Regulations In Taiwan Research Articles

Legal Transplantation or Legal Innovation? Equity-Crowdfunding Regulation in Taiwan after the U.S. JOBS Act

Crowdfunding has caused a worldwide revolution in early-stage startup financing during recent years. In the United States, the expansion of for-profit crowdfunding platforms to fund small businesses and startups prompted Congress to pass the game-changing law on equity crowdfunding, Title III of the JOBS Act in 2012 (“CROWDFUND Act”). While its specific rules and regulations as adopted by the SEC takes effect this year, the substance of the JOBS Act as a whole is geared more towards the goal of capital formation, over the historically promoted goal of investor protection. The use of equity crowdfunding has extended over to Taiwan as well. In 2014, the Taiwanese government created the “Go Incubation Board for Startup and Acceleration” (“GISA Board”), a government-sanctioned public equity crowdfunding platform run by the GreTai Securities Market (“GTSM”), a government-controlled foundation. It first promulgated the GISA Regulations and soon thereafter the Private Portal Regulations to govern the public and private platforms, respectively. Though transplanted from the CROWDFUND Act, Taiwan’s legal adaption or innovation reflects its path dependence on a high level of investor protection underlying local securities regulation, placing much more emphasis on investor protection than on capital formation, in theory. From a public choice perspective, the resultant features of Taiwan’s legal transplantation could be attributed to lobbying and influence by incumbent securities firms, as well as the GTSM’s own political incentives. This Article argues that a comparative and qualitative study of Taiwan’s equity crowdfunding regulatory patterns reveals that the transplantation of the U.S. model tends to be more of form than of substance, that is, of copying the text rather than pursuing the goal of capital formation in practice.

Food suppliers' perceptions and practical implementation of food safety regulations in Taiwan

The relationships between the perceptions and practical implementation of food safety regulations by food suppliers in Taiwan were evaluated. A questionnaire survey was used to identify individuals who were full-time employees of the food supply industry with at least 3 months of experience. Dimensions of perceptions of food safety regulations were classified using the constructs of attitude of employees and corporate concern attitude for food safety regulation. The behavior dimension was classified into employee behavior and corporate practice. Food suppliers with training in food safety were significantly better than those without training with respect to the constructs of perception dimension of employee attitude, and the constructs of employee behavior and corporate practice associated with the behavior dimension. Older employees were superior in perception and practice. Employee attitude, employee behavior, and corporate practice were significantly correlated with each other. Satisfaction with governmental management was not significantly related to corporate practice. The corporate implementation of food safety regulations by suppliers was affected by employees' attitudes and behaviors. Furthermore, employees' attitudes and behaviors explain 35.3% of corporate practice. Employee behavior mediates employees' attitudes and corporate practices. The results of this study may serve as a reference for governmental supervision and provide training guidelines for workers in the food supply industry.

Current controlled drug regulation in Taiwan

In order to strengthen the management system of medical and scientific use of controlled drugs, Taiwan government referred to the three major drug control treaties of United Nation to formulate the “Controlled Drugs Act” in 1999. There are three kinds of system to manage controlled drugs, including (1) Schedule Management, (2) Licensing Regulation Management and (3) Diversion Control Management, such as the reporting and auditing systems. In this article, the management system of controlled drugs will be discussed thoroughly. Under the “Controlled Drugs Act”, the controlled drugs are scheduled by the tendency of their habitual use, drug dependency, abuse, and social hazard. If violating the rule, the administrative sanction is applied. Cases of violations will also be given in this article.

