The Executive Yuan today is expected to approve draft amendments to the Foreign Trade Act (貿易法) aimed at preventing companies from shipping China-made products to Taiwan to receive a “Made in Taiwan” (MIT) certificate of origin, an anonymous source said.
The amendments were published last month by the Bureau of Foreign Trade amid an ongoing US-China trade dispute.
To evade US tariffs on Chinese goods, a number of products from China destined for the US have been found making stopovers in Taiwan to gain an MIT label to conceal their source, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said last month.
Photo: Lee Hsin-fang, Taipei Times
Under the amendments, firms found guilty of illegally exporting “strategic high-tech goods” to non-restricted regions, applying and using false certificates of origin, illegally transferring goods, labeling false countries of origin or disturbing trade through undue means would face a fine of NT$60,000 to NT$3 million (US$1,929 to US$96,432), up from NT$30,000 to NT$300,000.
The amendments would also introduce a system to reward people who report breaches, which would prevent false labels from prompting foreign inspections of Taiwanese firms, and affecting the overall interests and reputation of domestic industries, the source said.
The act has not been amended in 10 years, they added.
Domestic businesses have said that the current fines are not high enough to prevent firms from illegally changing their products’ country of origin, they said.
The bureau last year began requiring stricter management of certain goods, including solar power products, bicycles, and metal screws and nuts.
It previously found that solar photovoltaic products made in China and exported to Taiwan had been labeled as being from Vietnam, the source said, adding that it now requires to see certificates of origin when goods are imported to Taiwan.
The bureau has also established a monitoring system for bicycle parts, about which domestic businesses have expressed concern, they said.
If the prices of the imports are too low, the bureau would look into the matter through the industry’s association and customs, they added.
Since last year, the bureau has been cooperating with customs to remind businesses that goods on which the US has raised tariffs need to fulfill the MIT requirements to receive an MIT certificate of origin, they said.
To receive a certificate, the goods would need to have increased in value by 35 percent from when they were imported to when they were processed and exported, they added.
RESPONSE: The transit sends a message that China’s alignment with other countries would not deter the West from defending freedom of navigation, an academic said Canadian frigate the Ville de Quebec and Australian guided-missile destroyer the Brisbane transited the Taiwan Strait yesterday morning, the first time the two nations have conducted a joint freedom of navigation operation. The Canadian and Australian militaries did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The Ministry of National Defense declined to confirm the passage, saying only that Taiwan’s armed forces had deployed surveillance and reconnaissance assets, along with warships and combat aircraft, to safeguard security across the Strait. The two vessels were observed transiting northward along the eastern side of the Taiwan Strait’s median line, with Japan being their most likely destination,
‘NOT ALONE’: A Taiwan Strait war would disrupt global trade routes, and could spark a worldwide crisis, so a powerful US presence is needed as a deterrence, a US senator said US Senator Deb Fischer on Thursday urged her colleagues in the US Congress to deepen Washington’s cooperation with Taiwan and other Indo-Pacific partners to contain the global security threat from China. Fischer and other lawmakers recently returned from an official trip to the Indo-Pacific region, where they toured US military bases in Hawaii and Guam, and visited leaders, including President William Lai (賴清德). The trip underscored the reality that the world is undergoing turmoil, and maintaining a free and open Indo-Pacific region is crucial to the security interests of the US and its partners, she said. Her visit to Taiwan demonstrated ways the
GLOBAL ISSUE: If China annexes Taiwan, ‘it will not stop its expansion there, as it only becomes stronger and has more force to expand further,’ the president said China’s military and diplomatic expansion is not a sole issue for Taiwan, but one that risks world peace, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday, adding that Taiwan would stand with the alliance of democratic countries to preserve peace through deterrence. Lai made the remark in an exclusive interview with the Chinese-language Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times). “China is strategically pushing forward to change the international order,” Lai said, adding that China established the Asia Infrastructure Investment Bank, launched the Belt and Road Initiative, and pushed for yuan internationalization, because it wants to replace the democratic rules-based international
RELEASED: Ko emerged from a courthouse before about 700 supporters, describing his year in custody as a period of ‘suffering’ and vowed to ‘not surrender’ Former Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) was released on NT$70 million (US$2.29 million) bail yesterday, bringing an end to his year-long incommunicado detention as he awaits trial on corruption charges. Under the conditions set by the Taipei District Court on Friday, Ko must remain at a registered address, wear a GPS-enabled ankle monitor and is prohibited from leaving the country. He is also barred from contacting codefendants or witnesses. After Ko’s wife, Peggy Chen (陳佩琪), posted bail, Ko was transported from the Taipei Detention Center to the Taipei District Court at 12:20pm, where he was fitted with the tracking
RSS