Investment
1.Amendment to Operational Directions for Review of Action Plan for Accelerated Investment by Enterprises Rooted in Taiwan
On August 13, 2025, the Ministry of Economic Affairs (“MOEA”) announced the amendment to the Operational Directions for Review of Action Plan for Accelerated Investment by Enterprises Rooted in Taiwan (“Directions”). We summarize below:
(1) The scope of application is expanded to include foreign-invested enterprises, and the eligibility requirements for manufacturing industry applicants are amended to extend the investment scope to the five (5) trust-based industries, the biomedical industry, and the manufacturing industries of the six core strategic industries. To add that enterprises which, within the past year, have violated environmental protection, labor, or food safety and sanitation laws, and are determined by the competent authority of such laws to be of a serious violation, shall not be applicable to this Direction.
(2) To add that applicants applying for recognition as foreign investors under this Direction shall submit relevant documents evidencing shareholder structure. If factory registration exists, factory registration certificates shall also be submitted.
(3) To add that the review committee may, as needed in individual cases, invite relevant agencies to participate in the review.
(4) To add that after an application is approved upon review, the managing bank designated under the Directions for Special Project Loans for Accelerated Investment by Enterprises Rooted in Taiwan shall be notified. To add that enterprises shall complete the investment in accordance with the investment plan within the approved period.
(5) The restriction on the number of amendments to the investment plan is deleted. It is amended that revisions to the investment plan shall be submitted to the MOEA for approval, and when necessary, may be submitted to the review committee for review and approval.
Reported by: Mike Lu /Julia Kuo
M&A
2.Draft Amendment to Business Mergers and Acquisitions Act
On 21 August 2025, the Executive Yuan passed the draft amendment to Articles 44-2, 52-1 and 54 of the “Business Mergers and Acquisitions Act” (Act) proposed by the Ministry of Economic Affairs and will forward the same to the Legislative Yuan for further review. We summarize below:
(1) For the acquisition under Article 29 of this Act, if the acquiring company, the acquired company, and its shareholders meet certain requirements, and the acquiring company is recognized as an industrial holding company by the National Development Council, capital gains derived by shareholders from share exchange between the acquired company and the industrial holding company may be excluded from the basic taxable income amount for the year in which the share exchange occurs, at the shareholder’s election. Such income does not need to be subject to the tax filing until actual transfer or when the shares are entered in a designated securities custodial account.
(2) For the tax filing date, the industrial holding company shall report the details of the transferred or booked shares to the competent tax authority by January 31 of the year following the transfer or book-entry. The competent tax authority may order to make a supplementary report within a specified period and impose a fine from NT$50,000 to NT$1,000,000 as appropriate for anyone failing to do.
Reported by: Mike Lu / Angela Lin
Labor
3.Ruling regarding Paragraph 4, Article 27 of the Gender Equality in Employment Act
On August 25, 2025, the Ministry of Labor announced a ruling clarifying that the term “legal proceedings” under Paragraph 4, Article 27 of the Gender Equality in Employment Act includes proceedings conducted pursuant to the Labor Incident Act, the Code of Civil Procedure, and the Code of Criminal Procedure, as well as mediation procedures refers to the court or to a township, county-administered city, or district mediation committee. When the victim is involved in such mediation sessions, the employer shall grant official leave of absence.
Reported by: David Tsai /Julia Kuo
Securities firms
4.Amendment to Rules Governing the Preparation and Filing of Sustainability Reports by Securities Firms
On 15 August 2025, the Taipei Exchange (TPEx) announced amendments to certain provisions of the Rules Governing the Preparation and Filing of Sustainability Reports by Securities Firms (Rules). We summarize below:
(1) Securities firms listed on the Taiwan Stock Exchange Corporation (TWSE) or TPEx, in addition to complying with the Rules, shall also prepare and file sustainability reports in accordance with the rules governing the preparation and filing of sustainability reports by TWSE/TPEx-listed companies;
(2) Integrated securities firms which are subsidiaries of TWSE/TPEx-listed companies shall, starting from 2024, must prepare and file a Chinese sustainability report for the preceding year;
(3) Securities firms other than the above-mentioned two categories, according to the prescribed schedule, may now elect either to prepare and file a sustainability report, or to disclose sustainability indicators in accordance with the appendix stipulated under Article 2 of the Rules;
(4) A securities firm that is an unlisted subsidiary of a financial holding company may prepare and file a sustainability report jointly with its parent company, provided that the sustainability practices and required disclosures of the securities subsidiary can be identified therein;
(5) The provisions regarding the greenhouse gas inventory schedule applicable to integrated securities firms that are not subsidiaries of TWSE/TPEx-listed companies have been removed; and
(6) The filing deadline has been adjusted to August 31 each year for public securities firms that are not TWSE/TPEx-listed to upload the sustainability report file on their company website.
Reported by: Jeffrey Liu / Jason Su
SITE/SICE
5.Amendment to Guidelines for Channel Remuneration Payments and Sales Activities for Members and Their Sales Agents Issued by the SITCA
On 20 August 2025, the Securities Investment Trust and Consulting Association (SITCA) announced a ruling to amend the “Guidelines for Channel Remuneration Payments and Sales Activities for Members and their Sales Agents”. We summarize below:
(1) Offshore fund institutions, master agents, and securities investment trust enterprises, when sponsoring or providing training and product presentations for the employees of their sales agents, shall include explanations of international market trends and their impacts so as to assist sales agents’ employees in effectively implementing KYC and KYP.
(2) To strengthen the management of sales personnel, sales personnel shall implement KYC and KYP, ensure the professionalism and impartiality of sales practices, and avoid conflicts of interest.
(3) To prohibit from encouraging or inducing the public to invest in funds through borrowing, thereby causing clients to excessively expand credit or assume excessive risk.
Reported by: Jeffrey Liu/ Eden Hsieh
| Editors: Mike Lu (Partner) Stacy Lo (Partner) Jeffrey Liu (Partner) Kang-Shen Liu (Partner) David Tsai (Partner) Angela Lin (Partner) Paul Hsu (Partner) Alex Li (Partner) | Counselors: Echo Yeh Sue Su Jolene Wang (Lexcel Partners IP Firm) |
