The legislature on Monday passed an amendment to enable the confiscation of any equipment used to dredge for sand or gravel illegally, as the nation seeks to address illegal dredging by Chinese ships.
The amendment to Article 36 of the Sand and Gravel Excavation Act (土石採取法) states that vessels or other machinery involved in illegal activity may be confiscated, regardless of whether they belong to the perpetrator.
Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Tsai Yi-yu (蔡易餘) proposed the bill in light of an incident in April last year involving a Chinese vessels found dredging without permission in the waters southwest of Penghu County’s Cimei Township (七美).
Photo copied by Chiu Chun-fu, Taipei Times
A court in the first ruling sentenced the captain to one year and 10 months in prison and ordered the confiscation of the equipment.
On appeal, the second court upheld the sentence, but said there was no legal basis to confiscate the equipment, as there was no way to prove it belonged to the defendant.
The case is currently awaiting trial at the Supreme Court.
Ocean Affairs Council Minister Kuan Bi-ling (管碧玲) on Facebook praised the vote, saying there is “no room to escape the law.”
If the amendment is promulgated before the Supreme Court’s ruling, the judges could utilize the new provision to order the confiscation of the equipment, she said.
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