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New AIDS regulation adopted

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 (人類免疫缺乏病毒傳染防治及感染者人權保障條例).

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 (兒童及少年性交易防制條例) was also passed, in which new penalties are adopted for the possession of child pornography.

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 (道路交通管理處罰條例).

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 (野生動物保育法) was also passed yesterday, banning circuses from importing and exporting wild animals.

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
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