The European Chamber of Commerce Taiwan (ECCT) yesterday called on the government to align the nation’s regulatory system with international standards and facilitate making English a second official language.
“The government has made progress toward improving Taiwan’s regulatory environment, but it is not fully optimized yet to meet the needs of a modern economy,” ECCT chairman Hakan Cervell told a media briefing on the release of the chamber’s annual position paper.
Some local practices still deviate from international standards and make doing business in Taiwan difficult, Cervell said.
Photo courtesy of the National Development Council
It is unreasonable for local safety regulations to demand duplicate testing and paperwork for complete vehicles and components that have already been certified in Europe, the paper said.
Taiwan should also allow certified electronic signatures, because producing international certificates to present to authorities is time-consuming and costly, it said.
In line with the government’s move toward digitization, procedures should be able to be done online, the paper said.
The chamber welcomed the government’s efforts to establish English as a second official language by 2030, saying that improving English-language proficiency would help move Taiwan up the value chain.
The Executive Yuan is to draw up an action plan regarding this by the end of the year.
The trade group said it recommended setting up a central translation resource center to ensure consistency in translations across all ministries, adding that a coordinated effort is needed to translate all legislation and make government Web sites bilingual.
The chamber has over the years pushed for street names to be consistently spelled by different governments.
Raising the level of English proficiency would take time, the trade group said.
The Ministry of Education has already made proposals to that end, such as increasing English class hours at elementary, junior and senior-high schools, and establishing bilingual classes.
The measures focus on making the next generation fluent in English, but progress should also be made with ongoing adult education, the chamber said.
“A good place to start is to improve the level of English fluency of government officials at all levels, through training and by offering incentives,” it said.
The chamber said it was grateful that the National Development Council and the Ministry of the Interior have decided to change the number formats on Alien Resident Certificates and Alien Permanent Resident Certificates, as the lack of compatibility with Taiwanese citizens’ identification numbers has denied foreign residents access to online shopping and other commercial services.
TYPHOON: The storm’s path indicates a high possibility of Krathon making landfall in Pingtung County, depending on when the storm turns north, the CWA said Typhoon Krathon is strengthening and is more likely to make landfall in Taiwan, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said in a forecast released yesterday afternoon. As of 2pm yesterday, the CWA’s updated sea warning for Krathon showed that the storm was about 430km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point. It was moving in west-northwest at 9kph, with maximum sustained winds of 119kph and gusts of up to 155kph, CWA data showed. Krathon is expected to move further west before turning north tomorrow, CWA forecaster Wu Wan-hua (伍婉華) said. The CWA’s latest forecast and other countries’ projections of the storm’s path indicate a higher
SLOW-MOVING STORM: The typhoon has started moving north, but at a very slow pace, adding uncertainty to the extent of its impact on the nation Work and classes have been canceled across the nation today because of Typhoon Krathon, with residents in the south advised to brace for winds that could reach force 17 on the Beaufort scale as the Central Weather Administration (CWA) forecast that the storm would make landfall there. Force 17 wind with speeds of 56.1 to 61.2 meters per second, the highest number on the Beaufort scale, rarely occur and could cause serious damage. Krathon could be the second typhoon to land in southwestern Taiwan, following typhoon Elsie in 1996, CWA records showed. As of 8pm yesterday, the typhoon’s center was 180km
TYPHOON DAY: Taitung, Pingtung, Tainan, Chiayi, Hualien and Kaohsiung canceled work and classes today. The storm is to start moving north this afternoon The outer rim of Typhoon Krathon made landfall in Taitung County and the Hengchun Peninsula (恆春半島) at about noon yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, adding that the eye of the storm was expected to hit land tomorrow. The CWA at 2:30pm yesterday issued a land alert for Krathon after issuing a sea alert on Sunday. It also expanded the scope of the sea alert to include waters north of Taiwan Strait, in addition to its south, from the Bashi Channel to the Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島). As of 6pm yesterday, the typhoon’s center was 160km south of
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) is set to issue sea and land warnings for Tropical Storm Krathon as projections showed that the tropical storm could strengthen into a typhoon as it approaches Taiwan proper, the CWA said yesterday. The sea warning is scheduled to take effect this morning and the land warning this evening, it said. The storm formed yesterday morning and in the evening reached a point 620 nautical miles (1,148km) southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost point, moving west-southwest at 4 kph as it strengthened, the CWA said. Its radius measured between 220km and 250km, it added. Krathon is projected
RSS