Travelers are now allowed to bring Wii game consoles into the country and will not risk having them confiscated, customs officials say.
Consumers have complained about not being allowed to bring the popular game consoles, which are manufactured by Japanese company Nintendo, because they have not been certified by the National Communications Commission (NCC). The NCC is responsible for ensuring that electronics products do not pose health hazards or interfere with the nation's telecommunications systems.
Certification is deemed necessary as the Wii uses Bluetooth connectivity and motion sensors to allow gamers to play games such as virtual tennis, golf or baseball with a wireless controller.
However, public calls for lenience have persuaded the NCC to relax its restrictions.
Travelers will now be permitted to bring in consoles as long as they have either NCC certification labels or other certification, said Chien Liang-chi (
If their consoles have no form of certification, travelers will be able to fill in an application form at the airport, he added.
However, tourists carrying more than two Wiis will have to pay a 5 percent value-added tax (VAT) in accordance with customs regulations, which set NT$20,000 as the tax-free threshold.
With Wii consoles selling at about NT$7,000, travelers will have to pay NT$50 in VAT for every third console they bring into the country.
As of noon yesterday, 69 Wiis had been impounded. It is expected that the consoles will be reclaimed in the next two days, said Jao Ping (
Some would-be Wii-owners said they had not been informed of the change of policy and were frustrated with the hassle they had experienced.
NCC spokesperson Howard Shyr (
"There was an incident in the past where the use of wireless microphones near the airport nearly affected aviation safety," Shyr said, "Unexpected consequences might occur with unregulated products."
Users who bring Wiis into the country will not be penalized, he said.
Right-wing political scientist Laura Fernandez on Sunday won Costa Rica’s presidential election by a landslide, after promising to crack down on rising violence linked to the cocaine trade. Fernandez’s nearest rival, economist Alvaro Ramos, conceded defeat as results showed the ruling party far exceeding the threshold of 40 percent needed to avoid a runoff. With 94 percent of polling stations counted, the political heir of outgoing Costa Rican President Rodrigo Chaves had captured 48.3 percent of the vote compared with Ramos’ 33.4 percent, the Supreme Electoral Tribunal said. As soon as the first results were announced, members of Fernandez’s Sovereign People’s Party
EMERGING FIELDS: The Chinese president said that the two countries would explore cooperation in green technology, the digital economy and artificial intelligence Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) yesterday called for an “equal and orderly multipolar world” in the face of “unilateral bullying,” in an apparent jab at the US. Xi was speaking during talks in Beijing with Uruguayan President Yamandu Orsi, the first South American leader to visit China since US special forces captured then-Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro last month — an operation that Beijing condemned as a violation of sovereignty. Orsi follows a slew of leaders to have visited China seeking to boost ties with the world’s second-largest economy to hedge against US President Donald Trump’s increasingly unpredictable administration. “The international situation is fraught
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) plans to make advanced 3-nanometer chips in Japan, stepping up its semiconductor manufacturing roadmap in the country in a triumph for Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s technology ambitions. TSMC is to adopt cutting-edge technology for its second wafer fab in Kumamoto, company chairman C.C. Wei (魏哲家) said yesterday. That is an upgrade from an original blueprint to produce 7-nanometer chips by late next year, people familiar with the matter said. TSMC began mass production at its first plant in Japan’s Kumamoto in late 2024. Its second fab, which is still under construction, was originally focused on
GROWING AMBITIONS: The scale and tempo of the operations show that the Strait has become the core theater for China to expand its security interests, the report said Chinese military aircraft incursions around Taiwan have surged nearly 15-fold over the past five years, according to a report released yesterday by the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) Department of China Affairs. Sorties in the Taiwan Strait were previously irregular, totaling 380 in 2020, but have since evolved into routine operations, the report showed. “This demonstrates that the Taiwan Strait has become both the starting point and testing ground for Beijing’s expansionist ambitions,” it said. Driven by military expansionism, China is systematically pursuing actions aimed at altering the regional “status quo,” the department said, adding that Taiwan represents the most critical link in China’s
RSS