New policies on personnel, salaries, housing,... take effect from April 2023

Guidance on job positions, number of employees, staff structure according to professional titles in public health service units

The Ministry of Health has issued Circular No. 03/2023/TT-BYT dated February 17, 2023 on guidance on job positions, quotas for the number of employees, and staff structure by professional title in public health service units. This Circular takes effect from April 5, 2023.

Accordingly, this Circular provides guidance on job positions, staffing standards, and staff structure by professional title in public health service units under ministries, branches, and localities.

Applicable subjects: Medical examination and treatment facilities; Center for Disease Control of provinces and centrally run cities; Medical centers of districts, towns, cities under provinces and centrally run cities; 115 emergency centers; Facilities for testing and inspecting pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, and food; Forensic facilities, forensic psychiatric facilities, medical appraisal; Relevant agencies, organizations, and individuals.

This Circular does not apply to: Medical research units and nursing and rehabilitation facilities under other ministries and sectors; In the appraisal and payment of medical examination and treatment costs under health insurance.

Medical facilities under other ministries, branches and non-public medical facilities can base on the instructions in the Circular to apply them appropriately to practice.

Civil service exam, if you pass the entrance exam, you don't need to take the first round

Decree No. 06/2023/ND-CP of the Government regulating the quality assessment of civil servant input takes effect from April 10, 2023.

According to the above Decree, the quality assessment of civil servant input applies to those who register for recruitment into civil service through examinations.

Civil servant input quality assessment is an activity to evaluate and recognize the necessary basic knowledge of candidates before participating in civil servant recruitment at competent agencies.

The quality assessment of civil servant input is organized periodically twice a year in July and November.

The form of assessment is a multiple-choice test on a computer. The assessment content includes: general understanding of the political system, the organization of the Party, the State, socio-political organizations, and State administrative management; rights and obligations of civil servants; knowledge of society, culture, history, public ethics, etc. and assessment of thinking ability and ability to apply knowledge in practice.

Candidates who answer 50% or more of the questions correctly are considered to have met the requirements for the input quality assessment. The results of the input quality assessment for civil servants are valid for 24 months from the date of approval by the Ministry of Home Affairs.

The organization of round 1 in the civil service recruitment exam continues to be carried out according to the provisions of Decree No. 138/2020/ND-CP until July 31, 2024. During this period, those who achieve the input quality assessment results according to the provisions of this Decree when participating in the civil service recruitment exam do not have to take round 1 according to the provisions of Clause 1, Article 8 and Points a and b, Clause 3, Article 14 of Decree No. 138/2020/ND-CP.

From August 1, 2024, civil servant recruitment agencies will only recruit civil servants who pass the assessment.

Salary ranking for civil servants specializing in cultural propaganda

Circular 02/2023/TT-BVHTTDL of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism stipulating codes, professional title standards and salary scales for civil servants specializing in cultural propaganda takes effect from April 10, 2023.

The professional titles of civil servants specializing in cultural propaganda prescribed in this Circular shall apply Table 3 (Professional and technical salary table for cadres and civil servants in State-owned public service units) issued together with Decree No. 204/2004/ND-CP dated December 14, 2004 of the Government on salary regime for cadres, civil servants, public employees and armed forces (hereinafter referred to as Decree No. 204/2004/ND-CP), specifically as follows:

a) The professional title of main cultural propagandist is applied to the salary scale of civil servants of type A2, group 2 (A2.2), from salary coefficient 4.00 to salary coefficient 6.38;

b) The professional title of cultural propagandist is applied to the salary scale of type A1 civil servants, from salary coefficient 2.34 to salary coefficient 4.98;

c) The professional title of intermediate cultural propagandist is applied to the salary scale of type B civil servants, from salary coefficient 1.86 to salary coefficient 4.06.

