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.
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