FamilyMart will be fined a minimum of NT$90,000 for each act of illegally accepting payments to deliver applications for the extension of Taiwan Compatriot Entry Permits for customers, the Tourism Bureau said yesterday.
The nation’s second-largest convenience store chain announced last month that it would accept applications at its 2,800 locations nationwide and deliver them to China Travel Service (Macau) Co, which is in charge of issuing the permits.
FamilyMart offers the service for NT$499 per application.
However, the move angered travel agents, who said that the -extension of entry permits fell within the scope of businesses listed in Article 27 of the Act for the Development of Tourism (發展觀光條例).
They immediately reported the alleged violation to the Tourism Bureau, which informed FamilyMart that its new service could be in violation of the act.
On Wednesday, the bureau met legal experts, as well as representatives from travel agencies and FamilyMart, to discuss the matter.
Tourism Bureau chief secretary Chang Hsi-tsung (張錫聰) confirmed that the bureau would penalize FamilyMart in a ruling expected next week.
In response, FamilyMart said it had done nothing wrong.
“What we offered were two services that convenience stores have been offering for more than 10 years,” FamilyMart representative Chang Tsui-chuan (張翠娟) said. “They are no different from what we have been doing, namely receiving items and payments from customers on behalf of our partners and delivering said items to our partners on behalf of customers.”
FamilyMart could be fined between NT$90,000 and NT$450,000, based on the number of violations reported to the bureau, Chang Hsi-tsung said.
Each report of a violation is likely to cost the company a minimum of NT$90,000.
Chang Hsi-tsung said China Travel Service (Macau) Co, which partnered with FamilyMart to offer the service, would also be fined, each report of a violation costing the travel agency NT$50,000.
Prior to the bureau’s final decision, Tourism Bureau Director-General Janice Lai (賴瑟珍) said it was inappropriate for convenience stores to accept extension applications for Taiwan Compatriot Entry Permits.
“We are talking about handling a very sensitive personal document,” Lai said. “For example, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has only limited number of people handling passports, even the delivery boys sent by travel agencies are subject to its regulations.”
Statistics from the Travel Agents Association showed that 5 million Taiwanese tourists travel to China each year, each one being charged NT$700 for the Taiwan Compatriot Entry Permit, with NT$200 of that going to the travel agency as a service charge.
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