The Ministry of Health and Welfare’s Administrative Appeal Committee has canceled a NT$1.85 billion (US$62 million) fine imposed on cooking-oil producer Chang Chi Foodstuff Factory Co (大統) last year by the Changhua County Public Health Bureau in an adulterated oil scandal, citing the principle of double jeopardy.
Administrative Appeal Committee executive-secretary Kao Tsung-hsien (高宗賢) said the committee had held three special meetings between April and last month to deliberate the case after Chang Chi filed a petition at the end of last year asking that the fine be annulled.
“Given that the Changhua District Court has handed down a punishment against the company’s chairman, Kao Cheng-li (高振利), [in December last year], the committee members decided to cancel the NT$1.85 billion fine in accordance with Article 26 of the Administrative Penalty Act (行政罰法),” Kao Tsung-hsien said.
Kao Tsung-hsien added that the bureau would only be allowed to reimpose the fine should Kao Cheng-li be acquitted by the court.
The article stipulates that if one single act constitutes simultaneously a criminal offense or offenses, as well as a breach of duty under administrative law, it shall be punishable under criminal law.
The district court sentenced Kao Cheng-li to 16 years in prison and fined him NT$50 million on charges of fraud and violations of the Act Governing Food Sanitation (食品衛生管理法) for blending edible oil products for the previous seven years with copper chlorophyllin and cottonseed oil, which are cheaper than other edible oils and toxic if they are left unrefined.
Two senior staff members, Wen Jui-pin (溫瑞彬) and Chou Kun-ming (周昆明), were given terms of two years and 10 months respectively.
Commenting on the committee’s decision, Consumers’ Foundation chairman Mark Chang (張智剛) said the annulment of the fine would send a message to other companies that “it is okay to engage in illegal activities.”
“Unless the government is willing to increase the criminal penalties for corporations using illegal means to gain profits, there will be no one left to safeguard public health and food safety,” Chang said.
A magnitude 6.1 earthquake struck off the coast of Yilan County at 8:39pm tonight, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, with no immediate reports of damage or injuries. The epicenter was 38.7km east-northeast of Yilan County Hall at a focal depth of 98.3km, the CWA’s Seismological Center said. The quake’s maximum intensity, which gauges the actual physical effect of a seismic event, was a level 4 on Taiwan’s 7-tier intensity scale, the center said. That intensity level was recorded in Yilan County’s Nanao Township (南澳), Hsinchu County’s Guansi Township (關西), Nantou County’s Hehuanshan (合歡山) and Hualien County’s Yanliao (鹽寮). An intensity of 3 was
Instead of focusing solely on the threat of a full-scale military invasion, the US and its allies must prepare for a potential Chinese “quarantine” of Taiwan enforced through customs inspections, Stanford University Hoover fellow Eyck Freymann said in a Foreign Affairs article published on Wednesday. China could use various “gray zone” tactics in “reconfiguring the regional and ultimately the global economic order without a war,” said Freymann, who is also a nonresident research fellow at the US Naval War College. China might seize control of Taiwan’s links to the outside world by requiring all flights and ships entering or leaving Taiwan
The next minimum wage hike is expected to exceed NT$30,000, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday during an award ceremony honoring “model workers,” including migrant workers, at the Presidential Office ahead of Workers’ Day today. Lai said he wished to thank the awardees on behalf of the nation and extend his most sincere respect for their hard work, on which Taiwan’s prosperity has been built. Lai specifically thanked 10 migrant workers selected for the award, saying that although they left their home countries to further their own goals, their efforts have benefited Taiwan as well. The nation’s industrial sector and small businesses lay
Quarantine awareness posters at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport have gone viral for their use of wordplay. Issued by the airport branch of the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Agency, the posters feature sniffer dogs making a range of facial expressions, paired with advisory messages built around homophones. “We update the messages for holidays and campaign needs, periodically refreshing materials to attract people’s attention,” quarantine officials said. “The aim is to use the dogs’ appeal to draw focus to quarantine regulations.” A Japanese traveler visiting Taiwan has posted a photo on X of a poster showing a quarantine dog with a
RSS