The Executive Yuan yesterday unveiled draft legislation for the planned national transportation safety council, which is expected to be formed next year at the earliest.
Premier William Lai (賴清德) approved the bills at a meeting, Executive Yuan spokeswoman Kolas Yotaka told a news conference in Taipei.
One bill seeks to change the name of the Organizational Act of the Aviation Safety Council (飛航安全調查委員會組織法) to the organizational act of the national transportation safety council and outlines what the proposed council’s purview would be and how it would be staffed.
Photo: CNA
To complement the bill, a draft amendment to the Aviation Occurrence Investigation Act (飛航事故調查法) was also introduced, which seeks to rename the act to transportation occurrence investigation act and recommends an investigation procedure for major rail, air or marine accidents.
The bills were drafted in the wake of the derailment of Puyuma Express No. 6432 in Yilan County on Oct. 21, in which 18 people were killed and more than 200 were injured, Kolas said, adding that they are part of the premier’s promise to the public to create an impartial and professional body capable of independently probing major transportation accidents.
The council would be modeled after the Japan Transport Safety Board and the US National Transportation Safety Board by expanding the Aviation Safety Council (ASC) to include experts on rail, marine and air transportation safety, she said.
Lai said the bills would be delivered to the Legislative Yuan for review and instructed the Aviation Safety Council and the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics to communicate extensively with the four legislative caucuses in the hope that they would soon be passed, Kolas said.
The proposed council would require about 100 staff members, including the 23 full-time ASC personnel, who are expected to be incorporated into it, ASC Chairman Young Hong-tsu (楊宏智) said.
The proposed council would employ experts specializing in all types of rail transportation systems, as well as experts in highway, sea and river transportation, Young said.
Asked what the bills’ definition of “major” transportation incidents would be, he said the question would have to be answered after the ASC and the Ministry of Transportation and Communications iron out the details.
The council could be created next year at the earliest, while it would take another two years for it to recruit specialists in all of the transportation fields, Young said.
Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) was sentenced to six months in prison, commutable to a fine, by the New Taipei District Court today for contravening the Personal Data Protection Act (個人資料保護法) in a case linked to an alleged draft-dodging scheme. Wang allegedly paid NT$3.6 million (US$114,380) to an illegal group to help him evade mandatory military service through falsified medical documents, prosecutors said. He transferred the funds to Chen Chih-ming (陳志明), the alleged mastermind of a draft-evasion ring, although he lost contact with him as he was already in detention on fraud charges, they said. Chen is accused of helping a
SECURITY: Starlink owner Elon Musk has taken pro-Beijing positions, and allowing pro-China companies to control Taiwan’s critical infrastructure is risky, a legislator said Starlink was reluctant to offer services in Taiwan because of the nation’s extremely high penetration rates in 4G and 5G services, the Ministry of Digital Affairs said yesterday. The ministry made the comments at a meeting of the legislature’s Transportation Committee, which reviewed amendments to Article 36 of the Telecommunications Management Act (電信管理法). Article 36 bans foreigners from holding more than 49 percent of shares in public telecommunications networks, while shares foreigners directly and indirectly hold are also capped at 60 percent of the total, unless specified otherwise by law. The amendments, sponsored by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Ko
UNREASONABLE SURVEILLANCE: A camera targeted on an road by a neighbor captured a man’s habitual unsignaled turn into home, netting him dozens of tickets The Taichung High Administrative Court has canceled all 45 tickets given to a man for failing to use a turn signal while driving, as it considered long-term surveillance of his privacy more problematic than the traffic violations. The man, surnamed Tseng (曾), lives in Changhua County and was reported 45 times within a month for failing to signal while driving when he turned into the alley where his residence is. The reports were filed by his neighbor, who set up security cameras that constantly monitored not only the alley but also the door and yard of Tseng’s house. The surveillance occurred from July
‘SAME OLD TRICK’: Even if Beijing resumes individual travel to Taiwan, it would only benefit Chinese tourism companies, the Economic Democracy Union convener said China’s 10 new “incentives” are “sugar-coated poison,” an official said yesterday, adding that Taiwanese businesses see them clearly for what they are, but that Beijing would inevitably find some local collaborators to try to drums up support. The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, made the remark ahead of a news conference the General Chamber of Commerce is to hold today. The event, titled “Industry Perspectives on China’s Recent Pro-Taiwan Policies,” is expected to include representatives from industry associations — such as those in travel, hotels, food and agriculture — to request the government cooperate with China’s new measures, people familiar with
RSS