Intellectual Property
13. Draft Amendments to Patent Act Regulations
On May 23, 2016, the Ministry of Economic Affairs announced draft amendments to Enforcement Rules of the Patent Act, Regulations Governing the Implementation of Filing Patent Applications and Services by Electronic Means, Regulations Governing Submission of Foreign Language Application Documents, and Regulations for Reduction and Exemption of Patent Annuities. We summarize below:
(1) To encourage applicants to apply for patents via electronic filing and to promote going paperless, in the event that applicants submit the priority document in an electronic format as stipulated by the Specific Patent Agency, the certified copy of the same priority document no longer needs to be submitted (Enforcement Rules of the Patent Act, Rule 26 and Regulations Governing the Implementation of Filing Patent Applications and Services by Electronic Means, Rule 11).
(2) For a design patent application regarding computer icons and graphic user interfaces applied to an article, the term "with continuous dynamic changes" is to be changed to "with a change in the appearance" that is more generic so as to cover various types of designs, for which the change sequence should be indicated in the descriptions of designs (Enforcement Rules of the Patent Act, Rule 51).
(3) A drawing for designs annotated as a reference view shall not be deemed as the scope of the design patent but can be used to illustrate the article to which the designs areapplied or the environment where the designs are used (Enforcement Rules of the Patent Act, Rule 53).
(4) The provision that foreign language Patent Gazettes or priority documents shall not be submitted as a substitute for foreign language documents for patent filing is to be removed, so as to simplify the filing procedure (Regulations Governing Submission of Foreign Language Application Documents, Rule 5).
(5) Regarding the eligibility for reduction and exemption of patent annuities, foreign small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are to be identified based on the Standards for Identifying Small and Medium-sized Enterprises as the same applied to domestic SMEs. Namely, foreign SMEs are to be identified on the basis of "the amount of paid-in capital or the number of employees" or "the amount of sales revenue or the number of employees", respectively, according to different industrial types (Regulations for Reduction and Exemption of Patent Annuity, Rule 2).
Reported by: Jolene Wang / Linda Cheng
Banking
14. Line of Credit Granted by a Bank to any Juristic Person with a Guarantee Provided by a Foreign Government
The FSC announced on May 19, 2016, that if the following conditions are satisfied, the credit extended by a bank to a juristic person with a guarantee provided by a foreign government shall not be included in the amount of unsecured credit granted by said bank to the juristic person specified under the Regulations Stipulated Pursuant to Article 33-3 of Banking Act. Still, these credit extensions will be included in the total line of credit granted by the bank to the juristic person, which will subject to restrictions in the mentioned Regulations.
Reported by: Stacy Lo / Nereid Lin
Securities firm
15. Draft Amendments on Regulations Governing the Issuance of Call (Put) Warrants by Issuers
On May 19, 2016, the Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) announced the draft amendments to "Regulations Governing the Issuance of Call (Put) Warrants by Issuers". We summarize the key points of the amendments below:
(1) To list the criteria of financial conditions and regulatory compliance which the domestic and foreign issuers have to meet while applying for issuance of warrants and promulgating the application form.
(2) To add more underlying objectives which are permitted to be linked by the warrants.
(3) To provide that issuers must follow the rules made by the TSEC or Taipei Exchange when issuing or suspending the issuance of call (put) warrants.
Reported by: Jeffrey Liu/Kevin King
Insurance
16. Promulgated to the "Guideline to the method of written consent, business scope and other required items under Paragraph 2 of Article 177-1 of Insurance Act"
In response to the amendments on the Personal Information Protection Act, Article 177-1 of the Insurance Act provides that the insurance company may collect, process or use personal information, such as medical records, medical treatments or health examinations of individuals, with the written consent of the principal party. Therefore, the FSC announced the Guideline to the method of written consent, business scope and other required items under Paragraph 2 of Article 177-1 of Insurance Act on May 25, 2016.
Reported by: David Tsai/ Angela Chang
Labor
17. MOL and MOEA Reach Consensus on Adjust of Work Hours and Wages
Ministry of Labor published press release on May 25, 2016, stating that it reached consensus with Ministry of Economic Affairs on following issues:
(1) Work hours per week are to be set to 40 hours. There will be 2 days off every 7 days (one is a regular day-off, and the other is a rest day). Workers working on rest days are tobe paid at double rate. National holidays would be specified by the Ministry of the Interiors to be consistent nationwide.
(2) More flexible overtime working hours will be provided.
(3) The increase of the minimum hourly wage will be from NTD120 to NTD126 corresponding to the cut of work hours. The adjustment will be reviewed by the Basic Wage Commission.
Reported by: David Tsai / Zachary Peng
Banking
18. Set Aside Special Surplus Reserve for the Expense of Transferring Employees Due to FinTech
The Financial Supervisory Commission issued a ruling on May 25, 2016, stating that public banks shall set aside 0.5% to 1% of net income after tax as special surplus reserve when distributing dividends in fiscal years 2016, 2017 and 2018. Starting from fiscal year 2017, public banks’ expense of transferring or rearranging employees due to the development of FinTech may be logged in the range of the special surplus reserve.
