The Legislative Yuan today passed amendments to the Telecommunications Management Act (電信管理法) aimed at reducing telecom fraud.
The new amendments require second-level Internet access service providers and mobile virtual network operators to register as official telecommunications businesses.
Within one year of the new regulations going into effect, entities that fail to register would face fines of between NT$100,000 and NT$1 million (US$3,386 and US$33,858) and be given a deadline to comply.
Photo: Fang Wei-chieh, Taipei Times
Failure to meet the deadline would result in repeated fines.
The legislation affects businesses that provide users Internet access, as well as those that lease or purchase phone numbers and networks to then sell their own services to users.
The amendments are necessary because the Telecommunications Act (電信法) was in 2020 replaced by the Telecommunications Management Act, which did not have the same regulations, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Huang Chien-hao (黃健豪) said.
The former act had regulations in place that covered Type II businesses, which are administered by the National Communications Commission, while such regulations were removed from the current act, Huang said.
The goal was to encourage more innovative business models in Type II telecommunications and to develop a wider range of services to stimulate economic activity, but instead, the relaxed regulations allowed fraudsters to exploit loopholes in the system, he said.
Since the repeal of the original law in 2020, the number of fraud cases investigated by prosecutors has risen dramatically, Huang said.
In 2021, there were 98,256 cases of telecom fraud, with the number increasing to 160,803 in 2022, 229,711 in 2023 and 167,932 last year, he said.
The new amendments are a way to reduce fraud using Type II services and telecom fraud more generally, he added.
Taiwan has received more than US$70 million in royalties as of the end of last year from developing the F-16V jet as countries worldwide purchase or upgrade to this popular model, government and military officials said on Saturday. Taiwan funded the development of the F-16V jet and ended up the sole investor as other countries withdrew from the program. Now the F-16V is increasingly popular and countries must pay Taiwan a percentage in royalties when they purchase new F-16V aircraft or upgrade older F-16 models. The next five years are expected to be the peak for these royalties, with Taiwan potentially earning
STAY IN YOUR LANE: As the US and Israel attack Iran, the ministry has warned China not to overstep by including Taiwanese citizens in its evacuation orders The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday rebuked a statement by China’s embassy in Israel that it would evacuate Taiwanese holders of Chinese travel documents from Israel amid the latter’s escalating conflict with Iran. Tensions have risen across the Middle East in the wake of US and Israeli airstrikes on Iran beginning Saturday. China subsequently issued an evacuation notice for its citizens. In a news release, the Chinese embassy in Israel said holders of “Taiwan compatriot permits (台胞證)” issued to Taiwanese nationals by Chinese authorities for travel to China — could register for evacuation to Egypt. In Taipei, the ministry yesterday said Taiwan
‘LIKE-MINDED PARTNER’: Tako van Popta said it would be inappropriate to delay signing the deal with Taiwan because of China, adding he would promote the issue Canadian senators have stressed Taiwan’s importance for international trade and expressed enthusiasm for ensuring the Taiwan-Canada trade cooperation framework agreement is implemented this year. Representative to Canada Harry Tseng (曾厚仁) in an interview with the Central News Agency (CNA) said he was increasingly uneasy about Ottawa’s delays in signing the agreement, especially as Ottawa has warmed toward Beijing. There are “no negotiations left. Not only [is it] initialed, we have three versions of the text ready: English, French and Mandarin,” Tseng said. “That tells you how close we are to the final signature.” Tseng said that he hoped Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney
The US’ joint strikes with Israel on Iran dismantled a key pillar of China’s regional strategy, removing an important piece in Beijing’s potential Taiwan Strait scenario, said Zineb Riboua, a senior researcher at the Hudson Institute’s Center for Middle East Peace and Security. In an article titled: “The Iran Question Is All About China,” Riboua said that understanding the Iran issue in the context of China’s “grand strategy” is essential to fully grasp the complexity of the situation. Beijing has spent billions of dollars over the years turning Iran into a “structural strategic asset,” diverting US military resources in the
RSS