Review Directions for Tobacco Control & Health Care Funds

Enacted and promulgated by Letter Shu-Shou-Kuo-Tzu No. 0921400918 on August 14, 2003 by Department of Health, Executive Yuan
Amended and promulgated by Letter Shu-Shou-Kuo-Tzu No. 0951400183 on May 1, 2006 by Department of Health, Executive Yuan

• 1. Theses Directions are enacted by the Department of Health, Executive Yuan (the Department) to regulate the review operations of tobacco control and health care funds (the Funds) and enforce Article 22 of the Tobacco and Alcohol Tax Act, Article 5 of the Regulations of the Tobacco Health and Welfare Surcharge Distribution and Article 5, Paragraph 2 of the Regulations for Revenues, Expenditures, Safeguard and Utilization of the Health Care Funds.
• 2. The Funds are derived from the Health Care Funds. The competent authority shall be the Department, and the Bureau of Health Promotion shall be the Implementing Department (the Implementing Department).
• 3. The Department establishes a tobacco control and health care fund review team (the Review Team) to perform the reviewing tasks of the Funds. The relevant tasks are as follows:
  • (1) deliberating upon the operational strategies and principles of the Funds;
  • (2) reviewing the work plans and budget of the Funds;
  • (3) supervising and assisting in planning and reviewing the commission or subsidization programs of the Funds;
  • (4) inspecting and consulting about the implementation performance of the Funds; and
  • (5) handling other important operations or entrusted matters.
• 4. The Review Team consists of thirteen (13) to seventeen (17) commissioners appointed/employed by the Minister of the Department and selected from relevant operation directors, departments, representatives from civilian groups, scholars, and experts. The term of commissioners appointment/employment is two (2) years and may be continued upon expiry.
• 5. The Review Team shall have one (1) convener and one (1) deputy convener, concurrently served by the Deputy Ministers of the Department; and one (1) executive secretariat, concurrently served by the Director-General of the Bureau of Health Promotion. The convener, deputy convener and executive secretariat are the absolute commissioners of the Review Team.
• 6. The Review Teams meetings are convened every three (3) months. Provisional meetings may be convened when deemed necessary. Personnel of relevant departments may be invited to be present at the meetings upon requirement.
• 7. The Review Teams meetings shall only be convened with more than half (1/2) of the commissioners to be present.
  
  In the event that commissioners, except for scholars and experts, are unable to be present at a meeting, they may designate no more than one (1) deputy to attend the meeting.
  
  In the event that commissioners are unable to attend the meeting or authorize other people as their agents to attend the meeting, a prior notice shall be made.
• 8. Resolutions of the Review Team meetings shall be made as follows:
  A resolution shall be adopted with the consent of more than half of the commissioners present at the meeting. The chairman shall have the final decision when the result is tied.
• 9. The utilization of the annual funds shall be categorized as follows:
• (1) In order to comply with the purposes of the aforementioned regulations, the Funds for the promotion of local tobacco control and health care works shall not be lower than thirty percent (30%) of the expenditure compiled in the budget of tobacco control and health care works of the current year.
• (2) The remaining balance shall be utilized by the Implementing Department on national tobacco control and health care works.
• 10. The Implementing Department shall compile the program abstracts and estimate for the following fiscal year by the end of February every year and shall compile the work plans and budget explanation of the Funds for the following fiscal year by the end of May. The annual estimate and work plans shall be submitted to the Review Team for a preliminary deliberation prior to the submission of the same to the Health Care Funds Administration Board of the Department for review.
• 11. The Implementing Department shall submit the estimated funds to be disbursed to each county/city for the following fiscal year, along with the principles of allocation, limits and utilization rules to the Review Team by the end of July every year. Upon the review, the Implementing Department shall notify local competent health authorities to submit their work plans to the Implementing Department by the end of November each year to commence the process of plan review and disbursement operations.
• 12. The promotion of the Funds may be handled in the methods of commission and subsidization/grants.
  
  The commission shall be subject to the relevant provisions prescribed in the Government Procurement Act. Those plans with a total funding limit of more than Three Million New Taiwan Dollars (NT$3,000,000) shall be reported to the Review Team for record and inspection thereafter.
  
