The Cabinet yesterday approved a draft bill to ensure that women's rights to breastfeed in public areas are supported by the public and private sectors, bringing the country in line with international practices.
The Department of Health (DOH), in charge of drafting the bill, said the proposal was based on the 1990 Innocenti Declaration produced and adopted by participants at the WHO and the UN Children’s Fund, whose tenets were reaffirmed in an updated version in 2005.
The bill would prohibit anyone or any place from disallowing, hindering, or driving away women breastfeeding babies in public regardless of whether or not it has a breastfeeding room.
A DOH survey showed that about 60 percent of respondents supported breastfeeding in public. Among women who have breastfed, between 80 percent and 90 percent supported a law that would require breastfeeding areas be set up in public areas.
If the legislature approves the bill, individuals or establishments that violate the regulation would be fined between NT$6,000 and NT$30,000.
The bill will require the installation of breastfeeding rooms in the following public places: government buildings with total floor area of more than 500m² where utility-related services are provided; state-owned enterprises with total floor area of more than 500m²; public transport buildings with total floor are of more than 1,000m²; and department stores with total floor area of more than 10,000m², among others.
The Cabinet also approved an amendment to the Tobacco and Alcohol Tax Act (菸酒稅法) banning claims that alcoholic beverages have therapeutic effects.
If the amendment clears the legislature, local alcohol manufacturers that use imported raw materials would also no longer be allowed to put tags stating the place of origin of the materials.
The Ministry of Finance said in a statement that locally produced Scotch whisky made from raw materials imported from Scotland, for example, would not be allowed to use this information on product advertisements when the legislation is passed.
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