An amendment to the AIDS Pre-vention and Control Act (後天免疫缺乏症候群防治條例) passed the legislature yesterday, allowing foreign spouses who become infected with HIV to remain in the country as long as they can demonstrate they were infected by their Taiwanese spouse or in the course of receiving medical treatment in Taiwan.
Before the amendment came into force, foreign spouses who were infected with HIV, regardless of the circumstances, could be deported, whereupon they could apply for re-entry.
Others who stand to benefit from the new policy are people who have Taiwanese citizenship at birth but never obtained residency in the country.
Under the previous law, HIV could be grounds for denying such an individual residency, but the amended law now allows them to obtain residency provided they have a close relative -- such as a parent, child, sibling, grandparent or grandchild -- living in Taiwan.
The act, meanwhile, also took on a new name yesterday and is now known as the Human Immunodeficiency Virus Prevention and Patients' Rights Protection Act (
The Legislature yesterday also passed an amendment to the Infectious Disease Prevention and Control Law (傳染病防治法), enabling the administration to define newly emerging infectious diseases as threats to national security.
The amendment also grants the government the right to cull pets or domestic animals in the event of an outbreak of any communicable disease transmitted by animals.
An amendment to the Child and Juvenile Sexual Transaction Prevention Act (
The amendment stipulates that anyone caught with child pornography without a "proper reason" could be required to attend up to 10 hours of guidance for a first offense.
Recidivists could be fined up to NT$200,000 (US$6,000), the amendment stipulates, adding that any pornographic material found would be seized.
The "proper reasons" for possessing child pornography, as defined in the amended law, include scientific, educational and medical purposes.
Meanwhile, the popular electric bicycles used by many salary earners and older people also became subject to regulations yesterday after the Legislature passed an amendment to the Statute Governing the Punishment of Violation of Road Traffic Regulations (
The revision puts electric bicycles in the same "slow vehicle" category as normal bicycles, meaning that laws and regulations pertaining to scooters and motorcycles will not apply to electric bicycles. The revision also means that a driver's license will not be required to ride electric bicycles.
An electric bicycle is defined as having two wheels, a top speed of less than 25kph and a weight not exceeding 40kg,
An amendment to the Wildlife Conservation Law (
Only research institutions, colleges and universities, as well as public and private zoos are now allowed to import and export wild animals.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY CNA
POLAM KOPITIAM CASE: Of the two people still in hospital, one has undergone a liver transplant and is improving, while the other is being evaluated for a liver transplant A fourth person has died from bongkrek acid poisoning linked to the Polam Kopitiam (寶林茶室) restaurant in Taipei’s Far Eastern Sogo Xinyi A13 Department Store, the Ministry of Health and Welfare said yesterday, as two other people remain seriously ill in hospital. The first death was reported on March 24. The man had been 39 years old and had eaten at the restaurant on March 22. As more cases of suspected food poisoning involving people who had eaten at the restaurant were reported by hospitals on March 26, the ministry and the Taipei Department of Health launched an investigation. The Food and
CHANGES: After-school tutoring periods, extracurricular activities during vacations or after-school study periods must not be used to teach new material, the ministry said The Ministry of Education yesterday announced new rules that would ban giving tests to most elementary and junior-high school students during morning study and afternoon rest periods. The amendments to regulations governing public education at elementary schools and junior high schools are to be implemented on Aug. 1. The revised rules stipulate that schools are forbidden to use after-school tutoring periods, extracurricular activities during summer or winter vacation or after-school study periods to teach new course material. In addition, schools would be prohibited from giving tests or exams to students in grades one to eight during morning study and afternoon break periods, the
Advocates of the rights of motorcycle and scooter riders yesterday protested in front of the Ministry of Transportation and Communications in Taipei, making three demands. They were joined by 30 passenger vehicles, which surrounded the ministry to make three demands related to traffic regulations — that motorcycles and scooters above 250cc be allowed on highways, that all motorcycles and scooters be allowed on inside lanes, and that driver and rider training programs be reformed. The ministry said that it has no plans to allow motorcycles on national highways for the time being, and said that motorcycles would be allowed on the inner
AMENDMENT: Contact with certain individuals in China, Hong Kong and Macau must be reported, and failure to comply could result in a prison sentence, the proposal stated The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) yesterday voted against a proposed bill by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers that would require elected officials to seek approval before visiting China. DPP Legislator Puma Shen’s (沈伯洋) proposed amendments to the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例), stipulate that contact with certain individuals in China, Hong Kong and Macau should be reported, while failure to comply would be punishable by prison sentences of up to three years, alongside a fine of NT$10 million (US$309,041). Fifty-six voted with the TPP in opposition