Reported by: David Tsai / Zachary Peng
Securities firm
19.Amendment to the ''TSEC Regulations Governing Recommendations of Securities Firms towards their Clients to Trade in Securities'' and ''Regulations Governing Information to be Published in Recommendations of Securities Firms towards their Clients to Trade in Securities ''
The Taiwan Stock Exchange Corporation (TSEC)announced the amendment to the captioned regulations, of which the major amendments are summarized below:
(1) Securities firms shall set out internal control systems regarding the prevention of conflicts of interests;
(2) Securities firms and their personnel shall not transact in investment targets recommended in their research report during certain specifieds period after these reports are available to the public;
(3) Securities firms shall separate their research reports which are provided to clients from those provided to non-clients, and set up a related internal control system. The amendments also require securities firms to make agreements in writing (including by means of electronic transmission) with non-clients to whom they provide research reports; and
(4) Where a securities firms recommends its clients transact in certain securities, it shall evaluate the investment abilities of clients and conduct it with due care of a good administrator, with loyalty and with good faith on the basis of reasonable information.
Reported by: Jeffrey Liu / Caitlyn Kao
Insurance
20.Amendments to the "Self-Regulation for Immediate Usage and Derived Benefit for Insurance Enterprises Conducting Real-Estate Investments"
The FSC announced amendments to the Self-Regulation for Immediate Usage and Derived Benefit for Insurance Enterprises Conducting Real-Estate Investments on May 19, 2016. The major amendment is to require the insurance company to establish the evaluation and control mechanism for its liquidity when the whole benefit rate is lower than the whole cost rate, as well as report to the board meeting for the benefit of the investment in whole real asset annually.
Reported by: David Tsai/ Angela Chang
Fair Trade
21. Cable
The Fair Trade Commission (FTC) deleted Articles 5.2.3 and 5.2.4 in the "Fair Trade Commission Regulatory Explanations on Cable" on May 27 , 2016, so that the rule "disadvantages arising from anti-competition obviously outweighing overall economic benefits" will not apply to Articles 5.2.3 and 5.2.4.
Reported by: Kang-Shen Liu
Criminal Procedure
22. Amendments to Code of Criminal Procedure
The Legislative Yuan passed the amendments to the Code of Criminal Procedure on May 27, 2016, which will take effect after promulgation by the President. Key changes include:
(1) An independent part of “Special Procedure for Confiscation” is added to provide procedures for confiscation of third parties’ properties and for separate petitions for declarations of confiscation, including: a prosecutor may petition the court to confiscate third parties' properties in indictment or in trial; the court may deny the confiscation of third parties' properties if the procedure costs too much; the court shall announce whether third parties' properties should be confiscated or not in the syllabus of the judgement; the judgement of confiscation may be appealed independently.
(2) The amendments provide seizures to secure payment of illicit gain, and provide measures to seize creditor rights with the effect of prohibiting them from dispositions. A seizure warrant shall be signed by a judge except when related to evidence, affiliated with searches, with consent or in an emergency. In investigations, prosecutors may sell seized properties if they devalue or cost too much for storage. In addition, pledges may be provided as substitutes for seizures.
(3) Court Organization Act adds Article 14-1, providing that district courts and high courts may establish independent divisions to review petitions for compulsive measures in investigation.
Reported by: David Tsai / Zachary Peng
Labor
23. A Decision Regarding Terminating Labor Union Staff
If a labor union staff is laid off and sumbits a petition to the Committee on Unfair Labor Practices, the Committee will speed up the process, and subsidize the employee’s lawyer fees. In this case, an employer transferred the employee, who is a member of a labor union, to another work place, but the employee did not follow the instructions. The employer laid the employee off for being absent without reason. After investigation, the Committee would determine whether the transfer was designed to suppress the union activities or whether this was the abusing employer's right. The Committee decided the transfer and dismissal was an unfair labor practice. The employer should therefore reinstate the staff and pay wages, bonuses and interest in the lay-off period.
Reported by: David Tsai / Zachary Peng
Fair Trade
24. Preannouncement of a Ruling
The FTC preannounced on May 25, 2016, theexclusion of certain circumstances from reportable combinations under Article 11.1 of the Fair Trade Act (FTA). For instance, combinations between an enterprise and another enterprise controlling or controlled by the former or a combination between 2 or more subsidiaries which are all controlled by the same parent is not reportable under the FTA.
Reported by: Kang-Shen Liu
Criminal Code
25. Amendments to Anti-Corruption Act
The Legislative Yuan passed the amendments to the Anti-Corruption Act on May 27, 2016, which will take effect on July 1, 2016, after promulgation by the President. The amendments remove paragraphs regarding confiscation, forced collection, payment, compensation and confiscation of illicit gains. Instead, the new confiscation system in the Criminal Code will apply, which will take effect on the same day.
Reported by: David Tsai / Zachary Peng
Company Act
26. A Ruling Regarding Directors’ Right to Inspect Shareholders Rosters
MOEA issued a ruling on May 27, 2016, that business operations of a company shall be executed by the board of directors. Not only the chairman but also other directors are responsible persons of a limited company by shares under Article 202 and 8 of Company Act. A director is therefore entitled to inspect or copy shareholders' rosters of the company, regardless of whether the company keeps its Articles of Incorporation, books and documents with a stock affairs agent or not.
Reported by: Mike Lu / Zachary Peng
2016-06-07
