agency for the changed vehicle.

Within 10 days from the date of registration for actual vehicle inspection, if the importing enterprise fails to present the vehicle according to the registration documents for inspection, the inspection agency will temporarily suspend the certification procedures with that document. To continue the inspection, the enterprise must re-register from the beginning.

The Circular takes effect from March 1, 2018.

4. Reduce appraisal fees

Compared with current regulations in Circular 284/2016/TT-BTC,Appraisal fee for granting Certificate of imported aquaculture materials is reduced to 470,000 VND + Number of samples x 80,000 VND/sample; (old regulation is: 500,000 VND + Number of samples x 90,000 VND/sample).

The appraisal fee for granting a Certificate of Circulation of Aquaculture Materials in case of re-registration/renewal is also reduced to VND 500,000/time/product, instead of VND 530,000/time/product.

Fee collection organizations include: Directorate of Fisheries; Center for Aquaculture Testing, Inspection and Certification; Aquaculture management agencies of provinces and centrally run cities.

The Circular takes effect from March 15, 2018.

5. State budget advance

The Provincial People's Committee is allowed to advance the State budget but must commit to using it for the right purpose and must repay it no later than December 31 of the year in which the advance request arises and other commitments.

The provincial People's Committee that advances the State budget must pay the State Treasury the cost of using the State budget periodically every month at a uniform rate of 0.21%/month, no later than the 10th day of the month following the month in which payment is required; the cost of using the State budget overdue is equal to 150% of the cost of use.

(Circular 06/2018/TT-BTC of the Ministry of Finance on amending and supplementing a number of articles of Circular 30/2017/TT-BTC regulating the advance of State funds to the State budget, effective from March 1, 2018).

6. Stop 50% top-up card promotion for prepaid subscribers

This is a notable content in Circular 47/2017 of the Ministry of Information and Communications regulating the promotion limit for terrestrial mobile information services effective from March 1, 2018.

Accordingly, the maximum total value used for promotion in a promotion program is for:

+ Prepaid subscribers: must not exceed 20% of the total value of the service.

+ Postpaid subscribers: must not exceed 50%.

The above Circular takes effect from March 1, 2018.

7. Prescriptions for children under 72 months must include parents' information.

According to Circular 52/2017/TT-BYT effective from March 1, 2018, outpatient prescriptions for children under 72 months of age must include the child's age in months, name and ID number or citizen identification number of the child's father, mother or guardian on the prescription.

Also according to this Circular, drug retail establishments must keep the original or a copy of the prescription for antibiotics and antivirals or keep information about the prescription for antibiotics and antivirals, including: Name and address of the medical examination and treatment facility; Name of the prescriber and patient; Name of the drug... for 01 year. For narcotic drugs, psychotropic drugs, and precursor drugs that are not used or not fully used, they must be returned to the place that issued or sold the drugs.
This Circular takes effect from March 1, 2018.

8. Diseases eligible for one-time social insurance benefits

Circular 56/2017/TT-BYT detailing the implementation of the Law on Social Insurance and the Law on Occupational Safety and Hygiene in the medical field stipulatesDiseases eligible for one-time social insurance benefits include:

Cancer, paralysis, cirrhosis, leprosy, severe tuberculosis, HIV infection that has progressed to AIDS stage and requires complete monitoring, assistance, and care.

In addition, diseases and disabilities other than the above diseases have a reduction in working capacity or a disability level of 81% or more and are unable to control themselves, or cannot perform activities of walking, dressing, personal hygiene and other activities to serve daily personal needs and require someone to monitor, assist and take complete care of them.

According to the provisions of the Circular, each time a patient is examined, he or she will only be issued one certificate of leave from work to receive social insurance. In case the patient needs to take a leave of absence for more than 30 days, when the leave period stated on the issued certificate has expired or is about to expire, the patient must undergo a re-examination for the practitioner to consider and decide. In case the employee is examined by two or three specialists of different medical examination and treatment facilities at the same time and is issued a certificate of leave from work to receive social insurance, he or she will only be entitled to one of the certificates with the longest leave period.

The above Circular takes effect from March 1, 2018.