Labor
1.Amendment to Regulations of Leaves for Workers
On 9 December 2025, the Ministry of Labor announced the amendment to the “Regulations of Leaves for Workers.” We summarize below:
(1) To stipulate that, the employee may take the personal leave for the purpose of caring family members on an hourly basis;
(2) To stipulate that, where the employee takes personal leave for the purpose of caring for family members, the attendance bonus of the employee shall not be affected;
(3) To stipulate that, where an employee takes ordinary sickness leave not exceeding ten (10) days within one year, the employer shall not impose any adverse treatments against the employee. If the employee suffers any adverse treatment accordingly, the employer shall bear the burden of proof to evidence that such adverse treatment is unrelated thereto; and
(4) To stipulate that, in conducting personnel evaluations, the employer shall make a comprehensive assessment and shall not base their judgment solely on the number of days of ordinary sickness leave taken by the employee.
Reported by: David Tsai / Joe Liao
Environment
2.Amendments to Environmental Impact Assessment Act
On 28 November 2025, the President promulgated amended Article 5 of the “Environmental Impact Assessment Act.” The amendments aim to ensure development of solar photovoltaic power systems in harmony with the environment. This new legislation requires environmental impact assessment for certain solar photovoltaic power systems, while small-scale or self-use solar photovoltaic power systems with less environmental concern are carved out.
Reported by: Kang-Shen Liu / Sean Tsai
Assisted Reproduction
3.Draft Amendments to Assisted Reproduction Act
On 11 December 2025, the Executive Yuan approved the draft amendments to the Assisted Reproduction Act, which expands the scope of eligible persons under the Act, strengthens informed consent procedures, and protects the best interests of children. We summarize below:
(1) To establish informed consent procedures for surgical procedures and invasive treatments.
(2) Prior to assisted reproduction, recipients shall undergo an evaluation conducted by designated professional institutions to ensure compliance with the best interests of the child and to confirm their suitability for assisted reproduction.
(3) Children conceived through the donation of reproductive cells may access non-identifying information about the donor. Upon reaching adulthood, and with the donor’s consent, they may further access additional information that the donor has agreed to disclose.
(4) Married female same-sex couples as well as unmarried women may lawfully use assisted reproductive technologies.
(5) To establish the legal status of children born through assisted reproduction of female same-sex couples and unmarried women, and remove provisions allowing a spouse who gave consent under fraud or coercion to bring an action for denial of paternity of a child conceived through assisted reproduction.
(6) Women aged 45 and above shall undergo an evaluation by an assisted reproduction institution prior to assisted reproduction to assess their suitability for pregnancy and childbirth so as to reduce risks of advanced maternal age.
Reported by: Stacy Lo / Alva Wu
SITE/SICE
4.Amendment to Incentive Policy for Onshore Funds
金On 12 December, 2025, the Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) announced the amendment to the “Incentive Policy for Onshore Funds”. We summarize below:
(1) nvestment Research Capability: After the initial achievement of the required ratio for delegated management or engagement of overseas sub-advisers, the long-term cap on the proportion of funds or assets under overseas delegation has been relaxed from one-tenth to one-third.
(2) International Expansion: The calculation of total fund sales conducted overseas has been revised to include Offshore Banking Units and Offshore Securities Units , thereby expanding the scope of recognized international business activities.
(3) Talent Development Indicators: A new criterion has been added to recognize cases where domestic or overseas parent companies within the same financial group assist securities investment trust enterprises in training core asset management professionals, with the aim of enhancing their professional standing within international group operations.
(4) Other Specific Contributions to the Development and Management of Taiwan’s Asset Management Industry: Participation in the Taiwan Individual Savings Account scheme has been newly included as a recognized contribution, strengthening incentives for securities investment trust enterprises to develop retirement-oriented investment products.
(5) Incentive Measures: In light of a separate FSC ruling that already allows securities investment trust enterprises managing ETFs to apply for approval to establish single-ETF feeder funds without limitation to ETFs with domestic constituent securities, such arrangements are no longer separately listed as incentive measures under this program.
Reported by: Jeffrey Liu / Eva Chiu
5.Relaxation of Issuance Restrictions on ETF Feeder Funds
On 26 November 2025, the FSC issued a new ruling to amend its previous ruling regarding Paragraph 1, Article 10, and Subparagraph 9, Article 23, of the Regulations Governing Securities Investment Trust Funds. The amendments remove previous restrictions to allow securities investment trust enterprises to issue feeder funds linked to active ETFs managed by themselves. In addition, regardless of whether an ETF feeder fund is linked to an active or passive ETF, the underlying ETF is no longer required to have domestic constituent securities.
Reported by: Jeffrey Liu / Eden Hsieh
6.Ruling regarding Subparagraph 7, Paragraph 1, Article 8, Paragraph 2, Article 8, and Paragraph 1, Article 10 of Regulations Governing Securities Investment Trust Funds
On 16 December 2025, the FSC announced a ruling to amend the matters under which securities investment trust enterprises may offer securities investment trust funds (SIT Funds) that invest in non-investment-grade bonds and Rule 144A Bonds. We summarize below:
(1) To amend the current investment ratio limits applicable to SIT Funds investing in Rule 144A bonds so that, in principle, no separate investment cap is set specifically for Rule 144A bonds, and the investment ratio is instead calculated on a combined basis together with non-investment-grade bonds; and
(2) In view of the fact that Rule 144A bonds are privately placed securities, the proportion of such investments by SIT Funds should not be excessively high, provided that for non-investment-grade bond funds, the cap on investments in Rule 144A bonds is relaxed to no more than 40% of the fund’s net asset value.
Reported by: Jeffrey Liu / Linda Guo
Financials
7.Draft Amendments to “Regulations Governing Domestic Branches of Financial Institutions”
On 4 December 2025, the FSC announced the draft amendments to the “Regulations Governing Domestic Branches of Financial Institutions.” As certain financial institutions need to establish additional physical branches to expand the scope of financial services and deepen customer relationships, to satisfy the diversified development needs based on different development strategies, the FSC announced the draft amendments to provide greater flexibility for financially sound institutions to continue business development through establishment of additional branches. We summarize below:
(1) For financial institutions that do not meet the relevant financial requirement under Subparagraph 4, Paragraph 2, Article 3 concerning the average before-tax return on equity, a new Paragraph 3 is added to allow such institutions to apply to establish additional branches on an annual basis, limited to one branch per year.
(2) It is expressly stipulated that the competent authority shall, based on the financial and operational conditions of the financial institutions applying to establish additional branches as mentioned above, determine the list of financial institutions that may establish additional branches.
Reported by: Stacy Lo / Nubi Sun
| 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) |
