Labor
1.Amendment to the Enforcement Rules of the Labor Pension Act
On 15 July 2026, the Ministry of Labor announced the amendment to the “Enforcement Rules of the Labor Pension Act.” We summarize below:
(1) To allow employees covered exclusively by the old pension scheme (“pure old-system employees”) to make voluntary pension contributions of up to 6% of their monthly wages.
(2) To provide that the pure old-system employees who have made voluntary pension contributions and meet the retirement eligibility requirements under the Labor Standards Act may, during the term of the employment relationship and by mutual agreement between the employer and the employee, settle in advance their pension benefits accrued based on their years of service under the Labor Standards Act. The full amount of the settled pension benefits shall be transferred to the employees’ individual pension account maintained by the Bureau of Labor Insurance.
(3) To stipulate that following the settlement of pension benefits by mutual agreement, the employer remains liable to pay pension benefits in respect of the employee’s subsequent years of service upon the lawful termination of the employment relationship. The employer and employee may also agree to settle the pension benefits accrued from such subsequent years of service on an annual basis, with the settled amount to be transferred in full to the employee’s individual pension account maintained by the Bureau of Labor Insurance.
Reported by: Paul Hsu / Linda Guo
2.Amendments to Directions for Business Units in Convening Labor-Management Conferences
On 7 July 2026, the Ministry of Labor announced to amend the “Directions for Business Units in Convening Labor-Management Conferences”. We summarize below:
(1) To specify that elections for labor representatives shall be conducted during working hours; in response to an increase in the number of employees within a business unit, local labor authorities may urge the business unit to increase the number of labor and management representatives; attendees of a video conference shall use names identical to those on the list of labor-management conference for recordation.
(2) To establish that where the number of employees within a workplace reaches 30 or more, such workplace shall convene its own standalone labor-management conference independently and shall not be combined with the business unit itself or with other workplaces.
(3) To add that the chairperson of the labor-management conference shall report that the number of attending representatives has reached a majority of each side’s respective total representatives before officially declaring the meeting open.
(4) To add a proposal protection regulation specifying that proposals raised by either labor or management representatives prior to the conference shall not be summarily excluded through coordination or other informal means without the consent of the proposing party.
(5) To add mechanisms to strengthen proposals and meeting procedures, so as to encourage both sides to bring forward concrete agenda items.
Reported by: Paul Hsu / Sean Tsai
Public Company
3.Draft Amendments to the Rules Governing the Use of Proxies for Attendance at Shareholders’ Meetings of Public Companies
In response to the amendment and implementation of the Electronic Signatures Act on 15 May 2024, which stipulates that documents and signatures may take the form of electronic documents and electronic signatures, the Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) has designated the Taiwan Depository & Clearing Corporation (TDCC) to establish a website for the filing of information regarding the solicitation of proxies (hereinafter referred to as the “information filing website”), thereby adopting an electronic process for this purpose. Key points are summarized below:
(1) It is stipulated that solicitors shall transmit relevant information—such as the proxy solicitation data form for the shareholders’ meeting—to the information filing website of the TDCC, thereby replacing the current procedure of delivering paper documents to the company and providing a copy to the Securities and Futures Institute (SFI). The company shall transmit the consolidated solicitor information to the information filing website to complete the disclosure.
(2) To ensure consistency in data transmission and centralized processing on a single platform—thereby facilitating operations for the company or its stock affairs agent as well as external inquiries—it is stipulated that the company or its stock affairs agent must, on the day of the shareholders’ meeting, compile statistical summaries of the shares obtained by solicitors and the shares represented by engaged proxies, and transmit this data to the information filing website.
(3) Amend the requirement that the proxy forms, the meeting handbook or other supplementary meeting materials, the written solicitations and advertisements for proxies, the proxy detail schedules, and the proxies and related documents for attendance at the shareholders’ meeting printed and distributed by the company from being “kept at the SFI” to “transmitted to the information filing website.”
(4) Amend the provisions under which the solicitor’s solicitation materials—namely the proxy solicitation data form, proof of shareholding, the documents on the qualification of the party handling solicitation matters filed with the FSC for recordation, and the finalized written solicitations and advertisements to be published from being “delivered to the company and copied to the SFI,” and under which the company’s consolidated compilation of the solicitors’ solicitation materials being “transmitted to the SFI,” to “transmitted to the information filing website.”
(5) It is expressly stipulated that the company and the solicitor must transmit the materials relating to both solicitation and non-solicitation to the designated information filing website; there is no longer a need to exclude the application of the Electronic Signatures Act.
(6) Materials related to solicitation and non-solicitation by the company and the solicitor shall be transmitted to the information filing website; relevant procedures and other related matters shall be handled in accordance with the applicable regulations of the TDCC.
(7) Given that this amendment entails changes to the transmission procedures—covering both solicitation and non-solicitation activities—for solicitors, the company, and the stock affairs agent, the effective date is stipulated to ensure that the relevant parties fully understand the changes and can make the necessary adjustments.
Reported by: Mike Lu / Hank Chang
4.Simplified Procedures for SITEs and SICEs Providing Certain Securities Investment Advisory and Transaction Execution Services to Foreign Professional Investment Institutions
On 8 July 2026, the FSC issued a new ruling to simplify the application procedures for Securities Investment Trust Enterprises (SITEs) and Securities Investment Consulting Enterprises (SICEs) that provide foreign professional institutional investors with discretionary securities investment advisory services, execute transactions in connection with such services, or provide securities investment analysis and recommendations while executing transactions on their behalf. We summarize below:
(1) Separate Prior Approval No Longer Required:
The requirement under the 2023 ruling to obtain case-by-case approval from the FSC has been repealed. Effective immediately, SITEs and SITEs that have obtained approval to conduct discretionary investment mandate business and completed the renewal of their business licenses may commence the relevant business directly without applying for further approval
(2) Ongoing Operational and Compliance Requirements Remain Unchanged:
The existing requirements regarding eligible clients (restricted to foreign professional institutional investors), internal control measures for preventing conflicts of interest, and monthly reporting obligations to the SITCA by the 5th business day of each month remain unchanged.
Reported by: Jeffrey Liu / Emilie Chang
Securities
5.Amendments to Article 31-1 of Rules Governing Securities Firms Accepting Orders to Trade Foreign Securities
On 29 June 2026, the Taiwan Securities Association (TSA) announced the amendments to Article 31-1 of the Rules Governing Securities Firms Accepting Orders to Trade Foreign Securities, which took effect on the same day. The amendment expands the scope of recipients to whom securities firms may, according to contractual arrangements, pay referral fees out of the commissions collected from accepting orders to trade foreign securities. In particular, domestic financial institutions approved by the competent authority to jointly promote securities products and services are now eligible to receive such referral fees, with the aim of enhancing cross-sector marketing collaboration among financial institutions.
Reported by: Jeffrey Liu / Linda Guo
| 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) |