Robust hedging performance and volatility risk in option markets: Application to Standard and Poor's 500 and Taiwan index options

We investigate daily robust hedging performance with trading costs for markets of Standard and Poor's (S&P) 500 Index options (SPX) and Taiwan index options (TXO). In addition, we conduct a theoretical analysis to cope with the price limit constraint in TXO. Robust hedging refers to minimal model dependence on a risky asset price. Two hedging categories, including “Model-Free” and “Volatility-Model-Free,” are investigated, and nonparametric methods for volatility estimation are considered in our empirical study. In particular, instantaneous volatility is estimated by a proposed nonlinear correction scheme of the Fourier transform method (Malliavin & Mancino, 2009), justified by a simulation study for a local volatility model. We found an asymmetric phenomenon in hedging performance. Hedging portfolios constructed from the “Volatility-Model-Free” category were found to induce much higher Sharpe ratios than those from the “Model-Free” category on SPX, while they were found to perform comparably on TXO. Motivated from the price limit regulation in Taiwan, we further develop a time-scale change method to explain this phenomenon. Asymptotic moment estimates of differences in some hedging portfolios are consistent with our empirical findings.

Food Safety Program in Asian Countries.

By using the ILSI network in Asia, we are holding a session focused on food safety programs in several Asian areas. In view of the external environment, it is expected to impact the global food system in the near future, including the rapid increase in food demand and in public health services due to population growth, as well as the threats to biosecurity and food safety due to the rapid globalization of the food trade. Facilitating effective information sharing holds promise for the activation of the food industry. At this session, Prof. Hwang shares the current situation of Food Safety and Sanitation Regulations in Taiwan. Dr. Liu provides a talk on the role of risk assessment in food regulatory control focused on aluminum-containing food additives in China. After the JECFA evaluation of aluminum-containing food additives in 2011, each country has carried out risk assessment based on dietary intake surveys. Ms. Chan reports on the activities of a working group on Food Standards Harmonization in ASEAN. She also explains that the ILSI Southeast Asia Region has actively supported the various ASEAN Working Groups in utilizing science to harmonize food standards. Prof. Park provides current research activities in Korea focused on the effect of climate change on food safety. Climate change is generally seen as having a negative impact on food security, particularly in developing countries. We use these four presentations as a springboard to vigorous discussion on issues related to Food Safety in Asia.

Development of Taiwan's strategies for regulating nanotechnology-based pharmaceuticals harmonized with international considerations.

Nanotechnology offers potential in pharmaceuticals and biomedical developments for improving drug delivery systems, medical imaging, diagnosis, cancer therapy, and regenerative medicine. Although there is no international regulation or legislation specifically for nanomedicine, it is agreed worldwide that considerably more attention should be paid to the quality, safety, and efficacy of nanotechnology-based drugs. The US Food and Drug Administration and the European Medicines Agency have provided several draft regulatory guidance and reflection papers to assist the development of nanomedicines. To cope with the impact of nanotechnology and to foster its pharmaceutical applications and development in Taiwan, this article reviews the trends of regulating nanotechnology-based pharmaceuticals in the international community and proposes strategies for Taiwan’s regulation harmonized with international considerations. The draft regulatory measures include a chemistry, manufacturing, and controls (CMC) review checklist and guidance for CMC review of liposomal products. These have been submitted for discussion among an expert committee, with membership comprised of multidisciplinary academia, research institutions, the pharmaceutical industry, and regulators, and are currently approaching final consensus. Once a consensus is reached, these mechanisms will be recommended to the Taiwan Food and Drug Administration for jurisdiction and may be initiated as the starting point for regulating nanotechnology-based pharmaceuticals in Taiwan.

Computational analysis on the performance of smoke exhaust systems in small vestibules of high-rise buildings

The vestibules in high-rise buildings are specified zones for fire safety. In Taiwan, the designs of the structures and smoke exhaust systems of the vestibules are supervised by different government agencies. The design principles of these smoke exhaust systems take into consideration the flow rates and the impact of the flow momentum. Unfortunately, the current regulations in Taiwan only consider the former. Some small vestibules legally exist in high-rise buildings as they are in compliance with building regulations. This study uses the Fire Dynamics Simulator to analyse 20 modes of smoke exhaust systems under 1.0 MW of the fire load in small vestibules (2 m2 in area). The results indicate that the performance of different smoke exhaust systems significantly varies with different airflow momentums. Some improvement measures are discussed for the worst cases.

