Outstanding economic policies take effect from April

Guarantee for future housing

Circular No. 11/2022/TT-NHNN of the State Bank takes effect from today (April 1, 2023) regulating bank guarantees, including regulations on guarantees for future housing.

Specifically, this 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.

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 as prescribed in 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.

Illustration: Minh Hoang

Guidance on value added tax refund for conditional business lines

Circular No. 13/2023/TT-BTC was issued by the Ministry of Finance on February 28, 2023, guiding the implementation of Decree No. 49/2022/ND-CP amending and supplementing a number of articles of Decree No. 209/2013/ND-CP detailing and guiding the implementation of a number of articles of the Law on Value Added Tax (VAT), which has been amended and supplemented by a number of articles under Decree No. 12/2015/ND-CP, Decree No. 100/2016/ND-CP, Decree No. 146/2017/ND-CP and amending and supplementing Circular No. 80/2021/TT-BTC.

Circular 13 takes effect from April 14, 2023. Notably, Circular 13 amends and supplements the provisions on "VAT refund application dossiers and related documents in cases of investment project tax refunds".

Accordingly, for investment projects of business establishments operating in conditional investment and business sectors during the investment phase, according to the provisions of investment law and specialized laws that have been granted a business license for conditional investment and business sectors by a competent State agency as prescribed in Clause 3, Article 1 of Decree No. 49/2022/ND-CP, the dossier includes: A copy of one of the forms of license or certificate or document confirming or approving the business of conditional investment and business sectors.

Regulations on VAT refunds for investment projects of business establishments in conditional investment and business sectors shall be applied from the effective date of Decree No. 100/2016/ND-CP according to the provisions of Clause 2, Article 2, Decree No. 49/2022/ND-CP of the Government.

Regulations on adjusting unit prices and construction contract prices

On March 3, 2023, the Ministry of Construction issued Circular 02/2023/TT-BXD guiding a number of contents on construction contracts. In particular, this Circular stipulates the adjustment of unit prices and construction contract prices. Specifically, the adjustment of unit prices of construction contracts is implemented according to the provisions of Article 38, Decree No. 37/2015/ND-CP amended and supplemented in Clause 14, Article 1, 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 for experts is made according to the adjustment formula for a labor cost factor in Section I, Appendix I attached to this Circular.

This Circular takes effect from April 20, 2023.

New regulations on drug bidding at public health facilities

Circular 06/2023/TT-BYT of the Ministry of Health (effective from April 27, 2023) amends and supplements a number of articles of Circular 15/2019/TT-BYT regulating drug bidding at public health facilities.

Specifically, 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 products, each drug being part of the bidding package.

In addition, this circular also amends Point c, Clause 4, Article 14 on the content of the contractor selection plan. Specifically, when making a contractor selection plan, the unit shall refer to information documents on the prices of drugs, medicinal herbs, traditional medicines winning bids, quotations or sales invoices... as a basis for establishing the unit price of each drug, medicinal herb, traditional medicine.