The American Chamber of Commerce (AmCham) in Taiwan yesterday lauded the government for resolving a record number of issues in its annual position paper and said it looks forward to further collaborations to enhance Taiwan’s business environment.
A total of 13 issues in last year’s white paper have been fully resolved, the best performance in the publication’s 25-year history, the chamber said, adding that it would highlight the achievement in its upcoming edition.
The foreign trade group, with more than 1,000 members from more than 500 firms, is to unveil its position paper for this year on Wednesday next week.
Photo: CNA
The resolved issues include permitting securities investment trust funds to invest in contingent convertible bonds and allowing marketing materials to be reviewed by an independent department, it said.
The chamber also praised the Financial Supervisory Commission for easing rules on loan-loss reserve and guarantee reserve requirements for foreign banks’ branches in Taiwan, and allowing foreign institutional investors to invest in exchange-traded funds.
In addition, AmCham thanked regulators for responding positively to its plea to remove phrases from legal revisions that might have a negative effect on business mergers and acquisitions.
That so many of the financial sector’s issues were put to rest demonstrates a strong willingness on the part of the Financial Supervisory Commission, the National Development Council and the central bank to work constructively with industry stakeholders, the chamber said.
The chamber further welcomed progress on its push for greater flexibility on renewable energy requirements for major industrial users.
Draft regulations introduced by the Ministry of Economic Affairs in 2019 required such users to buy or generate renewable energy equal to at least 10 percent of their chartered capacity within five years. However, the draft failed to take into account power generated by renewable energy facilities already existing in Taiwan.
Due to the advocacy of AmCham members and others, the ministry attached a phrase last year to explicitly include such facilities in the 10 percent requirement, easing the burden of generating renewable energy for industrial users, the chamber said.
Other resolved matters include legal revisions that allow corporate entities to provide real-estate valuation services and funding for colleges to establish online English-language safety assessor training courses, among other things, it said.
There has been satisfactory progress in 23 other issues, although they have not been completely resolved, it said.
The chamber said it looks forward to facilitating collaborations between public and private sectors to improve the business environment in Taiwan.
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