The market response of insider transferring trades and firm characteristics in Taiwan

This paper reports the announcement effects of insider transfer trades and relates these with firms' characteristics. Regulations in Taiwan specify that insiders give three days prior notice to the competent authority of stock transfers and this news can stimulate market participants' investment decisions. We find both the positive and negative abnormal returns exist following insider transfer trade announcements, especially for smaller firm. However, smaller firm sizes associate with larger magnitudes of negative abnormal returns. Furthermore, the connection between smaller firms and those with higher book-to-market ratios strengthens for larger negative abnormal returns.

An analysis of stock repurchase in Taiwan

We show that the specific regulation in Taiwan requiring firms to repurchase shares explicitly to resolve the information ambiguity does not prevent market underreaction by the evidences of positive short-term and long-term abnormal return. In addition, firms that retire their buybacks show a superior long-term performance than those that reissue the buybacks. Our results show that the long-term price performance is positively related to firms' operating performance and dividend payouts in the post-repurchase period. Further analysis indicates that the market reacts asymmetrically to the changes of firms' operating performance and dividend payout level.

Regulatory Promotion of Waste Wood Reused as an Energy Source and the Environmental Concerns about Ash Residue in the Industrial Sector of Taiwan

The objective of this paper was to provide a preliminary analysis of the utilization of energy derived from waste wood in Taiwan, a highly industrialized country with a high dependence (over 99%) on imported energy. The discussion focuses on the status of waste wood generation and its management over the past decade. Findings show that the quantities of biomass waste collected for reuse purposes in the industrial sectors of Taiwan has exhibited an increasing trend, from about 4000 tons in 2001 to over 52,000 tons in 2010. Although waste wood can be reused as a fuel and raw material for a variety of applications based on regulatory promotion, the most commonly used end use is to directly utilize it as an auxiliary fuel in industrial utilities (e.g., boilers, heaters and furnaces) for the purpose of co-firing with coal/fuel oil. The most progressive measure for promoting biomass-to-power is to introduce the feed-in tariff (FIT) mechanism according to the Renewable Energy Development Act passed in June 2009. The financial support for biomass power generation has been increasing over the years from 0.070 US$/kWh in 2010 to 0.094 US$/kWh in 2012. On the other hand, the environmental regulations in Taiwan regarding the hazard identification of wood-combusted ash (especially in filter fly-ash) and its options for disposal and utilization are further discussed in the paper, suggesting that waste wood impregnated with chromated copper arsenate (CCA) and other copper-based preservatives should be excluded from the wood-to-energy system. Finally, some recommendations for promoting wood-to-energy in the near future of Taiwan are addressed.

IVF policy and global/local politics: The making of multiple-embryo transfer regulation in Taiwan

This paper analyzes the regulatory trajectory of multiple-embryo transfer in in-vitro fertilization (IVF) in Taiwan. Taking a latecomer to policy-making as the case, it argues the importance of conceptualizing the global/local dynamics in policy-making for assisted reproductive technology (ART). The conceptual framework is built upon recent literature on standardization, science policy, and global assemblage. I propose three interrelated features that reveal the “global in the local”: (1) the power relationships among stakeholders, (2) the selected global form that involved actors drew upon, and (3) the re-contextualized assemblage made of local networks. Data included archives, interviews, and participant observation. In different historical periods the specific stakeholders selected different preferred global forms for Taiwan, such as Britain’s code of ethics in the 1990s, the American guideline in the early 2000s, and the European trend in the mid-2000s. The global is heterogeneous. The failure to transfer the British regulation, the revision of the American guideline by adding one more embryo than it specified, and the gap between the cited European trend and the “no more than four” in Taiwan’s 2007 Human Reproduction Law all show that the local network further transforms the selected global form, confining it to rhetoric only or tailoring it to local needs. Overall, Taiwanese practitioners successfully maintained their medical autonomy to build a ‘flexible standardization’. Multiple pregnancy remains the most common health risk of IVF in Taiwan.