After the probationary period as prescribed has ended and the competent authority in charge of civil servants has decided to appoint the cultural propaganda officer, the salary scale will be implemented according to the appointed professional title as follows:

a) In case of appointment to the professional title of intermediate cultural propagandist:

Officials with intermediate training level when recruited, suitable for the recruited job position, are ranked level 1, salary coefficient 1.86, civil servant category B;

Officials with college degrees or higher when recruited, suitable for the recruited job position, are ranked at level 2, salary coefficient 2.06, civil servant category B.

b) In case of appointment to the professional title of cultural propagandist:

Civil servants with university degrees when recruited, suitable for the recruited job position, are ranked level 1, salary coefficient 2.34, civil servant category A1;

Officials with a master's degree when recruited, suitable for the recruited job position, are ranked at level 2, salary coefficient 2.67, civil servant category A1;

Officials with doctoral training qualifications when recruited, suitable for the recruited job position, are ranked at level 3, salary coefficient 3.00, civil servant category A1.

The salary classification change for civil servants from their current professional title to the professional title of cultural propagandist as prescribed in this Circular shall be implemented according to the guidance in Section II of Circular No. 02/2007/TTBNV dated May 25, 2007 of the Minister of Home Affairs guiding salary classification when upgrading, transferring ranks, and changing types of civil servants and public employees (hereinafter referred to as Circular No. 02/2007/TT-BNV).

Guarantee for future housing

Circular 11/2022/TT-NHNN of the State Bank of Vietnam regulating bank guarantees takes effect from April 1, 2023, including regulations on guarantees for future housing.

Specifically, the Circular stipulates that a commercial bank has sufficient capacity to guarantee future housing when: The establishment and operation license or the document amending or supplementing the establishment and operation license of the commercial bank stipulates the content of bank guarantee activities; and is not prohibited, restricted, suspended, or temporarily suspended from guaranteeing future housing.

The State Bank shall publicly announce the list of commercial banks with sufficient capacity to guarantee future housing in each period on the State Bank's electronic information portal.

Commercial banks shall consider and decide to grant guarantees to investors when investors meet all prescribed requirements (except in cases where commercial banks provide guarantees to investors on the basis of counter-guarantees); the investor's project meets all conditions for future real estate to be put into business according to the provisions of Article 55 of the Law on Real Estate Business and relevant legal provisions.

The maximum guarantee amount for a future housing project is equal to the total amount the investor is allowed to receive in advance from the buyer as prescribed in Article 57 of the Law on Real Estate Business and other amounts (if any) under the housing purchase or hire-purchase contract.

New regulations on adjusting unit prices and construction contract prices

Circular 02/2023/TT-BXD of the Ministry of Construction guiding a number of contents on construction contracts takes effect from April 20, 2023.

In particular, the Circular stipulates the adjustment of unit prices and construction contract prices. Accordingly, the adjustment of unit prices of construction contracts is implemented according to the provisions of Article 38 of Decree No. 37/2015/ND-CP, amended and supplemented in Clause 14, Article 1 of Decree No. 50/2021/ND-CP.

When adjusting the construction contract price, leading to the need to adjust or supplement the contract, a contract appendix must be signed as the basis for adjusting the contract price. The investor is responsible for approving or submitting for approval the adjusted or additional estimate in accordance with the provisions of law on management of construction investment costs and the construction contract as the basis for signing the contract appendix.

The method of adjusting construction contract prices shall be implemented according to the instructions in Appendix I attached to this Circular. The application of price adjustment methods must be consistent with the nature of the work, type of contract price, payment currency and must be agreed upon in the contract.

For construction consulting contracts with payment made by time (month, week, day, hour), the adjustment of salary levels for experts is made according to the adjustment formula for a labor cost factor in Section I of Appendix I attached to this Circular.

Adjustment of construction contract implementation progress

In addition, the Circular also stipulates that the adjustment of construction contract performance progress shall be implemented in accordance with the provisions of Article 39 of Decree No. 37/2015/ND-CP.

When adjusting the construction contract progress as prescribed in Point a, Clause 2, Article 39 of Decree No. 37/2015/ND-CP, the Contracting Party and the Contractor are responsible for assessing the impact of force majeure events on the construction contract performance progress to determine and decide on appropriate adjustments.

