- Tax Incentives for Foreign Professionals Clarified
In January of this year, the CEPD announced tax incentives for foreign professionals in Taiwan. On 3 September, the Ministry of Finance clarified the definitions of three of the tax incentives: travel expenses for home leave, rent, and scholarships.
Travel expenses for home leave
The Ministry has ruled that only travel expenses for employee home leave can be expensed by the employer where the home leave is stipulated in their employment agreement. Travel expenses for family members are specifically excluded.
Rent
Either the employee or the employer can declare rental expenses.
Scholarships
Scholarships do not include tuition. The employer must award scholarships on the basis of academic and ethical merit.
- Seven-Year Requirement for Permanent Residency Lowered to Five Years
Beginning this month, foreigners wishing to apply for Alien Permanent Residence Certificates (APRCs) will need to prove they have had at least five years of continuous legal residence in Taiwan, rather than the previously required seven years. The amendment to the Immigration Act shortening the legal and continuous residency requirement to five years was announced on December 26, 2007, and came into force on August 1 this year. APRC applicants must still be physically present in Taiwan at least 183 days per year for the five years, with no interruptions in their alien resident certificate status.
For help obtaining work permits and resident status for foreigners and PRC nationals, please contact Tina Chen.
For legal guidance on employment law in Taiwan, please contact Christine Chen.
- Robin Winkler Featured in Taipei Times
Founding partner Robin Winkler is featured in the first issue of the Taipei Times' "Community Compass" page. Robin, a former member of Taiwan's Environmental Impact Assessment Commission, is also an expert on Taiwan's environmental laws and development policy.
- IP Office Overhauls Draft ISP Liability Bill
The Taiwan Intellectual Property Office (TIPO) announced in July 2008 substantial revisions to draft Copyright Act amendments issued in January of this year concerning the liability of internet service providers for copyright infringement by network users.
In the revised draft, the TIPO has not included previously proposed amendments to Article 88 and Article 90.5 of the act that expressly establish liability for parties (read “ISPs”) found to aid or abet copyright infringement or parties who were aware, or ought to have been aware, that a user has exploited their services to infringe the copyright of another. The TIPO has thereby indicated that existing provisions of the act and the Civil Code sufficiently establish liability with respect to ISPs.
With ISP liability generally established in this way, the revised draft amendments focus instead on workable notice/take down and safe harbor mechanisms for the four types of operators that would be subject to the ISP amendments: connection services, caching services, information storage services, and search tool services. Common requirements for obtaining safe harbor immunity from liability that are shared by all four types of ISP include:
- Adopting copyright protection measures and informing users of such measures by contract or other appropriate means, and
- Implementing filtering and content identification technologies provided by rights holders.
Immunity from third-party claims would also be afforded ISPs that have removed or disabled access to infringing content in response to a notice from a copyright owner.
The revised draft differs from the earlier version as well by establishing different safe harbor mechanisms for each of the four types of ISPs based on their unique characteristics. Of note, the revised draft stipulates that information storage service providers should immediately inform rights holders upon receipt of a counter notice to restore content removed. The information storage service provider is not obligated to restore content, however, if the rights holder provides proof within ten days of receiving the counter-notice that it has filed civil litigation for the alleged infringement. If proof has not been provided, the information storage service provider must restore content no later than fourteen days after informing the rights holder. This protocol does not apply to connection, caching and search tool service providers.
For more information about this topic, please contact K. Mark Brown or Employment Terms and Conditions Asia Pacific (Taiwan 2008)
The Taiwan chapter of the 2008 Employment Terms and Conditions – Asia Pacific, published by Watson Wyatt, is a comprehensive overview of the island’s laws and regulations for legal or human resources professionals. The chapter includes information on new pension and equal opportunity requirements, health insurance and hiring requirements for foreigners. It also contains information on obtaining visas for Chinese professionals who need to visit Taiwan for business. We are pleased to present a sample of the Taiwan chapter. The entire report is available for purchase from Watson Wyatt Worldwide.
For help obtaining work permits and resident status for foreigners and PRC nationals, please contact Tina Chen.
For legal guidance on employment law in Taiwan, please contact Christine Chen.
- Winkler Partners Joins '1% for the Planet'
Winkler Partners Attorneys at Law of Taiwan and Foreign Legal Affairs is proud to announce its membership in "1% for the Planet", an international alliance of companies that recognize the true cost of doing business. Member companies donate at least one percent of their sales to a network of more than 1,500 environmental organizations worldwide. Winkler Partners has committed to donate at least three percent of its revenues to environmental and social groups.
"1% for the Planet" was founded in 2001 by Yvon Chouinard, founder of Patagonia, Inc., and Craig Mathews, owner of Blue Ribbon Flies, and now boasts membership of over 700 businesses from around the world, with donations approaching USD 30 million. Members of the alliance are committed to the health of the environment, and strive for corporate responsibility.
- 2007 Enforcement Statistics Released
The Taiwan Intellectual Property Office released its 2007 statistics this month for IPR Police intellectual property enforcement:
Overall Infringement Cases
Identified:
2,280
Trademark Infringement:
1,193
Copyright Infringement:
1,087
Online Infringement:
1,791
Brick and Mortar:
172
Night Markets:
155
Marketing:
8
Manufacturing:
&nb