Probabilistic fracture analysis for boiling water reactor pressure vessels subjected to low temperature over-pressure event

This paper performs the probabilistic fracture analyses for boiling water reactor pressure vessels subjected to the low temperature over-pressure event. Using the FAVOR code, which was developed by the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in America, a conservative model with the plant specific data of domestic BWRs in Taiwan to the USNRC requirements is built. A hypothetical transient of low temperature over-pressure event which could severely challenge the integrity of reactor pressure vessel of BWR is assumed as the loading condition for the probabilistic fracture mechanics analyses. The effects of performing inservice inspection on the probability of failure are also simulated. The computed low probability of failure indicates that the analyzed reactor pressure vessel can maintain sufficient reliability even without performing any inservice inspections for the circumferential welds. It also indicates that extensive inservice inspections on shell welds cannot promote the compensating level of safety significantly. Present results can be regarded as the risk incremental factors compared with the safety regulation requirements on reactor pressure vessel degradation. The developed probabilistic fracture mechanics model is helpful for the subsequent BWR regulation in Taiwan.

Discuss the Management of Fiscal Information in Taiwan by Fiscal Sociology

Taiwan's fiscal transparency exists the following deficiencies--the repeating characters and functions in the government, the vague boundaries of government department, the differential definition of government's debts between Taiwan's regulations and international's, inadequate disclosure of economic hypotheses and fiscal risks, and the contents of budget report without systematically. Furthermore, the unreasonable resources distribution between profession and non-professional hierarchy is the reasons of imbalance between supply and demand of fiscal information in Taiwan.

Dilution/incentive effects associating with employee bonuses in Taiwan: Empirical findings under two regimes

Taiwan's regulation used to treat employee bonuses as one of after-tax-earnings distributing items. In response to the anti-dumping charges launched by American manufacturers against Taiwanese SRAM firms, Taiwan Securities and Futures Commission issues a new directive on January 30, 2003 which requires the listed companies to disclose pro forma EPS after deducting employee bonuses and director/supervisor compensations, that is, implicitly recognizing employee bonus as an expense item in annual reports. This study examines the valuation implication of mandatory disclosure of employee bonus related information after the issuance of the new directive by examining whether stock price movements can reflect such institutional changes. The empirical findings are in conformity with the expectation: Before the issuance of Directive No. 457, the market tends to overestimate the incentive effect arising from the employee bonuses; after the issuance of Directive No. 457, the market reacts negatively once employee bonuses are recognized implicitly as operating expenses. This study implements several diagnostic checks and demonstrates that our empirical results are robust to various specifications.

Hazard of Vibration and Healthy Risk Assessment for Domestic Dump Truck Driver in Taiwan

This research expects to investigate yet at domestic-dump truck driver, carry on the preliminary vibration determination. This research studies ten dump trucks in Yunlin County and precede questionnaire at the sandstone field. The ISO 2631-1:1997 and Article 301 in Taiwan’s regulation “Rules of Equipment and Measures for Protecting Labors’ Safety and Health” are used to evaluate tolerable exposure time per day for drivers. And in accordance with ISO 2631-5:2004 to assessment healthy risk for dump truck driver. In accordance with Article 301 of Labor Safety and Health regulation in Taiwan’s to estimate tolerable exposure time. A half tolerable exposure time present lower than 8 hours. In accordance with ISO 2631-1:1997 to estimate tolerable exposure time, no matter use equation B.1 or B.2 to calculate tri-axis compose acceleration. All tolerable exposure time present lower than 8 hours. If basis of ISO 2631-5:2004 to evaluation healthy risk for driver.

Effect of NaOH on the vitrification process of waste Ni–Cr sludge

This study investigated the effect of NaOH on the vitrification of electroplating sludge. Ni, the major metal in the electroplating sludge, is the target for recovery in the vitrification. Sludge and encapsulation materials (dolomite, limestone, and cullet) were mixed and various amounts of NaOH were added to serve as a glass modifier and a flux. A vitrification process at 1450 °C separated the molten specimens into slag and ingot. The composition, crystalline characteristics, and leaching characteristics of samples were measured. The results indicate that the recovery of Ni is optimal with a 10% NaOH mass ratio; the recoveries of Fe, Cr, Zn, Cu, and Mn all exhibited similar trends. The results of the toxicity characteristic leaching procedure (TCLP) show that leaching characteristics of the slag meet the requirements of regulation in Taiwan. In addition, a semi-quantitative X-ray diffraction analysis revealed that the main crystalline phase of slag changed from Ca 3(Si 3O 9) to Na 4Ca 4(Si 6O 18) with a NaOH mass ratio of over 15%, because the Ca 2+ ions were replaced with Na + ions during the vitrification process. Na 4Ca 4(Si 6O 18), a complex mineral which hinders the mobility of metals, accounts for the decrease of metal recovery.

