Federal law amending the Federal Act establishing a fund for the financing of in-vitro fertilisation (IVF-Fonds-Gesetz-Novelle 2004)

The National Council has decided:

The IVF-Fonds-Gesetz, BGBl. I n ° 180/1999, shall be amended as follows:

1. In accordance with § 1, the following § 1a and title shall be inserted:

" Definitions

§ 1a. (1) As a couple within the meaning of this Federal Act, two persons living in marriage or in a similar life community shall be understood.

(2) A pregnancy which has been successfully brought about within the meaning of this Federal Law is provided if a pregnancy documented in an image is detected at the earliest from the fifth week after embryo transfer.

(3) The start of an attempt co-financed by the Fund shall be the first-time regulation or administration of medicinal products in connection with in vitro fertilisation by one of the parties to the Fund, in compliance with the provisions of the Fund closed contract.

(4) The end of an attempt co-financed by the Fund shall be proof of:

1.		an pictorially documented pregnancy in pregnancy at the earliest from the fifth week after embryo transfer,
2.		the end of a pregnancy before that date,
3.		a documented eitherhood pregnancy or
4.		of a pregnancy that has not occurred. "

2. § 2 (1) reads:

"(1) The Federal Ministry of Health and Women is to set up a fund to co-finance in-vitro fertilisation (hereinafter referred to as the" Fund "). The Fund shall have legal personality and shall be provided by the Federal Minister for Health and Women in agreement represented with the Federal Minister for Social Security, Generations and Consumer Protection. "

3. § 2 (3) reads:

" (3) For each financial year, the Fund shall draw up an estimate and a financial statement, which shall in any case consist of a profit statement and a final balance sheet at the end of the year, as well as a business report and the Federal Minister for health and women, as well as the Federal Minister for Social Security, Generations and Consumer Protection. Fiscal year is the calendar year. "

4. § 3 reads:

" § 3. (1) Funds of the Fund shall be provided by credit transfers;

1.		from the compensation fund for family allowances,
2.		the health insurance institution,
3.		the health care facilities,
4.		of the Association of Insurance Companies of Austria and
5.		with the agreement of other private insurance undertakings.

(2) The funds for the cost allocation pursuant to § 2 para. 2 are

1.		50% of the compensation fund for family allowances and
2.		50% by
a)			the health insurance institutions by the main association of the Austrian social insurance institutions,
b)			the health care facilities,
c)			the Association of Austrian Insurance Companies, or
d)			with their agreement to other private insurance undertakings
. The distribution of the funds to be provided by the health insurance institutions, the sickness insurance institutions and the insurance undertakings of Austria and other insurance undertakings shall be divided into those cases in which a Co-financing by the Fund shall be carried out.

(3) The transfer by the compensation fund for family allowances, the health insurance institutions, the sickness insurance institutions, the insurance company of Austria and other insurance undertakings has within four weeks. after application by the Fund. The application shall contain proof of the appropriateness of the amounts to be transferred to the Fund and of the maturity.

(4) The Fund has to be balanced. Its resources shall be invested in such a way that they can be used to cover the effort at any time. "

5. § 4 together with headline reads:

" Eligibility Requirements

§ 4. (1) A claim for cost-bearing pursuant to § 2 para. 2 consists of:

1.		In the case of sterility
a)			tutable,
b)			caused by endometriosis, or
c)			caused by polycystic ovary
		Origin or
2.		for the sterility of the man.

(2) The right to claim costs pursuant to § 2 para. 2 shall consist of a maximum of four attempts per pair. If one of these tests has been successfully completed and a pregnancy has been brought about within the meaning of Section 1a (2), there is a right to claim costs in accordance with § 2 para. 2 for four further tests. The same applies when a pregnancy has been brought about by a non-fund-funded trial, provided that the couple clearly proves that the pregnancy has been achieved by an IVF method.

(3) The right to cost-bearing according to § 2 (2) does not exist if the sterility is the intended consequence of a woman or woman. of the man wanted intervention.

