The Cabinet has finalized draft amendments to the Company Act (公司法) in what could be its largest revision in a decade, aiming to remove restrictions on management board and employee remuneration, and bolster enforcement of regulations against money laundering.
To clamp down on money laundering, the draft amendment proposes that the nation’s 688,319 companies be required to declare information regarding beneficiaries, including board directors, supervisors, managers and shareholders who hold a more than 10 percent stake in the company.
Companies that fail to do so would be subject fines of up to NT$5 million (US$166,633) or could have their licenses withdrawn, according to the amendments.
The act as it stands does not regulate beneficiaries who control a large share of companies’ assets. The proposed amendments would allow police, banks, accountants and lawyers to review a company’s data.
Board members would be authorized to review a company’s financial and management status and firms that fail to comply would be subject to a fine of NT$240,000 to NT$2.4 million, the proposals said.
The measures are to help the nation prepare for evaluations by the Asia Pacific Group on Money Laundering in November next year.
Meanwhile, the amendments also ease restrictions on board and shareholder meetings to prevent companies from rejecting meeting requests.
Only a company’s chairperson has the power to call board meetings, but the amendments would authorize board members to call meetings with the consent of more than half of board members.
To facilitate shareholder meetings, the amendments would require companies to provide the list of shareholders to company officials who are authorized to convene shareholder meetings, as in practice, some companies might withhold the list to prevent a shareholder meeting from being called.
The amendments would also allow businesses to issue shares in their subsidiaries or parent company to employees to create flexibility in employee remuneration.
Businesses would also be permitted to distribute dividends twice a year, once more than current regulations accomodate.
“The amendments are the largest revision of the Company Act in 10 years, with 150 out of the act’s 449 articles to be modified,” Cabinet deputy spokeswoman Chang Hsiu-chen (張秀禎) said.
The amendments are designed to remove restrictions, create flexibility, improve corporate governance and facilitate digitization and internationalization, Chang said.
The amendments were first proposed by former premier Lin Chuan (林全) and have been discussed for more than a year. They are considered a major piece of legislation by the Democratic Progressive Party administration to improve company management flexibility and transparency.
Taiwan is to receive the first batch of Lockheed Martin F-16 Block 70 jets from the US late this month, a defense official said yesterday, after a year-long delay due to a logjam in US arms deliveries. Completing the NT$247.2 billion (US$7.69 billion) arms deal for 66 jets would make Taiwan the third nation in the world to receive factory-fresh advanced fighter jets of the same make and model, following Bahrain and Slovakia, the official said on condition of anonymity. F-16 Block 70/72 are newly manufactured F-16 jets built by Lockheed Martin to the standards of the F-16V upgrade package. Republic of China
Taiwan-Japan Travel Passes are available for use on public transit networks in the two countries, Taoyuan Metro Corp said yesterday, adding that discounts of up to 7 percent are available. Taoyuan Metro, the Taipei MRT and Japan’s Keisei Electric Railway teamed up to develop the pass. Taoyuan Metro operates the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport MRT Line, while Keisei Electric Railway offers express services between Tokyo’s Narita Airport, and the Keisei Ueno and Nippori stations in the Japanese capital, as well as between Narita and Haneda airports. The basic package comprises one one-way ticket on the Taoyuan MRT Line and one Skyliner ticket on
Starlux Airlines, Taiwan’s newest international carrier, has announced it would apply to join the Oneworld global airline alliance before the end of next year. In an investor conference on Monday, Starlux Airlines chief executive officer Glenn Chai (翟健華) said joining the alliance would help it access Taiwan. Chai said that if accepted, Starlux would work with other airlines in the alliance on flight schedules, passenger transits and frequent flyer programs. The Oneworld alliance has 13 members, including American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific and Qantas, and serves more than 900 destinations in 170 territories. Joining Oneworld would also help boost
A new tropical storm formed late yesterday near Guam and is to approach closest to Taiwan on Thursday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Tropical Storm Pulasan became the 14th named storm of the year at 9:25pm yesterday, the agency said. As of 8am today, it was near Guam traveling northwest at 21kph, it said. The storm’s structure is relatively loose and conditions for strengthening are limited, WeatherRisk analyst Wu Sheng-yu (吳聖宇) said on Facebook. Its path is likely to be similar to Typhoon Bebinca, which passed north of Taiwan over Japan’s Ryukyu Islands and made landfall in Shanghai this morning, he said. However, it
RSS