Analysis of Country of Origin Labeling for Food Products in Taiwan Using Auction Experiment

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the economic benefits of country of origin labeling (COOL) regulation by estimating the consumer’s willingness to pay (WTP) for Taiwan products vs. other imported products if clearly labeled with their countries of origin. We employ the Vickrey second-price sealed bid auction and conducted auctions in three major cities in Taiwan in 2009. Charcoal-smoked plums from Taiwan and China and oolong teas from Taiwan, China, and Vietnam are auctioned products. One important feature of our experimental design is to investigate the impacts of product tasting on bidding behavior. We estimated Tobit bid models and the OLS premium functions. The regression results show that product tasting affected the participants’ WTP positively or negatively depending on products. Specifically, tasting raised bids for Taiwan and China teas, but lowered bids for Vietnam tea. The econometric results show very high premiums for Taiwan products, ranging from 83% to 109% for tea and 55% to 66% for charcoal-smoked plum. These findings clearly show strong preference of Taiwanese consumers over food and agricultural products produced domestically. It is very important to have rigorous COOL regulation in Taiwan. If all foods and agricultural products are clearly labeled with their countries of origin, Taiwanese consumers and food producers stand to benefit greatly with COOL. The COOL would be one of the best instruments to reduce the negative impacts of agricultural trade liberalization under WTO or ECFA.

Evaluation of depth dose and glandular dose for digital mammography

Abstract The purpose of this study is to evaluate the depth dose and mean glandular dose for the latest digital mammography. Depth doses were measured using GR-200F thin-film TLDs comprising LiF:Mg,Cu,P over three kinds of composition of mammographic phantom (glandular/fat: 30/70; 50/50; 70/30) under automatic exposure control by a digital mammographic unit (Novation DR, Siemens). Mean glandular doses were derived from entrance surface doses which were measured according to the Mammography Quality Control Manual of American College of Radiology. Two types of mean glandular dose calculation system were used and compared in this study. The depth dose could be established with thin-film TLDs and fitted by the model considered the primary and scatter radiation. The 50% depth dose falls at a depth of between 0.62 and 1.71 cm, which can represent the beam quality of X-ray spectra. The MGD calculated by Dance's method is 9–21% higher than that by Wu's method. Therefore, the difference should be considered by the Taiwan's regulation for Novation DR digital mammographic units.

Effective removal of disinfection by-products and assimilable organic carbon: An advanced water treatment system

The purpose of this work is to investigate an advanced water treatment system changes on disinfects by-products (DBPs) precursors removal efficiencies of treatment plant and associated trihalomethanes (THMs) and haloacetic acids (HAA 5) formation and assimilable organic carbon (AOC) in reduction from raw water through finished water of Fong-shan Water Treatment Plant (FSWTP) in Kaohsiung City, Taiwan. Drinking water samples were collected from an advanced water treatment plant during March–October 2008. In the formation of DBPs, advanced water treatment processes efficiently removed THMs and HAA 5. The concentrations of THMs and HAA 5 in finished water were reduced to 13.97 μg/L and 17.67 μg/L, respectively. In this investigation, the AOC was reduced effectively by ozonation and biological activated carbon (BAC) processes. Experimental results of this 6-month investigation indicate that AOC concentrations in the finished water can meet the WTP criterion of 50 μg acetate-C/L in the world. Results of this study provide a valuable reference for solving DBPs and AOC control of water treatment plants and the setting of regulations in Taiwan.

A Three-Year Experience to Implement Laboratory Biosafety Regulations in Taiwan

A Three-Year Experience to Implement Laboratory Biosafety Regulations in Taiwan