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Communications
1. Amendment to Three Acts related to Radio and Television
The President announced the amendment to the three Acts related to radio and television (i.e., Radio and Television Act, Satellite Broadcasting Act and Cable Radio and Television Act, the "Three Acts") on January 6, 2016. We set forth below the major points for the amendment to the Three Acts:
(1) Radio and Television Act: To delete the obsolete regulations on the program content.
(2) Satellite Broadcasting Act: To open the products placement and sponsorship.
(3) Cable Radio and Television Act: To release the restrictions on the operational area of cable television, to facilitate the digitalization of cable television and to adjust the regulation system of subscription fees.
Reported by:Stacy Lo / Mark Chen
Personal Information
2. Amendments to the Personal Information Protection Act
On December 15, 2015, the Legislative Yuan passed the amendments to Personal Information Protection Act ("Amendments"), which was promulgated by the President on December 30, 2015, and will take effect on the date designated by the Executive Yuan. We summarize the Amendments below:
(1) Sensitive personal data: The Amendments treat medical records as sensitive personal data. In addition, the sensitive personal data could be collected, processed or used (collectively, "Processed") with the written consent of the data holder, when it is necessary to facilitate government agencies to perform duties or, in respect of non-government agencies, it is necessary to fulfill their legal obligations.
(2) General personal data: The data holder's consent on Process could be in unwritten form.
(3) Criminal penalty: The Amendments decriminalize non-profitable violations.
Reported by:Kang-Shen Liu / Judy Tai
Food and Drugs Administration
3. Ruling on “product ingredients report” and “official sanitary certificate”
With respect to the terms “product ingredients report” and “official sanitary certificate” recited in Paragraph 4, Article 34 of the Act Governing Food Safety and Sanitation, the Ministry of Health and Welfare announced on December 28, 2015 a ruling providing their detailed definitions, summarized below.
(1) Product ingredients report: Each ingredient must be indicated in the report in its Chinese or English name; if the ingredient is a food additive, list the name specified in Appendix 1 of the Standards for Specification, Scope, Application and Limitation of Food Additive, or the generic name announced by the central competent authority. The report may be shown on the package of the product or as a Chinese or English document issued by the manufacturer or responsible company.
(2) Official sanitary certificate: The said certificate refers to a certificate for foreign government issued by the origin country, a certificate of sanitation or certificate of free sell issued by the origin country or responsible company, or the like. Said certificate must include “name or class of the product” and “name and address of the manufacturer or responsible company”, and must be a Chinese or English document issued by an official agency or a certified/authorized/appointed/entrusted institution thereof which is valid or issued in less than five years.
Reported by:Jolene Wang / Crick Liang
Tax
4. Taxation on Income of Individuals Derived from Transactions in Structured Products with Leverage Transaction Merchants
On December 15, 2015, the Ministry of Finance issued a ruling to stipulate that the taxation on the income of individuals derived from transactions in structured products with leverage transaction merchants shall follow the taxation on the income of individuals derived from transactions in structured products with securities firms or banks, and a withholding tax of 10% shall be levied on such incomes separately.
Reported by:Stacy Lo / Mark Chen
Administration
5. Amendment to the Administrative Procedure Act
On December 11, 2015, the Legislative Yuan passed its three readings of amendment to the Article 127 of the Administrative Procedure Act ("Amendment"), which was promulgated by the President on December 30, 2015. The Amendment provides that when a grant-benefit administrative disposition shall be withdrawn or revoked, the administrative authority shall confirm the return scope by a written administrative disposition and order the beneficiary to return within a prescribed period. Such administrative disposition shall not be delivered to administrative execution before it becomes finalized.
Reported by:David Tsai / Robin Huang
Corporate
6. Statement of the Implementation Related to “Regulations of Advanced Date Registration of Regular Shareholders’ Meeting ”
Taipei Exchange (TPEx) issued a ruling on December 18, 2015 (Ref. No.: Zheng-Gui-Jian-Zi-1040035582), stating that in 2016, the number limit of regular shareholders’ meeting maintained as 100 companies per day, however, the companies who voluntarily exercise electronic voting are not subjects to the limit. From 2016, where in a previous year, once the total number of shares represented by the shareholders presented through electronic voting at a shareholders' meeting was no less than 50% of the total number of issued shares of the company, and a candidates of directors and supervisors nomination system was adopted, the companies are not subjects to the limit either.
Reported by:Mike Lu/ Anne Chang
Finance
7. Gift Draft amendment to the "Rules Governing the Business of Electronic Stored Value Card Issuers" and "Regulations Governing Concurrent Serving Restrictions on and Matters for Compliance by the Responsible Persons of Electronic Stored Value Card Issuers"
The Financial Supervisory Commission ("FSC") announced the draft amendment to the "Rules Governing the Business of Electronic Stored Value Card Issuers" and "Regulations Governing Concurrent Serving Restrictions on and Matters for Compliance by the Responsible Persons of Electronic Stored Value Card Issuers" on December 15, 2015. We summarize the key points below:
Draft amendment to the "Rules Governing the Business of Electronic Stored Value Card Issuers" ("Rules")
(1) Issuers shall keep cardholders' identification records and transaction details when handling amount transfer.
(2) Non-bank issuers shall deposit the interests or other income earned from the utilization of the value stored in cards as requested into a dedicated account within 5 business days when they were earned and shall engage CPA to audit the handling of deposit on a semi-annual basis.
(3) Issuers shall submit the board meeting minutes for approval when applying for a new line of business. If the business rules, business procedures or the relevant rights and obligations among the relevant parties of such business are different from those in the business plan approved by the competent authority, and such differences will materially affect the rights and interests of customers, issuers shall file for competent authority's approval.
(4) Relevant regulations in the Rules shall not apply to electronic payment institutions concurrently engaging in electronic stored value cards business.
Draft amendment to the "Regulations Governing Concurrent Serving Restrictions on and Matters for Compliance by the Responsible Persons of Electronic Stored Value Card Issuers" ("Regulations")
(1) Issuers' responsible persons shall not concurrently serve any positions of a institution having financial or business relationship with the issuer and the amount reaches 30% or more of the operating revenue of the issuer, unless such institution has an investment relationship with the issuer.
(2) Merchants not limited by the above concurrent serving restrictions in the Regulations include foundation, non-profit seeking juridical associations and schools.
(3) Where the issuer's merchants or the companies or institutions having financial or business relationship with the issuer mentioned in (1) above is (i) the issuer's shareholder; (ii) the issuer's affiliate; (iii) a shareholder of the issuer's parent company that fully owns the issuer; or (iv) an affiliate of the issuer's parent company that fully owns the issuer, the responsible person of such institutions may act concurrently as a director or supervisor of the issuer.
Reported by:Stacy Lo / Angela Lin
Offshore Fund
8. Amendments to application forms for addition/cancellation of share classes of offshore fund and related documents
On December 21, 2015, the Securities Investment Trust & Consulting Association of the R.O.C. issued a ruling (Ref. No. Zhong- Xin- Gu-Zi-10408000666) to announce the amendments to application forms, basic information table and review check list for addition/cancellation of share classes of offshore funds, which are mainly to enhance the review of Contingent Deferred Sales Charge (CDSC) share classes. The amendments became effective on the same day.
Reported by:Jeffrey Liu / Caitlyn Kao
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2016-01-08
