The Delivery Workers Rights Protection and Delivery Platform Management Act (外送員權益保障及外送平台管理法) — Taiwan’s first law governing delivery platforms — took effect on Tuesday last week.
Passed on Jan. 6, the law mandates that delivery workers receive no less than NT$45 per order and at least 1.25 times the statutory minimum hourly wage — NT$196 — calculated according to the time spent completing each delivery. It also requires platforms to provide group accident and liability insurance, recognizing the risks faced by workers whose jobs depend on spending hours on the road.
The law also aims to improve transparency by requiring platforms to explain how orders are assigned and how pay is calculated, while establishing clearer standards governing account suspensions and contract terminations — measures that would help reduce the uncertainty surrounding how platforms make these decisions.
The Ministry of Transportation and Communications has also proposed additional regulations under the act that would improve consumer protections by requiring platforms to clearly disclose fees, refund and cancelation policies, obtain users’ consent before automatically renewing subscriptions and provide compensation when deliveries are excessively delayed.
For years, delivery workers have complained that algorithmic order allocation, unclear pay calculations and inconsistent account suspensions left them with little ability to understand — much less challenge — decisions by platforms that directly affect their livelihoods. Establishing minimum standards and requiring greater transparency would help create a fairer relationship between delivery workers and platforms.
While this is a positive development for delivery workers, protecting one group does not resolve the structural tensions within the food delivery market. Shortly before the law took effect, the National Delivery Industry Union said that Uber Eats began citing the new regulations as justification for increasing commission fees charged to partner restaurants. This could leave many smaller restaurants with little choice but to absorb the additional costs themselves or pass them on to consumers through higher prices.
Whether those increases are ultimately justified is for regulators to decide. Nevertheless, the dispute exposes a larger issue: When operating costs rise, platforms, restaurants, workers and consumers each seek to avoid bearing the additional financial burden.
The Fair Trade Commission’s decision this week to extend its review of Grab’s proposed acquisition of Foodpanda reflects another concern. Uber Eats and Foodpanda dominate Taiwan’s food delivery market, and labor groups have argued that Grab’s close relationship with Uber — Grab’s largest individual shareholder — means the acquisition could effectively create a monopoly.
While regulators are yet to determine whether those concerns are justified, the controversy surrounding the proposal highlights the relationship between market competition, worker protections, the survival of small businesses and consumer choice.
Since their introduction more than a decade ago, food delivery platforms have gradually become part of everyday life, with many Taiwanese relying on them to order lunch during a busy workday, dinner after working late or groceries during bad weather. As their role in daily life has expanded, so too has the need to ensure that the market operates fairly and transparently for the many groups that depend on it.
Delivery platforms seek to expand their businesses and maximize profits. Delivery workers want fair wages, safe working conditions and legal protections comparable to those enjoyed by other workers. Restaurants rely on delivery services to reach many of their customers, yet struggle each time commission fees are raised. Meanwhile, consumers hope they can use these platforms to access convenient and affordable meals at a time when many are already facing mounting living costs.
In reality, there is no single solution that would leave all parties completely satisfied. Nevertheless, policymakers can — and should — ensure that the rules governing the market remain transparent and equitable, particularly for workers, small businesses and consumers, who generally have far less bargaining power than delivery platforms themselves.
Although controversial, the new law has laid an important foundation for improving protections for delivery workers, and the ministry’s proposals seek to do the same for consumers. However, even with these reforms the tension between platforms, workers, restaurants and consumers is unlikely to disappear. The task at hand is to ensure that the market remains competitive, business practices remain transparent and regulations are applied fairly to everyone involved.
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