Tue, Jun 05, 2012 page3

• INTERVIEW: Three NCC members discuss Want Want merger bid

  The National Communications Commission’s (NCC) review of Want Want China Times Group’s bid to acquire cable TV services owned by China Network Systems (CNS) continues to cause controversy. In a recent interview with ‘Liberty Times’ (sister paper of the ‘Taipei Times’) staff reporters Lan Tsu-wei, Jennifer Huang and Liu Li-jen, NCC members Chen Jeng-chang, Weng Hsiao-ling and Chung Chi-hui expressed grave concerns and regret over the commission’s gradual loss of its administrative role and functions as an independent government agency. This is the second part of the two-part interview

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  Liberty Times (LT): The NCC’s position as an independent agency has raised public concerns and even been described by some as being “degenerative.” What are the predicaments and difficulties the NCC often encounters because of its role as an independent arm?

  Weng Hsiao-ling (翁曉玲): As an academic who specializes in legal matters, I have a strong feeling [about this issue].

  Initially, the NCC was mandated to be an independent agency in a lofty bid to block it from external pressures from industry sectors or intervention by superior agencies.

  Nevertheless, over the past four years, the way the commission has operated, along with growing political interference and power struggles within the regulatory arm, it has gradually deviated from its role as an independent department and moved instead toward being an “administrative agency.”

  In all of the democratic and developing member states of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development [OECD], any administrative discipline and case rulings made by their independent agencies are directly reviewed by the courts and are exempt from deliberation by administrative authorities.

  In contrast, Taiwan’s Executive Yuan still possess a veto [over the commission’s administrative decisions], as the government has yet to put forward an amendment to the National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播組織法) to remove the commission’s rulings from administrative deliberation, making it a less-than independent agency.

  Aside from this, the NCC has very little autonomy in its personnel and budget arrangements, in particular after [an amendment to the NCC Organization Act last year] that saw its chairman directly appointed by the premier instead of being elected by commissioners [as it had been].

  The commission had in the past been under the shadow of “superior arrangement” and [the recently adopted direct-appointment mechanism] now allows administrative agencies to directly “intervene in and direct” the NCC.

  LT: Could the direct-appointment system be of any help [to the NCC]? Could it help solve its problems?

  Chung Chi-hui (鍾起惠): The seven NCC members were at odds over the system change at the time, with the three of us speaking out against it and jointly issuing a dissenting opinion on the matter.

  The original purpose of founding the NCC was to enact changes and move away from the previous totalitarian period, when the [now-defunct] Directorate-General of Telecommunications took charge of [the country’s] mass media and the [now-dissolved] Government Information Office monitored its content [for publication] to reinforce the constitutional protection of freedom of the press, and to reduce government interference, through a colleague system under which specialized commissioners were in charge of reaching policy conclusions or making case rulings.

  However, having the Executive Yuan directly appoint a chairperson to head the NCC poses great difficulties for the regulatory arm to ever maintain its role as independent agency.

  Chen Jeng-chang (陳正倉): For the NCC to maintain its independence in the long run, it relies solely on whether its members could prevent the “black hands” of high-ranking administrative officials, withstand political pressure from legislators and resist external pressures and temptations from the industry.

  Over the past years, the NCC has seen some commissioners holding hundreds of meetings a year with operators in a particular industry, or receiving long-term sponsorship deals or being commissioned to conduct research by certain operators, which could all have a profound impact on the commission’s internal operations.

  Chung: Personnel [management] is indeed an issue of great significance.

  For this reason, the Executive Yuan should conduct a very thorough background check on possible NCC nominees’ specialties and stances [on particular matters] prior to their nominations.

  Aside from the review by the Legislative Yuan, [the Executive Yuan] could also enhance the public examination mechanism [of NCC members], allowing all corners of society to gain a better grasp of how NCC members do things and their accomplishments after they take up the position.

  More attention should also be paid to the selection of [the commission’s] chairperson, as each of them only serves a two-year term, which is far from long enough for a young agency like the NCC to establish a long-term organizational system and ethics, and they may only attempt to avoid making mistakes as opposed to really accomplishing something.

  Furthermore, the chairmanship entails professional competence and integration and coordination capabilities — a standard the previous two chairpersons failed to meet in my opinion.

  Telecommunications and media are both regulated industries that involve vested interests.

  At the end of the day, it is decided by the person at the helm on how they perceive the media environment and on whether they are determined to pursue the “maximum benefits for the public,” one of the commission’s stated objectives.

  If the incumbent cannot prevent administrative and political powers from interfering in the NCC, the status of it as an independent agency may just as well be annulled.

  Translated by Stacy Hsu, staff writer
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