Law News - Lee, Tsai & Partners

2020 年 4 月 1 日

Improper medical treatment shall not be deemed as medical malpractice unless a causal link may be established between such improper treatment and the result (Taiwan)

Ankwei Chen The Taiwan High Court rendered the 107-Zai-Zi-7 Decision on December 19, 2019 (the “Decision”), in which it held that a medical practitioner may only be held liable for medical malpractice if a causal connection is established between the […]

2020 年 4 月 1 日

If a borrowed name contract is permitted, this will affect an insurer’s insurable risk and interest assessment; and, therefore, if an insurance contract is used as an object of such borrowed name contract, such contract should be deemed invalid for violation of public policy (Taiwan)

Debby Yu The Taiwan High Court rendered the 108-Shang-Zi-228 Decision of December 11, 2019 (hereinafter, the “Decision”) to deny the insurable interest asserted by the parties over an insurance contract based on a borrowed name contract. According to the facts […]

2020 年 4 月 1 日

Business taxes basically are value-added business taxes, and the balance of the output tax less the input tax as filed for the current period should serve as the payable or overpaid business tax amount for the current period without giving rise to the issue of double taxation (Taiwan)

Fang-Wei Lin The Supreme Administrative Court rendered the 108-Pan-586 Decision of December 19, 2019 (hereinafter, the “Decision”), holding that business taxes are value-added business taxes in principle, and the balance of the output tax less the input tax as filed […]

2020 年 4 月 1 日

If civil servants willfully or negligently violate the freedom or rights of the people in the performance of their duties and the exercise of government authority with actual damage to the parties, the state shall be liable for compensation (Taiwan)

Jhen-Yi Chen The Taiwan High Court rendered the 108-Shang-Guo-Geng-One-2 Decision of December 11, 2019 (hereinafter, the “Decision”), holding that if civil servants willfully or negligently violate the freedom or rights of the people in the performance of their duties and […]

2020 年 4 月 1 日

When a court investigates evidence at its own initiative, the parties should be given a chance to state their opinions. If this procedure is not followed and the results of evidence investigation are directly relied on as the basis for its judgment, the judgment would be legally defective (Taiwan)

Jenny Chen The Supreme Court rendered the 108-Tai-Shang-1542 Decision of October 30, 2019 (hereinafter, the “Decision”), holding that when a court investigates evidence at its own initiative, the parties should be given a chance to state their opinions; and if […]

2020 年 4 月 1 日

Interpretation on the scope of application claims in reference to embodiments and drawings in a specification should be based on the broadest reasonable interpretation at the time of application (Taiwan)

Luke Hung The Supreme Administrative Court rendered the 108-Pan-556 Decision of December 5, 2019 (hereinafter, the “Decision”), holding that interpretation on the scope of application claims in reference to embodiments and drawings in a specification should be based on the […]

2020 年 4 月 1 日

Civil Decisions and Arbitration Awards Rendered in Mainland China – Status of Enforcement in Taiwan and Cautions (Taiwan)

Teresa Huang and Yuki Chiang[1] In view of the growing trade exchanges between both sides of the Taiwan Strait and the increasing importance in cross-strait civil litigation and arbitration award cases, not only the substantive law involved in the cases […]

2020 年 3 月 20 日

Notice for the Payment of Business Taxes and Issuance of Cloud Invoices by Offshore E-commerce Operators (Taiwan)

Teresa Huang and Jhen-Yi Chen[1] I. Regulatory objectives and legal basis 1. In view of the prosperous development of online trading, it is increasingly common and frequent for domestic buyers (i.e., consumers) of Taiwan to use the Internet to purchase […]

2020 年 3 月 1 日

Whether the Novel Coronavirus Outbreaks Can Serve as the Ground for Adjusting Contract Performance Obligations (Mainland China)

Teresa Huang and Jolene Chen[1] Facing the current grave challenges for controlling the novel coronavirus (“COVID-19”) outbreaks, different parties are in dire straits and the disputes so triggered are no longer avoidable. Particularly for contracts which had been signed before […]

2020 年 3 月 1 日

Parents may obtain death insurance for their children below seven years old without affecting the validity of the insurance contract (Taiwan)

Sean Tsou The Taichung Branch of the Taiwan High Court rendered the 108-Shang-Yi-396 Decision of October 29, 2019 (hereinafter, the “Decision”), which is summarized generally as follows. With respect to common practical circumstances where the parents obtain death insurance for […]

