Page 78 - TAIWAN TOBACCO CONTROL ANNUAL REPORT 2019

of Finance shall, for once every two years, invite and assemble scholars and experts specialized in finance, economic, public health and relevant fields to conduct reviews of the amounts of the aforementioned Health and Welfare Surcharge based on the following factors: (1) The various types of diseases attributable to the smoking activities, the morbidity and mortality of such diseases, as well as the medical costs thereby incur upon the National Health Insurance; (2) Total amount of consumption on tobacco products and smoking rate; (3) Ratio of tobacco levies to average retail prices of the tobacco products; (4) National income and consumer price index; (5) Other relevant factors affecting the prices of the tobacco products and the preventions of the tobacco hazards". Furthermore, Pursuant to the regulation prescribed in Paragraph 3 of Article 4 of the same Act: "If the amounts contained in the first paragraph, after being reviewed by the competent authority at the central government level and the Ministry of Finance pursuant to the second paragraph above, are considered necessary to be increased, such increased amounts shall be approved by the Executive Yuan and passed by the Legislative Yuan after examination." In the future, Tobacco Surcharge assessments will be conducted on a biennial basis pursuant to the regulations set forth in Article 4 of the Tobacco Hazards Prevention Act. Tobacco Health and Welfare Surcharges allocation and income Tobacco Health and Welfare Surcharges allocation The Ministry of Health and Welfare amended Article 4, 5, and 7 of the Regulations Governing Allocation and Use of the Tobacco Health and Welfare Surcharges in 2016 to maximize the effect of the surcharge by merging the legally stipulated purposes for the same fund items without altering the total allocation ratio. In line with the promulgation of the "Remedy for Birth-related Injury Act", childbirth accident emergency relief was added as a fund item to maximize the effect of the surcharge, effective as of October 7, 2016. Pursuant to the regulations set forth in Article 4 of the Regulations Governing Allocation and Use of the Tobacco Health and Welfare Surcharges, the surcharges shall be allocated based on the actual needs of guidance and care recipients. Priority shall be given to fixed allocations for guidance and care for farmers and workers in related industries and industry guidance conducive to cancer prevention provided by competent authorities in the field of agriculture. However, the total amount shall not exceed 1% of the levied Tobacco Health and Welfare Surcharges of the preceding year. Funds shall be allocated by the central competent authority in accordance with annual budgeting procedures. Surpluses shall be allocated as follows: 1. 50% shall be used as National Health Insurance reserves. 2. 24.2% shall be allocated as medical subsidies for rare diseases and for cancer prevention and Tobacco Control and health promotion at the national and local levels. 3. 11.8% shall be used to enhance the quality of preventive medicine and clinical medical care and as subsidies for areas with a shortage of medical resources and childbirth accident emergency relief. 4. 5% shall be used to subsidize health insurance premiums of financially challenged individuals. 5. 8% shall be used as social welfare and long-term care resources at the national and local levels. 76