Cabinet approves draft laws

The Cabinet yesterday approved the draft of the Financial Supervisory Board Law and draft amendments to the Patent Law and immediately swung into action urging the legislature to take up the two bills before their session ends.

The Financial Supervisory Board Law would give the board authority over the financial services industry and the Patent Law would make violations of design patents and new utility models civil offenses rather than criminal ones.

With the approval of the two drafts, the number of draft bills and amendments approved by the Cabinet amounts to 376 since Premier Yu Shyi-kun took office in February.

Cabinet spokesman Chuang Suo-hang (莊碩漢), said yesterday that although he appreciated the legislature's efforts in passing 65 of the 368 draft bills and amendments approved by the Executive Yuan during the current session, the Cabinet would like to see even more bills passed into law.

"With just half a month left in the current session, we'd like to see the current session extended to enact more legislation," Chuang quoted Premier Yu Shyi-kun as saying.

"We're racing against time. Taiwan simply cannot afford to wait any longer to improve its sluggish economy and global competitiveness."

The Financial Supervisory Board Law, which failed to make it through the legislature before the previous session ended in January, would give the board authority over the financial services industry -- including the banking, securities, futures and insurance sectors.

Under the draft proposal, there would be nine members on the financial supervisory board, including one chairman, two deputy chairmen and six commissioners -- one of whom would be the current deputy finance minister with another spot reserved for the deputy governor of the central bank.

All nine members would be nominated by the premier and approved by the president. If board members come from the same political party, the total number could not exceed four.

The draft would also require all board members to be experts in such areas as law, economy, finance, taxation, accounting and management.

Funding for the supervisory board would come from three major sources: the government budget, fees levied on the financial sector and interest from the fund itself.

All the receipts and disbursements as well as the management of the fund would be under the supervision of both the Cabinet and the legislature.

The Cabinet has received strong criticism from both local and foreign firms after the legislature made amendments to the law last October decriminalizing the infringement of patents on new inventions, but not violations of new design patents and utility models.