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Youth sexual transaction prevention act amended

Lawmakers moved yesterday to stop the Internet from becoming a medium for the teenage sex trade by amending the Child and Youth Sexual Transaction Prevention Act (兒童及少年性交易防制條例).

The amendment stipulates that Internet service providers, owners of telecommunication businesses and borough chiefs or village secretaries must report to the police if they learn that teens under the age of 18 are involved in the sex trade.

The amendment stipulates that companies or individuals could be fined up to NT$30,000 if they learn of such crimes but either ignore them or cover them up.

The director of the Ministry of the Interior's Children's Bureau, Huang Pi-hsia (黃碧霞), said yesterday that the government had noticed a trend of using Internet chat rooms or instant messenger services to promote the sex trade, especially among juveniles.

Huang said that in the past, juveniles involved in the sex trade had been forced into it by other people.

"But recently we found that the number of cases of teenagers actively involved in sex deals through the Internet has skyrocketed," Huang said. "I believe the amendment to the Child and Youth Sexual Transaction Prevention Act was passed in light of this phenomenon."

Both Yahoo-Kimo Inc, one of the nation's largest Internet portals, and Chunghwa Telecom Co were named on the list of individuals or companies that would be held responsible for reporting suspicious cases to the police.

When asked why borough chiefs and village secretaries were also included in the list, Huang said they are public servants and are familiar with local affairs so they should take on the responsibilities of social workers.
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