2020 年 3 月 1 日

Employer’s Granting of Leave and Payment of Wages During Novel Coronavirus Outbreak (Taiwan)

Fang-Wei Lin[1] Since the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreakin Wuhan last December, the epidemic has become a global pandemic. To thoroughly carry out epidemic prevention, not only the government has taken all kinds of epidemic quarantine isolation measures pursuant to law,[2] […]

2020 年 3 月 1 日

Whether the Novel Coronavirus Outbreaks Can Serve as the Defense for Nonperformance of Contract (Taiwan)

Teresa Huang and Tiffany Hsiao[1] The novel coronavirus (“COVID-19”) outbreaks in Wuhan of China in December 2019 with ever increasing confirmed infection cases have created fears and anxieties among people all over the world. Governments of various countries have successively […]

2020 年 3 月 1 日

Although Article 16, Paragraph 1 of the Company Law specifically provides that a company shall not serve as a guarantor, still it may jointly issue or endorse checks (Taiwan)

Teresa Huang The Supreme Court rendered the 108-Tai-Shang-779 Decision of August 14, 2019 (hereinafter, the “Decision”), holding that although Article 16, Paragraph 1 of the Company Law specifically provides that a company shall not serve as a guarantor, still a […]

2020 年 3 月 1 日

Legal effects of failure to timely request the extension of time pursuant to the agreement (Taiwan)

Luke Hung I. Notification obligation for the extension of time The extension of time is the most common scenario and dispute for the performance of a typical construction contract. However, whether the reasons, extent and impact of a construction extension […]

2020 年 3 月 1 日

In the absence of a term set for superficies, if the duration has exceeded 20 years or if the purposes for setting up the superficies no longer exist, the court may, upon request, set the duration of the superficies or terminate the superficies (Taiwan)

Debby Yu The Supreme Court rendered the 108-Tai-Shang-1214 Decision of September 12, 2019 (hereinafter, the “Decision”), holding that in the absence of a term set for superficies, if the duration has exceeded 20 years or if the purposes for setting […]

2020 年 3 月 1 日

Since the components of a product in the electronics industry come from different companies in different fields, the mere fact that they may be used in combination shall not be grounds for finding that the products are similar (Taiwan)

Ankwei Chen The Supreme Administrative Court rendered the 108-Pan-375 Decision of July 30, 2019 (the “Decision”), holding that because the components of a product in the electronics industry come from different companies in different fields, it is improper to conclude […]

2020 年 3 月 1 日

With respect to the participation of a factory-based union in the execution of a collective bargaining agreement and the handling of labor disputes, that a factory has its independent personnel, budgeting and accounting functions only highlights that it has a certain scale, not independence (Taiwan)

Tiffany Hsiao The Supreme Administrative Court rendered the 108-Pan-449 Decision of September 20, 2019 (hereinafter, the “Decision”), holding that with respect to the participation of a factory-based union in the execution of a collective bargaining agreement and the handling of […]

2020 年 3 月 1 日

The Supreme Administrative Court affirmed that the soil pollution control sites announced under Article 12, Paragraph 2 of the Soil and Groundwater Pollution Remediation Law can be sufficiently determined if the concentration of pollutants meets the pollution control standards, and it is not necessary to interpret the statutory criteria based on “clear sources of pollution” (Taiwan)

Nora Shih The Supreme Administrative Court rendered the 108-Pan-444 Decision of September 20, 2019 (hereinafter, the “Decision”) to affirm that the soil pollution control sites announced under Article 12, Paragraph 2 of the Soil and Groundwater Pollution Remediation Law can […]

2020 年 3 月 1 日

In case of inadequacies in the installation of facilities such as road and traffic marks, markings and signs, if a traffic accident is attributable to an actor’s behavior due to the failure to follow the onsite road and traffic marks, markings and signs, national compensation cannot be claimed (Taiwan)

Oli Wong The Tainan Branch of the Taiwan High Court rendered the 107-Chung-Shang-Guo-Zi-1 Decision of September 17, 2019 (hereinafter, the “Decision”), holding that in case of inadequacies in the installation of facilities such as road and traffic marks, markings and […]

2020 年 3 月 1 日

The establishment of a trust contract requires not only general establishment criteria such as the parties’ expression of their intent to reach an agreement but also special establishment criteria such as the transfer of the property right of the object held in trust and its actual delivery (Taiwan)

