萬國法律事務所

Today, many people have spent considerable sums on cord blood banks (banks). However, in recent years, many disputes have arisen regarding infections in the umbilical cord blood saved in the banks. Thus, Taiwan’s Department of Health has recently announced a new policy to deal with this issue. From the effective date of the policy, if contamination or damage is caused to the umbilical cord blood saved, the bank must refund the contractual price. Further, a penalty may be imposed and the bank may be held liable for compensation equaling three times the amount of the contractual price.

Although the Department of Health published guidelines in 2007 suggesting the way that contracts for umbilical cord blood deposit should be drafted, these guidelines were for reference only and had no legal effect. As such, the Department has suggested that the part of the guidelines that identifies matters that must be included in a Contract should be made compulsory in order to protect consumers from overly exaggerated advertisements.

The draft of the policy states that even if the fault does not lie with the bank, compensation of one times the amount of the contractual price still must be paid to the consumer. For those banks that cannot prove that they were not at fault, compensation of two times the amount of the contractual price must be paid. Banks that have intentionally damaged the umbilical cord blood saved will be required to compensate in an amount equal to three times the amount of the contractual price. Finally, banks cannot prohibit consumers from terminating a contract at an earlier date.

Further negotiations will be carried out by the Department of Health and the effective date of the new policy will be announced at a future date.