Economics Minister Shen Briefs AmCham

Minister of Economic Affairs Shen Jong-chin called on AmCham Taipei on July 13 to brief members of the Chamber leadership on the status of 2018 Taiwan White Paper issues related to MOEA. Accompanying the Minister were officials from MOEA’s Investment Commission, Bureau of Energy, Intellectual Property Office, Department of Commerce, Bureau of Foreign Trade, and Industrial Development Bureau.

Representing AmCham were Chairman Albert Chang, President William Foreman, Vice Chairman Vincent Shih, Governors Tim Ju and Revital Golan, Supervisor Petra Jumpers, and Senior Directors Don Shapiro and Amy Chang.

AmCham Taipei leadership with MOEA officials.

The Minister’s one-hour briefing covered the following topics:

  • Energy policy. Shen provided assurance that energy supply would be sufficient – and utility prices remain reasonable – as Taiwan transforms to an energy mix that eliminates nuclear power generation by 2015.
  • Copyright piracy by overseas websites. The government is seeking to crack down through international cooperation and reducing infringing websites’ access to advertising revenue, but is reluctant to engage in site blocking in the absence of a legal basis and public consensus.
  • Copyright Law amendments. MOEA has been consulting with stakeholders on ways to protect OTT service providers against infringement by illegal apps and websites. It will also work with the National Communications Commission and Ministry of Education on additional ways to curb the growing volume of violations through illegal streaming mobile apps and front-loaded set-top boxes.
  • The Intellectual Property & Licensing Committee’s suggestion to raise the minimum compensation to NT$30,000 per infringement for situations where the actual damage is difficult to prove. MOEA has decided to keep the minimum at NT$10,000.
  • Enhancing Taiwan’s startup ecosystem. MOEA has been liberalizing restrictions on the types of permissible corporate shareholdings. It has also been cooperating with the National Development Fund to provide more tax incentives for venture capital firms to be active in this market.
  • Expanding facilities for conferences and exhibitions. The scheduled opening next March of Hall 2 of the Nangang Exhibition Center will greatly enhance Taiwan’s capability in this field.
  • Treating investment applications by private equity (PE) firms. These investments are welcome and not considered any differently from other applications.

Minister Shen offered to meet with AmCham regularly in the future to discuss these and any other pertinent issues in more detail.

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