The Cabinet yesterday approved a draft law that would prohibit judges on the Constitutional Court and other judges at various levels from holding membership in any political party, taking part in any party activities during their tenure or running in elections.
If they want to run for public office, they should resign or retire at least one year before registering their candidacy, the proposed legislation stipulates.
The bill will be referred to the Legislative Yuan for review and approval after being signed by the Judicial Yuan and the Examination Yuan. It was initiated through extensive cross-agency discussion and consultations with academics and judicial experts.
It was also stipulated in the bill that the Judicial Yuan should establish a commission to review the performance of judges to weed out those who are incompetent. The draft also required the Judicial Yuan to set up commissions to review appointments, transfers suspensions and dismissals of judges, as well as merits or punishments, to make the personnel system more transparent.
Meanwhile, the Cabinet yesterday also approved an amendment to the Commodity Tax Act (貨物稅條例) and an amendment to the Vehicle License Tax Act (使用牌照稅法), which would exempt buyers of battery-driven vehicles from the taxes.
Also approved by the Cabinet was a draft to legislate the terms of a UN convention to protect women against all forms of discrimination.
If the draft passes the legislature, government agencies at all levels will be bound by gender equality regulations in line with the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW).
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