The legislature approved an amendment yesterday that transfers the authority to appoint National Communications Commission (NCC) members from the legislature to the premier.
The Council of Grand Justices ruled in July last year that the original regulation empowering political parties to appoint NCC members based on the ratio of their seats in the legislature was unconstitutional.
The justices gave current commission members a grace period, while requiring the legislature to amend the organization's legislation by the end of this year.
The amendment to the Organic Law of the National Communications Commission (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) now stipulates that the commission shall consist of seven members nominated by the premier and approved by the legislature.
No more than three of the commission members may share membership of the same political party, the amendment states, adding that each member will serve a four-year term.
Incumbent commission mem-bers have said they will resign at the end of next month, but the amendment allows them to stay until new members assume office.
The amendment states that commission members may stay in office if the nomination process for new members is stalled.
NCC spokesman Howard Shyr (
"This commission is ready to hand over to the next commission as soon as possible," Shyr was quoted as saying in a Central News Agency report.
Shyr said he hoped the next commission could take over in time so that the commission would not be left unstaffed.
Meanwhile, a proposed amendment to the Offshore Islands Development Law (離島建設條例) aimed at legalizing casinos on the nation's outlying islands failed to pass yesterday, with lawmakers voting 84 to 57 against it.
The legislature also rejected an article contained in the proposal backed by the Non-Partisan Solidarity Union to grant tax exemptions for cargo transported to outlying islands.
However, the legislature passed an amendment to the President and Vice President Election and Recall Law (總統副總統選舉罷免法) designating a threshold for candidates seeking a ballot recount.
The amendment, proposed by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), would allow the two presidential candidates who garner the most votes to ask for a ballot recount within seven days of the election if the margin of victory is less than 0.3 percent of the valid votes in the poll.
Candidates who ask for a vote recount are required to pay a deposit of NT$3 per ballot, according to the amendment.
The legislature, however, did not approve an article in the proposal that would require newspapers, magazines, radio programs or TV shows to grant a candidate or a political party opportunities to respond to media criticism.
The legislature also decided to maintain an election lawsuit regulation that designates a second trial as a final trial. An article in the KMT's proposal sought to allow candidates to file the same election lawsuit again if new evidence were found.
Additional reporting by Angelica Oung
The government is aiming to recruit 1,096 foreign English teachers and teaching assistants this year, the Ministry of Education said yesterday. The foreign teachers would work closely with elementary and junior-high instructors to create and teach courses, ministry official Tsai Yi-ching (蔡宜靜) said. Together, they would create an immersive language environment, helping to motivate students while enhancing the skills of local teachers, she said. The ministry has since 2021 been recruiting foreign teachers through the Taiwan Foreign English Teacher Program, which offers placement, salary, housing and other benefits to eligible foreign teachers. Two centers serving northern and southern Taiwan assist in recruiting and training
WIDE NET: Health officials said they are considering all possibilities, such as bongkrekic acid, while the city mayor said they have not ruled out the possibility of a malicious act of poisoning Two people who dined at a restaurant in Taipei’s Far Eastern Department Store Xinyi A13 last week have died, while four are in intensive care, the Taipei Department of Health said yesterday. All of the outlets of Malaysian vegetarian restaurant franchise Polam Kopitiam have been ordered to close pending an investigation after 11 people became ill due to suspected food poisoning, city officials told a news conference in Taipei. The first fatality, a 39-year-old man who ate at the restaurant on Friday last week, died of kidney failure two days later at the city’s Mackay Memorial Hospital. A 66-year-old man who dined
‘CARRIER KILLERS’: The Tuo Chiang-class corvettes’ stealth capability means they have a radar cross-section as small as the size of a fishing boat, an analyst said President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday presided over a ceremony at Yilan County’s Suao Harbor (蘇澳港), where the navy took delivery of two indigenous Tuo Chiang-class corvettes. The corvettes, An Chiang (安江) and Wan Chiang (萬江), along with the introduction of the coast guard’s third and fourth 4,000-tonne cutters earlier this month, are a testament to Taiwan’s shipbuilding capability and signify the nation’s resolve to defend democracy and freedom, Tsai said. The vessels are also the last two of six Tuo Chiang-class corvettes ordered from Lungteh Shipbuilding Co (龍德造船) by the navy, Tsai said. The first Tuo Chiang-class vessel delivered was Ta Chiang (塔江)
EYE ON STRAIT: The US spending bill ‘doubles security cooperation funding for Taiwan,’ while also seeking to counter the influence of China US President Joe Biden on Saturday signed into law a US$1.2 trillion spending package that includes US$300 million in foreign military financing to Taiwan, as well as funding for Taipei-Washington cooperative projects. The US Congress early on Saturday overwhelmingly passed the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act 2024 to avoid a partial shutdown and fund the government through September for a fiscal year that began six months ago. Under the package, the Defense Appropriations Act would provide a US$27 billion increase from the previous fiscal year to fund “critical national defense efforts, including countering the PRC [People’s Republic of China],” according to a summary