萬國法律事務所

Amendments to the Act Governing Food Sanitation, Health Food Control Act and Pharmaceutical Affairs Act have passed first review in the Legislative Yuan today. In the future, spokespersons in advertisements will be subject to joint and several liability for false endorsements.

In 2010, amendments to the Fair Trade Act provided for the joint and several compensatory liability for false endorsements by advertisement endorsers and required amendments to the relevant laws, leading to the amendment to the above-referenced statutes. The new provisions provide that where advertisement endorsers know or could have known that the endorsement undertaken would likely be misleading, said endorsers will assume joint and several compensatory liability with the advertisement sponsor. The advertisement endorsers include, other than the advertisement sponsor, any person or institution which expresses any opinion, trust, discovery or personal experience with respect to the product in the advertisement.

Currently, a fine between NT$ 200,000 and NT$ 1 million may be imposed in the case where food ads unlawfully state the efficacy of the product. However, the deterrence power is low in light of the large profits generated by unlawful ads and the new provisions increase the fines to between NT$ 600,000 and NT$ 5 million, which may be fined successively until the ad is withdrawn.

Further, in the future where there is serious violation in ads of food, health food or medication that is misleading to the public, in addition to withdrawing the advertisement and the prohibition on the distribution and supply of products, the business must also publicize a corrective ad clearly indicating and apologizing for the false information at the same timeslot and in the same size as the original advertisement. Advertisement in this case includes various forms such as advertorial, celebrity endorsement programs, strip advertising programs, TV shopping promotions, and advertising in print or electronic media.