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MOTC to submit its own ‘special airport zone’ bill

The Ministry of Transportation and Communications (MOTC) is set to present a new version of the airport special zone bill, which clearly states that both the Civil Aeronautics Administration (CAA) and the local government would remain the authorities regulating the development of the zone.

Minister of Transportation and Communications Mao Chi-kuo (毛治國) said the special zone would be located outside the airport facilities, which would be designated as a privileged tariff zone for corporations and be jointly developed by the central and local government.

“It’s like a fried egg. You have the yolk and the egg white,” Mao told reporters on Friday night. “The yolk contains the airport and the special zone.”

Businesses allowed to set up operations in the special zone would be those listed in the Regulations of Installation and Management at Free Trade Ports and Zones (自由貿易港區設置管理條例), Mao said, adding that the ministry was considering allowing other businesses with activities related to airport operations — such as logistics, services, transit hotels, conference halls and exhibition halls — to open there as well.

Businesses that do not need any preferential tariffs could choose to set up operations within the “egg white,” which would also be regulated by the local government, Mao said, adding that at the initial stage, the bill would only apply to the development at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport.

While both the central and local government would be allowed to outsource the management of the special zone in line with the Act for Promotion of Private Participation in Infrastructure Projects (促進民間參與公共建設法), Mao said management of the airport would not be handled by a private contractor at the initial stage.

Mao said that revenues generated at the airport, such as landing and departure fees, would still go to the Civil Aviation Operation Fund (民航作業基金).

However, additional revenues generated by the Special Zone would be handed to the central government and distributed for other purposes.

As the bill would regulate more than just the business sector, however, the ministry would have to negotiate with other departments, he said.

Mao’s “fried-egg theory” establishes both the conceptual and legal frameworks for the airport special zone, which makes the bill drastically different from the one proposed by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers.

The bill proposed by KMT lawmakers said that the airport special zone consists of both the airport and land surrounding the airport. The size of the land, however, was unspecified.

The KMT bill states that the zone would be managed by a board of trustees, which would select a chairperson to oversee daily operations. Government resources, including airport facilities, airport police and state-owned land, would be placed under the chairperson’s authority.

Inside the zone, investors would be exempt from following the existing regulations, such as the Labor Standard Laws (勞動基準法) and would rather be subject to the special zone bill.
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