Labor
1.Draft Amendment to Regulations of Leave-Taking by Workers
On September 8, 2025, the Ministry of Labor announced the draft amendment of the Regulations of Leave-Taking by Workers. We summarize below:
(1) To add that where an employee takes personal leave for the purpose of personally caring for a family member, such leave may be taken on an hourly basis.
(2) To add that where an employee takes personal leave to personally care for a family member, the employer shall not withhold the employee’s full-attendance bonus.
Reported by: David Tsai / Julia Kuo
Artificial Intelligence
2.Draft Artificial Intelligence Fundamental Act
On 28 August 2025, the Executive Yuan passed the draft Artificial Intelligence Fundamental Act. We summarize below:
(1) Seven fundamental principles shall be observed in the research, development, and application of artificial intelligence, including sustainability, human autonomy, privacy protection and data governance, security, transparency and explainability, fairness, and accountability.
(2) The government shall promote AI research, application and infrastructure, establish innovative experimental environments, foster public-private collaboration and international cooperation, and continuously advance education and talent cultivation.
(3) The government shall prevent unlawful uses of AI, promote a risk classification framework, establish standards and verification tools to ensure verifiability and human controllability of decisions; and, for high-risk AI, clearly allocate liability and establish mechanisms for remedies, compensation, and insurance.
(4) The government shall safeguard labor rights and support workforce transition and re-employment, strengthen personal data protection, and ensure that AI training and applications uphold intellectual property rights.
Reported by: Stacy Lo / Julia Kuo
Consumer Protection
3.Draft Amendments to Matters to Be Specified and Prohibited from Being Specified in Standard Contracts for Presale House Sales
On 4 September 2025, the Ministry of the Interior announced the draft amendments to the matters to be specified under the “Matters to Be Specified and Prohibited from Being Specified in Standard Contracts for Presale House Sales.” We summarize below:
(1) To amend the performance guarantee mechanism with respect to the use of the purchase price paid by the buyer and the attribution of beneficiary rights in the trust property, and to specify the name and account number of the trust institution’s designated trust account, and that the seller shall provide a statement of trust interests at the time of contract signing.
(2) To add information on whether solar photovoltaic power generation equipment is installed.
Reported by: Alex Li / Sean Tsai
Financials
4.Ruling regarding Article 72-2 of the Banking Act
On 4 September 2025, the Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) announced a ruling which provides that loans granted by banks in accordance with “Principles for Government-owned Banks in Handling Preferential House Loan for Youth”, where disbursement is made after 1 September 2025, shall not be included in the aggregate amount of “residential construction and business construction loans” under Article 72-2 of the Banking Act. The above took effect from 1 September 2025
Reported by: Stacy Lo / Zoe Chen
SITE/SICE
5.Rulings to Encourage Offshore Asset Management Companies to Establish Regional Centers in Taiwan
To encourage offshore asset management companies to establish regional centers in Taiwan, the FSC issued two rulings on 29 August and 2 September 2025 respectively to (i) provide incentives for offshore fund institutions that establish regional centers in Taiwan, allowing their master agents to adopt an effective registration mechanism when handling offshore fund offerings and sales; and (ii) promote the establishment of regional centers with core functions, by relaxing the cap on the proportion of Taiwanese investors in their offshore funds, increasing the limit to 90% of the fund’s net asset value.
Reported by: Mike Lu / Jeffrey Liu / Eva Chiu
6.Amendment to Rules Governing the Preparation and Filing of Sustainability Reports by Securities Investment Trust Enterprises
On 3 September 2025, the Securities Investment Trust & Consulting Association of the R.O.C. (SITCA) announced amendments to Articles 11 and 12 of the Rules Governing the Preparation and Filing of Sustainability Reports by Securities Investment Trust Enterprises (Rules). We summarize below:
(1) Addition of requirements for securities investment trust enterprises (SITEs) to disclose medium- and long-term carbon reduction targets and strategy timelines for Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions;
(2) Where the SITE subsidiary of a financial holding company is a TWSE/TPEx-listed company, the SITE shall prepare a sustainability report in accordance with the applicable rules governing the preparation and filing of sustainability reports by TWSE/TPEx-listed companies;
(3) Where the SITE subsidiary of a TWSE/TPEx-listed financial holding company is not itself a TWSE/TPEx-listed company, the SITE’s sustainability information may be incorporated into the sustainability report prepared by the financial holding company, provided that such information can be individually identified as specific sustainability actions taken by the SITE, and shall at minimum include the disclosure items required under these Rules and relevant regulations;
(4) Where the SITE subsidiary of a non- TWSE/TPEx-listed financial holding company is not itself a TWSE/TPEx-listed company, the SITE shall prepare a sustainability report in accordance with the preceding paragraph; and
(5) The filing deadline has been adjusted to August 31 each year, by which SITEs shall upload the sustainability report to the designated section of their company website and file it with SITCA.
Reported by: Jeffrey Liu / Jason Su
Securities firm
7.Draft Ruling Regarding Subparagraph 7, Paragraph 1, Article 22-4 of the Offshore Banking Act
On 5 September 2025, the FSC announced the draft ruling related to Subparagraph 7, Paragraph 1, Article 22-4 of the Offshore Banking Act, which allows Offshore Securities Unit (OSU) to conduct borrowing and lending of funds for unrestricted purposes with offshore clients. We summarize below:
(1) Clients for such business shall be limited to offshore clients. All payments shall be settled in foreign currency, and the funds shall not be converted into New Taiwan Dollars (NTD). Clients shall not settle repayments by purchasing foreign currency with NTD.
(2) Eligibility requirements: The securities firm’s head office must have been approved by the FSC to conduct unrestricted-purpose lending and must meet the conditions under Article 2 of the Regulations Governing the Establishment of and Compliance Matters for Offshore Securities Units.
(3) Application procedure: Securities firms shall apply to Taiwan Securities Association, which will further report to the FSC for approval.
(4) Scope of collateral: It includes stocks on the U.S. Stock Exchange and ETFs without leverage or short-selling effects, investment-grade foreign bonds, U.S. Dollars and other five currencies, and other collateral approved by the competent authority.
(5) Internal control regulations: OSU conducting this business shall generally follow the Operational Rules for Securities Firms Conducting Unrestricted-Purpose Lending.
(6) Risk management: The aggregate amount of unrestricted-purpose loans extended by the securities firm’s head office and branches to clients, combined with the total amount of loans extended for securities business and margin financing/short selling transactions, shall not exceed 400% of the firm’s net worth.
Reported by: Stacy Lo / Alva Wu
8.Announcement on Required Documents for Securities Firms Applying to Establish Simplified Branch Offices
On 2 September 2025, the FSC announced a ruling providing that securities firms applying to establish simplified branch offices shall submit a Self-Assessment Form for Information Security. The format of the form is provided as an attachment to the aforementioned ruling.
Reported by: Jeffrey Liu / Eva Chiu
| 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) |