  Subsidization/grants shall be handled via public solicitations. Relevant information shall be disclosed on the Internet. The review process shall be made public, fair and just.
• 13. Agencies or plans to be subsidized shall meet one of the following requirements:
  • (1) being a central and local health department handling tobacco control or health care works;
  • (2) being a governmental department of otherwise handling tobacco control or health care works;
  • (3) being an academic research unit registered with the Ministry of Education or recognized by the National Science Council handling researches that may be directly applied to tobacco control or health care works;
  • (4) being a civilian group or agency handling tobacco control or health care works with tobacco control or health care works specifically included as its purpose of formation or task and stated in the by-laws; or
  • (5) being an entity approved by the Review Team as a special case.
• 14. The subsidy/grant programs of the Funds shall be handled in accordance with the following rules:
  • (1) With regard to programs with less than Five Hundred Thousand New Taiwan Dollars (NT$500,000), the Implementing Department shall review these programs ex officio.
  • (2) With regard to programs with over Five Hundred Thousand New Taiwan Dollars (NT$500,000) and less than Three Million New Taiwan Dollars (NT$3,000,000), the Implementing Department shall invite scholars and experts in relevant fields and representatives from relevant agencies to review these programs in writing or via meetings. There shall be at least three (3) review commissioners in total containing at least one (1) external scholars/experts.
  • (3) For programs with over Three Million New Taiwan Dollars (NT$3,000,000) and less than Ten Million New Taiwan Dollars (NT$10,000,000), the Implementing Department shall invite scholars and experts in relevant fields and representatives from relevant agencies to review these programs in writing or via meetings. There shall be at least five (5) review commissioners in total containing at least two (2) external scholars/experts. The programs shall be submitted to the Review Team thereafter for record and inspection.
  • (4) With regard to programs with over Ten Million New Taiwan Dollars (NT$ 10,000,000), the Implementing Department shall invite scholars and experts in relevant fields and representatives from relevant agencies to review these applications in writing or via meetings. There shall be at least seven (7) review commissioners in total containing at least one (1) external scholars/experts and one (1) Review Team commissioner. The programs shall be submitted to the Review Team thereafter for record and inspection.
  With regard to cases in cooperation with special or emergent policy of the Bureau, the Implementing Department may file a program as a special case and review such a case ex officio. Upon the review, the program shall be submitted to the Minister for approval submitted to the Review Team thereafter for record and inspection.
• 15. Expenses for the following affairs shall not be compiled for these subsidized programs:
  • (1) overseas traveling;
  • (2) housing and building;
  • (3) traffic and transportation (excluding motorcycles and bicycles);
  • (4) bonus, grants or subsidies; and
  • (5) other restrained items stipulated by the Review Team.
    In case of special requirements, a prior approval of the Review Team shall be obtained.
• 16. The Implementing Department shall handle the review operations of subsidy/grant programs herein in accordance with the review items and grading methods stated in the review form (please refer to the exhibit attached hereto.). When it is necessary, the Implementing Department may customize a new review form and disclose the same in the solicitations.
• 17. Where local competent health authorities, civilian groups, agencies or academic research units apply for the Funds, any self-collected funds or concurrent application for other subsidy sources, as well as the items and amounts to be applied with each department shall be specifically stated in the application plans; or, the Funds shall not be granted
• 18. The principle of withdrawal of interested parties, agreement norms, and other matters not provided herein shall be subject to the Directions for Subsidization/Grant Operations by Department of Health, Executive Yuan.
• 19. The budget of the Funds are categorized into tobacco control and health care work. The purposes of the Funds shall be determined by laws and regulations. In the event that agencies receiving the Funds (including local competent health authorities) concurrently receive subsidies from two different sources, these agencies shall truthfully comply with and not abuse the purposes of each subsidy.
• 20. Governmental departments/agencies, civilian groups, and agencies receiving the subsidies of the Funds shall submit their result reports, actual expenditure details, subsidized items and amounts within one (1) month after the program implementation is complete (in the event that an applicant receives subsidies from more than two (2) governmental departments, the subsidized items and amounts given by each department shall be listed truthfully). In addition, said applicants shall submit any and all expenditure vouchers to the Implementing Department for accounts verification and cancellation in accordance with the Regulations for Processing Expenditure Vouchers. Where the Implementing Department finds that the utilization of the subsidies/grants has no positive effects or is not compliance with the original purposes or is reported falsely, the Implementing Department shall deduct the Funds accordingly and shall not grant any subsidies thereafter.
• 21. The Implementing Department shall prepare reports on the promotion of each operation or work of the Funds during Review Teams meetings. In addition, the Implementing Department shall submit the operation implementation results, review and improvement reports, and final accounts of the Funds for the previous fiscal year to the Review Team for inspection and review by February every year. The Implementing Department shall improve relevant operations based upon the opinions given by the Review Team.

Tobacco Control & Health Care Funds
Subsidy Program Application Review Form
Program Name Fiscal Year
Applicant Responsible Person
Review Items Points Points Awarded Review Opinions (Required)

• 1. Importance and applicability of program subjects:
  The anticipated results shall benefit the promotion of tobacco control or health care works. 15
• 2. Program Uniqueness:
  This item is to review whether any similar program or event existed/exists in the past/at present and whether or not the reviewed program shall be enhanced or revoked due to repetition. 15
• 3. Program originality, feasibility and explicitness:
  This item is to review whether the content of a program specifically describes the implementation methods, steps, schedule and the allocation of manpower, and is able to achieve the anticipated goal. 50
• 4. Rationality of fund compilation:
  Please submit suggestions regarding whether or not the personnel expenditure, business accounts, travel expenses, material expenses, and equipment expenses are properly compiled. 20

Total Points 100
Total points are 100. Applicants with more than 80 points will be firstly recommended for subsidies/grants, while those with points between 75 and 79 will be recommended in the second place. Applicants with fewer than 74 points will not be recommended at all.
Comprehensive Opinions:




Remark: Please note if the program has been granted with subsidies/grants by another department or is during the application process with another department.

Reviewers Signature: _______________
Date Reviewed: _________________