(4) A prerequisite for the claim for cost-bearing according to § 2 para. 2 is further that at the time of the beginning of an attempt of an in vitro fertilization

1.		the woman's 40. Year of life and the man's 50. have not yet completed their life year,
2.		in the case of illness, both for the woman and the man to be responsible for performance
a)			of statutory health insurance,
b)			of a health care facility,
c)			one on the basis of an exception according to § 5 Industrial Social Security Act, BGBl. No 560/1978, private health insurance completed by a group contract, or
d)			other private insurance undertaking and its consent to the acquisition of 50% of the costs in accordance with § 2 para. 2
		and
3.		in the case of persons who are not Austrian nationals, the conditions set out in Section 3 (1) of the Family Law Balancing Act 1967, BGBl. No. 376.

(5) The costs of the costs pursuant to § 2 (2) shall also require the institution of the hospital to be held responsible for

1.		has an authorisation pursuant to Section 5 (2) of the Reproductive Medicine Act,
2.		has a legally valid contract with the Fund (§ 5) and
3.		concluded a treatment contract with the persons referred to in paragraph 4 above, which is based on at least one of the conditions of eligibility referred to in paragraph 1. "

6. In accordance with § 6, the following § 6a and title shall be inserted:

" Exemption of charges, stamp and legal fees

§ 6a. (1) The Fund shall be exempt from all charges other than judicial and judicial administrative charges.

(2) The documents issued by the Fund, the legal transactions concluded by the Fund and the entries addressed to him shall be exempted from the stamp and legal fees. "

7. § 7 (1) reads:

"(1) The Federal Ministry of Health and Women has to keep a register on the contract hospitals according to § 5, which is publicly available with regard to the names and addresses of the contract hospitals."

8. § 7 (3) reads:

" (3) In any case, the register shall have separately for each contract hospital the number of trials for which a cost support under this federal law (§ 2 para. 2) occurred and the pregnancies achieved in this case. These records are also the basis for quality assurance and control, which are to be carried out by the Federal Minister for Health and Women. The Federal Minister for Social Security, Generations and Consumer Protection is also to make the non-public part of the register accessible. "

9. According to § 7, the following § § 7a and 7b together with the headings are inserted:

" Transfer of tasks

§ 7a. The Fund is empowered to entrust external organisations with the management of administrative tasks.

Confidentiality of Obligations

§ 7b. (1) The institutions and all staff of the IVF Fund, the staff of the organizations entrusted by the IVF Fund in accordance with § 7a, the staff of the organizations applying the funds of the Fund, and all of them in any form, Persons involved in vitro fertilisation are, in so far as they are not already obliged to secrecy in accordance with other statutory provisions, obliged to maintain the secrecy of all the facts which have become known to them from their activities. The obligation of confidentiality extends, in particular, to all circumstances relating to the state of health and reproductive capacity, as well as to the personal, economic and other circumstances of the support of the IVF Fund requesting or in the case of a couple who have become aware of them in the exercise of their profession.

(2) The duty of confidentiality shall not apply if:

1.		Communications to the social security institutions, the sickness insurance institutions, the family tax compensation fund, the association of insurance undertakings in Austria, other insurance undertakings and to the organisations responsible under Article 7a in the the extent to which they constitute an essential condition for the recipients to carry out the tasks entrusted to them;
2.		the couple threatened by the disclosure of the secret has released the person providing information from secrecy, or
3.		the revelation of the secret of the nature and content of the protection of higher-value interests of the public health care or of the administration of justice is absolutely necessary.

(3) The obligation of confidentiality also does not exist in so far as the documents required for the payment of fees or medicinal products to the health insurance institutions, IVF centres and pharmacies for the purpose of invoicing, including in the case of the automative procedures, service providers are left to the service.

(4) Those who are contrary to the obligation of confidentiality pursuant to paragraphs 1 to 3 shall be subject to administrative surrender, provided that the act does not constitute a criminal offence within the jurisdiction of the courts, and shall be fined up to to punish 5,000 euros. "

10. § 9 together with headline reads:

" Enforcement

§ 9 . With the enforcement of this federal law is

1.		with regard to Section 6 (2) of the Federal Minister of Justice,
2.		with regard to Section 6a of the Federal Minister of Finance,
3.		with regard to § § 2 and 3 of the Federal Minister for Health and Women in agreement with the Federal Minister for Social Security, Generations and Consumer Protection,
4.		and the Federal Minister for Health and Women
"

Klestil

Bowl