The Civil Aeronautics Administration (CAA) should amend regulations on drones and strictly enforce online registration of all drones that weigh 250g or more, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Ho Hsin-chun (何欣純) said on Tuesday.
Appearing at a news conference with CAA Deputy Director-General Clark Lin (林俊良) and Geosat Aerospace & Technology Inc chairman Lo Cheng-fang (羅正方), Ho said that the chapter on drones that was added to the Civil Aviation Act (民用航空法) in 2018 was not sufficient.
The amendment stated that drones weighing 250g or more must be registered online and the registration number be visible on the drone, with fines for non-compliance ranging from NT$30,000 to NT$150,000.
Photo: CNA
It also included the authorization for the CAA to seize the drones.
Heavier drones are being sold on various e-commerce platforms, but very few project descriptions inform potential customers that they must be registered, Ho said.
Citing CAA statistics, Ho said that as of Oct. 15, only 59,759 drones — more than 9,000 belonging to various organizations and about 50,000 belonging to individuals — have been registered, far lower than what sales numbers in Taiwan suggest.
The regulations state that manufacturers and importers must register drone models they offer for sale in Taiwan and include information on their packaging on the online registration to be completed by the drone owner, Ho said.
Ho said the act should be amended, requiring businesses to provide clearer information on the registration requirement, including in their advertisements.
Businesses that provide insufficient information act irresponisbly, Lo said, adding that authorities would often be unable to identify the owners of unregistered drones that are involved in incidents.
The proposed amendments would provide a more secure environment for drone users, Lo said.
The registration requirement was not intended to punish drone owners, but rather to provide a safe, legal framework for drone usage, Lin said, adding that the agency supports Ho’s proposal.
Costa Rica sent a group of intelligence officials to Taiwan for a short-term training program, the first time the Central American country has done so since the countries ended official diplomatic relations in 2007, a Costa Rican media outlet reported last week. Five officials from the Costa Rican Directorate of Intelligence and Security last month spent 23 days in Taipei undergoing a series of training sessions focused on national security, La Nacion reported on Friday, quoting unnamed sources. The Costa Rican government has not confirmed the report. The Chinese embassy in Costa Rica protested the news, saying in a statement issued the same
Taiwan’s Liu Ming-i, right, who also goes by the name Ray Liu, poses with a Chinese Taipei flag after winning the gold medal in the men’s physique 170cm competition at the International Fitness and Bodybuilding Federation Asian Championship in Ajman, United Arab Emirates, yesterday.
A year-long renovation of Taipei’s Bangka Park (艋舺公園) began yesterday, as city workers fenced off the site and cleared out belongings left by homeless residents who had been living there. Despite protests from displaced residents, a city official defended the government’s relocation efforts, saying transitional housing has been offered. The renovation of the park in Taipei’s Wanhua District (萬華), near Longshan Temple (龍山寺), began at 9am yesterday, as about 20 homeless people packed their belongings and left after being asked to move by city personnel. Among them was a 90-year-old woman surnamed Wang (王), who last week said that she had no plans
TO BE APPEALED: The environment ministry said coal reduction goals had to be reached within two months, which was against the principle of legitimate expectation The Taipei High Administrative Court on Thursday ruled in favor of the Taichung Environmental Protection Bureau in its administrative litigation against the Ministry of Environment for the rescission of a NT$18 million fine (US$609,570) imposed by the bureau on the Taichung Power Plant in 2019 for alleged excess coal power generation. The bureau in November 2019 revised what it said was a “slip of the pen” in the text of the operating permit granted to the plant — which is run by Taiwan Power Co (Taipower) — in October 2017. The permit originally read: “reduce coal use by 40 percent from Jan.
RSS