Yacht and motorboat operators who assist smuggling operations face license suspensions ranging from three months to five years, a proposed amendment to the Seafarer Act (船員法) says.
The Maritime and Port Bureau said that it proposed amendments to the act to impose heavier penalties to facilitate the Ocean Affairs Council’s efforts to crack down on smugglers at sea.
Last year, a council investigation found that three yachts based in Kinmen County in November had made 46 trips to smuggle daily necessities from China, the bureau said.
Photo: Tsai Yun-jung, Taipei Times
Drug dealers have begun to use small yachts and are training young people to operate them, it said.
To deter maritime smuggling, the amendments stipulate that yacht and motorboat operators would receive a warning or demerit points if they do not have proper certification or use unapproved vessels, the bureau said.
Three warnings would accrue one demerit point and those who accumulate three points in two years would lose their license for three months, it said.
A proposed amendment to Article 84-4 of the act stipulates that yacht and motorboat operators would have to return their licenses and suspend operations for between three months and five years if they are found to have used a commercial-use vessels to smuggle goods into the country.
Captains would have their licenses suspended for one month to five years if they abandon a distressed vessel without making reasonable efforts to save passengers and cargo, it says.
A proposed amendment to Article 84 stipulates that employers would be fined NT$60,000 to NT$300,00 if they fail to pay employees in accordance with the regulations.
Those that are fined would be ordered to address the problem or face repeatable fines of NT$120,000 to NT$600,000, it says.
The amendments say that recruiting agencies for seafarers can be established, provided they comply with bureau inspections.
Those that fail inspections would be asked to partially or fully halt operations, the amendments say.
The bureau has the authority to designate entities from the private sector to conduct inspections, they say.
The brilliant blue waters, thick foliage and bucolic atmosphere on this seemingly idyllic archipelago deep in the Pacific Ocean belie the key role it now plays in a titanic geopolitical struggle. Palau is again on the front line as China, and the US and its allies prepare their forces in an intensifying contest for control over the Asia-Pacific region. The democratic nation of just 17,000 people hosts US-controlled airstrips and soon-to-be-completed radar installations that the US military describes as “critical” to monitoring vast swathes of water and airspace. It is also a key piece of the second island chain, a string of
A magnitude 5.9 earthquake that struck about 33km off the coast of Hualien City was the "main shock" in a series of quakes in the area, with aftershocks expected over the next three days, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Prior to the magnitude 5.9 quake shaking most of Taiwan at 6:53pm yesterday, six other earthquakes stronger than a magnitude of 4, starting with a magnitude 5.5 quake at 6:09pm, occurred in the area. CWA Seismological Center Director Wu Chien-fu (吳健富) confirmed that the quakes were all part of the same series and that the magnitude 5.5 temblor was
Taiwan will now have four additional national holidays after the Legislative Yuan passed an amendment today, which also made Labor Day a national holiday for all sectors. The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) used their majority in the Legislative Yuan to pass the amendment to the Act on Implementing Memorial Days and State Holidays (紀念日及節日實施辦法), which the parties jointly proposed, in its third and final reading today. The legislature passed the bill to amend the act, which is currently enforced administratively, raising it to the legal level. The new legislation recognizes Confucius’ birthday on Sept. 28, the
The Central Weather Administration has issued a heat alert for southeastern Taiwan, warning of temperatures as high as 36°C today, while alerting some coastal areas of strong winds later in the day. Kaohsiung’s Neimen District (內門) and Pingtung County’s Neipu Township (內埔) are under an orange heat alert, which warns of temperatures as high as 36°C for three consecutive days, the CWA said, citing southwest winds. The heat would also extend to Tainan’s Nansi (楠西) and Yujing (玉井) districts, as well as Pingtung’s Gaoshu (高樹), Yanpu (鹽埔) and Majia (瑪家) townships, it said, forecasting highs of up to 36°C in those areas
RSS