The Legislative Yuan yesterday passed the Act Governing Breastfeeding in Public Places (公共場所母乳哺育條例), which makes it illegal for anyone to prevent women from breastfeeding in public.
The act stipulates that anyone who prohibits a woman from breastfeeding in public or asks that she leave a specific area to do so will face a fine of between NT$6,000 and NT$30,000.
The act also requires that department stores, megastores, government agencies, train stations, airports and public transit areas provide a breastfeeding room. Failure to abide by this requirement could result in a maximum fine of NT$30,000.
Those establishments will have one year to make breastfeeding rooms available from the time the act is promulgated.
Legislators also passed an additional resolution calling on the Department of Health to actively promote breastfeeding.
The resolution nevertheless said the department should abide by the WHO spirit of respecting a mother’s decision about whether to breastfeed.
“Breastfeeding is how a mother shows her love for her children as well as a woman’s right,” Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Huang Sue-ying (黃淑英) told the legislature after the bill was passed.
“This country should create a breastfeeding-friendly environment so that women can feel comfortable nursing their babies,” she said.
Prior to passage of the bill, Taipei City on April 1 became the first city in Taiwan to implement the Public Breastfeeding Regulation (公共場所母乳哺育自治條例) guaranteeing a mother’s right to breastfeed in public.
Under the regulations adopted by Taipei, anyone who tries to prevent a mother from breastfeeding in public is subject to a fine of between NT$5,000 and NT$30,000.
Advocates of breastfeeding had been fighting for the right to breastfeed in public since a number of women in October 2005 were asked by Taipei Story House to leave because they were nursing their babies.
Eight restaurants in Taiwan yesterday secured a one-star rating from the Michelin Guide Taiwan for the first time, while three one-star restaurants from last year’s edition were promoted to two stars. Forty-three restaurants were awarded one star this year, including 34 in Taipei, five in Taichung and four in Kaohsiung. Hosu (好嶼), Chuan Ya (川雅), Sushi Kajin (鮨嘉仁), aMaze (心宴), La Vie by Thomas Buhner, Yuan Yi (元一) and Frassi in Taipei and Front House (方蒔) in Kaohsiung received a one-star rating for the first time. Hosu is known for innovative Taiwanese dishes, while Chuan Ya serves Sichuan cuisine and aMaze specializes
Taitung County is to launch charter flights to Malaysia at the end of this year, after setting up flights to Vietnam and Thailand, the Taitung County Government said yesterday. The new charter flight services, provided by low-cost carrier Batik Air Malaysia, would be part of five-day tour packages for visits to Taitung County or Malaysia. The Batik Air charter flight, with about 200 seats, would take Malaysian tourists to Taitung on Dec. 30 and then at 12:35pm return to Kuala Lumpur with Taiwanese tourists. Another charter flight would bring the Taiwanese home on Jan. 3 next year, arriving at 5:30pm, before taking the
Taiwan High Speed Rail Corp. (THSRC) plans to ease strained capacity during peak hours by introducing new fare rules restricting passengers traveling without reserved seats in 2026, company Chairman Shih Che (史哲) said Wednesday. THSRC needs to tackle its capacity issue because there have been several occasions where passengers holding tickets with reserved seats did not make it onto their train in stations packed with individuals traveling without a reserved seat, Shih told reporters in a joint interview in Taipei. Non-reserved seats allow travelers maximum flexibility, but it has led to issues relating to quality of service and safety concerns, especially during
An exhibition celebrating Taiwan and Japan’s comic culture opened on Saturday in Taichung, featuring a section that explores Taiwanese reproductions of Japanese comics from when martial law limited Japanese representation. “A Century of Manga Culture: An Encounter of Taiwan and Japan’s Youth” held its Taiwan opening ceremony at Taichung’s National Taiwan Museum of Comics after an initial one-month run in Japan’s Kyoto International Manga Museum between May 24 and June 24. Much like the Kyoto exhibition, the show mainly celebrates the comic connection between Taiwan and Japan through late Taiwanese comic book
RSS