In case of temporary suspension of work at the request of a competent State agency as prescribed in Point d, Clause 2, Article 39 of Decree No. 37/2015/ND-CP, the following tasks must be performed:

a) The contracting party and the contractor shall, based on the request for suspension by the competent State agency, assess the impact on the progress of the construction contract as a basis for determining and agreeing to adjust the progress of the contract.

b) In case of costs arising due to extension of contract performance time, the Contracting Party and the Contractor shall base on the contract content and instructions of the competent State agency on the event leading to suspension of construction contract performance as the basis for determining and agreeing on reasonable costs arising.

New regulations on drug bidding at public health facilities

Circular 06/2023/TT-BYT of the Ministry of Health amending and supplementing a number of articles of Circular No. 15/2019/TT-BYT regulating drug bidding at public health facilities takes effect from April 27, 2023.

Circular 06/2023/TT-BYT amends Clause 2, Article 8 on the bidding package for original brand-name drugs or equivalent therapeutic drugs. Accordingly, the bidding package for original brand-name drugs or equivalent therapeutic drugs may have one or more original brand-name drugs or equivalent therapeutic drugs to the original brand-name drug or reference biological product, each drug being a part of the bidding package. The drugs in the bidding package for original brand-name drugs or equivalent therapeutic drugs must simultaneously meet the following 2 criteria:

a) Belonging to the list of original brand-name drugs, drugs with therapeutic equivalents to original brand-name drugs and reference biological products announced by the Ministry of Health, except for original brand-name drugs on the List of drugs subject to price negotiation issued by the Minister of Health and whose price negotiation results have been announced.

b) Manufactured entirely in countries on the SRA or EMA list; or manufactured in one or some stages in Vietnam and the remaining stages are manufactured in countries on the SRA or EMA list; or manufactured entirely in Vietnam; or licensed for circulation by the drug administration agency of countries on the SRA or EMA list.

In addition, the Circular also amends Point c, Clause 4, Article 14 on the content of the contractor selection plan.

Specifically, when planning to select a contractor, the unit should refer to one of the following documents as a basis for establishing the unit price of each drug, medicinal herb, or traditional medicine:

- Prices of drugs, medicinal herbs, and traditional medicines that win bids according to technical criteria of medical facilities or local-level centralized bids within the previous 12 months or national-level centralized bids, and negotiated prices that are still valid under the framework agreement are announced on the Ministry of Health's website (Department of Drug Administration, Department of Traditional Medicine and Pharmacy Administration).

In case it has not been announced on the Ministry of Health's Electronic Information Portal (Department of Drug Administration, Department of Traditional Medicine and Pharmacy Administration), the basis shall be the decision on winning the bid or the announcement of winning the bid or public information as prescribed in Clause 6, Article 20 of Decree No. 63/2014/ND-CP dated June 26, 2014 of the Government detailing the implementation of a number of articles of the Law on Bidding on contractor selection (hereinafter referred to as Decree No. 63/2014/ND-CP).

- Quotation or sales invoice, specifically as follows:

+ For chemical drugs, biological products, vaccines, herbal drugs, traditional drugs: refer to 03 quotations or sales invoices of different suppliers at the time of planning to select contractors. In case the drug does not have 03 quotations or sales invoices of different suppliers, the Head of the unit shall base on at least 01 quotation or sales invoice of the supplier at the time of planning to select contractors, explain and be responsible for the proposed planned price and ensure that it does not exceed the declared or re-declared wholesale price that is still valid for the drug consulted;

+ For medicinal herbs and traditional medicines: refer to 03 quotations or sales invoices of different suppliers at the time of planning to select contractors. In case medicinal herbs and traditional medicines do not have 03 quotations or sales invoices of different suppliers, the Head of the unit shall base on at least 01 quotation or sales invoice of the supplier at the time of planning to select contractors, explain and be responsible for the proposed plan price being consistent with the price of medicinal herbs and traditional medicines on the market at the time of planning to select contractors.