Frank Sun The Supreme Court rendered the 108-Tai-Shang-1353 Decision of September 19, 2019 (hereinafter, the “Decision”), holding that the establishment of a trust contract requires not only general establishment criteria such as the parties’ expression of their intent to reach […]

2020 年 3 月 1 日

Regulations on the Implementation of the Foreign Investment Law of the People’s Republic of China (Mainland China)

Karl Zhang On December 12, 2019, the 74th executive meeting of the State Council adopted the Regulations on the Implementation of the Foreign Investment Law of the People’s Republic of China (the “Regulations”) and announced on the 26th of the […]

2020 年 3 月 1 日

The infringement of a company’s right of name is not limited to the use of the same name, and lawful registration cannot be asserted as a defense for disputes over similar company names (Taiwan)

Elva Chuang The Intellectual Property Court rendered the 108-Min-Kong-Shang-2 Decision of July 1, 2019 (hereinafter, the “Decision”), holding that the infringement of a company’s right of name is not limited to the use of the same name, and lawful registration […]

2020 年 3 月 1 日

Whether false information in financial documents meets the “materiality” criteria under the Securities and Exchange Law should be comprehensively determined by qualitative and quantitative indicators (Taiwan)

Fang-Wei Lin The Supreme Court rendered the 108-Tai-Shang-1547 Decision of July 25, 2019 (hereinafter, the “Decision”), holding that whether false information in financial documents meets the “materiality” criteria under the Securities and Exchange Law should be comprehensively determined by “quantitative […]

2020 年 3 月 1 日

The inventive steps of a patent should be examined based on the technical contents disclosed in its citation documents (Taiwan)

Luke Hung The Supreme Administrative Court rendered the 108-Pan-329 Decision of July 5, 2019 (hereinafter, the “Decision”), holding that the inventive steps of a patent should be examined based on the technical contents disclosed in its citation documents, including contents […]

2020 年 3 月 1 日

Interim Provisions on Market Supervision, Administration and Law Enforcement (Mainland China)

Jolene Chen The State Administration for Market Regulation promulgated on December 31, 2019 the Interim Provisions on Market Supervision, Administration and Law Enforcement (“Interim Provisions”), which will go into effect on April 1, 2020. The Interim Provisions specifically cover law […]

2020 年 3 月 1 日

Interpretations of the Supreme People’s Court on Issues in the Application of the Foreign Investment Law of the People’s Republic of China (Mainland China)

Di Wu On December 26, 2019, the Supreme People’s Court issued the Interpretations of the Supreme People’s Court on Issues in the Application of the Foreign Investment Law of the People’s Republic of China (the “Interpretations”) to provide the following […]

2020 年 3 月 1 日

Provisions on the Governance of the Online Content Environment (Mainland China)

Joyce Wen To create a good online environment and protect the rights and interests of citizens, legal persons and other organizations, the State Internet Information Office has enacted the Provisions on the Governance of the Online Content Environment (the “Provisions”) […]

2020 年 3 月 1 日

Provisions of the Supreme People’s Court on Evidence in Civil Procedures(Mainland China)

Jolene Chen The Supreme People’s Court released the Decision of the Supreme People’s Court on Amending the Provisions on Evidence in Civil Procedures (the “Civil Evidence Provisions of 2019”), which will go into effect on May 1, 2020. The Civil […]

2020 年 2 月 29 日

The applicant of a personal insurance should have the right to independently decide if the right to terminate the insurance contract is to be exercised, and the enforcement court shall not terminate the contract on behalf of the applicant and has no right to order the insurance company to terminate the contract, either (Taiwan)

Debby Yu The Taiwan High Court rendered the 108-Bao-Xian-Shang-Yi-Zi 13 Decision of November 20, 2019 (hereinafter, the “Decision”), holding that the applicant of a personal insurance should have the right to independently decide if the right to terminate the insurance […]

2020 年 2 月 29 日

Although the data about product issues which are obtained by an agency from its audit are the same as those actively reported by the operator, still the agency’s audit is different from the operator’s reporting, and the operator is not released from its reporting obligation as a result of the competent authority’s audit (Taiwan)

Oli Wong The Supreme Administrative Court rendered the 108-Pan-530-Zi Decision of November 14, 2019 (hereinafter, the “Decision”), holding that although the data about product problems which are obtained by an agency from its audit are the same as those actively […]