AmCham Taiwan’s 2021 White Paper to Report Record for Issues Resolved

Thirteen issues raised in the 2020 Taiwan White Paper published by the American Chamber of Commerce in Taiwan have been rated as fully resolved by the Chamber’s 25 industry committees, the highest number recorded in the publication’s 25-year history. This impressive achievement will be highlighted in the 2021 edition of the White Paper, which is scheduled to be released on June 23.

Another 23 issues from among the 92 raised last year were deemed to be making satisfactory progress, while 23 were under observation. An additional four were dropped because they were no longer priorities of AmCham committees.

The majority of resolved issues were put forward by AmCham’s financial services-related committees last year. Two of these were suggestions provided by the Asset Management Committee – one to permit securities investment trust funds to invest in contingent convertible bonds and the other to allow marketing materials from asset management firms to be reviewed by an independent dedicated department.

In addition, the Banking Committee’s suggestion to relax the loan loss reserve and guarantee reserve requirements for foreign bank branches in Taiwan was adopted, while the Capital Markets Committee thanked the Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) for its acceptance of the committee’s proposal to allow foreign institutional investors to invest in exchange-traded funds. Lastly, an issue raised by the Private Equity Committee to provide more clarity on key issues related to the draft amendment to the Business Mergers and Acquisitions Act which could have negatively impacted the investment activities of private equity funds was considered sufficiently addressed after the committee learned that some of the potentially negative articles were removed in the most recent draft.

That so many of the financial sector’s issues were put to rest this year demonstrates a strong willingness on the part of the Financial Supervisory Commission, the National Development Council, and the Central Bank to work constructively with industry stakeholders.

Another White Paper breakthrough occurred with regard to the Energy Committee’s suggestion to provide more flexibility on renewable energy requirements for large-scale industrial users. Draft regulations introduced by the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) in late 2019 require such users to purchase or generate renewable energy equal to at least 10% of chartered capacity within five years. Power supplied by renewable energy facilities already in operation in Taiwan’s energy network were not originally included in that amount. However, thanks to the advocacy efforts of AmCham member companies and others in the Taiwan business community, the MOEA amended the draft regulations last year to explicitly include such facilities in the 10% requirement, easing the burden of self-generation of renewable energy on industrial users.

AmCham’s Intellectual Property & Licensing Committee this year was also able to make significant headway in its discussions with the Judicial Yuan, which adopted the Committee’s 2020 White Paper suggestion to implement revisions to court guidelines and reference documents for handling major trade secret cases. All cases involving illegal profits exceeding NT$50 million will now be subject to the strengthened guidelines.

Other resolved matters from last year’s White Paper include the Infrastructure & Engineering Committee’s suggestion to revise the Real Estate Appraiser Act to allow legal corporation entities to provide valuation services; the Cosmetics Committee’s issue regarding funding for colleges to establish online English-language Safety Assessor training courses; and the Chemical Manufacturers Committee’s proposal to quickly promulgate technical guidance for Priority Existing Chemical registration.

The Chamber applauds the dedication and tenacity of its committee members and Taiwan’s government agencies to work together to overcome difficult industry and regulatory issues. It looks forward to facilitating future collaborations between public and private sector partners aimed at improving the business environment in Taiwan.

About AmCham Taiwan

Founded in 1951, AmCham Taiwan works to improve Taiwan’s business environment, making it more open, innovative and prosperous. With over 1,000 members from more than 500 international companies, the non-profit, independent organization serves as a vital bridge between the U.S. and Taiwan. The White Paper has been published annually the past 25 years.

For more information, please contact:

Jack Lu
Manager of Government & Public Affairs
[email protected]
+886-2-2718-8226 Ext. 213

Gwenyth Wang-Reeves, PhD
Senior Director of Government & Public Affairs
[email protected]
+886-2-2718-8226 ext.314