萬國法律事務所

Taiwan’s Legislative Yuan has approved an amendment to the Administrative Litigation Act, according to which the local district courts will be the first courts to hear cases for simple and traffic matters. The trial system has been amended from a two to three tier system.

Under the current Act, only the High Administrative Court, which has venues in Taipei, Taichung and Kaohsiung, can hear administrative cases. This makes it inconvenient for people who live in eastern Taiwan or on the off-shore islands to participate in and attend litigation hearings.

According to this amendment, simple proceedings, compulsory enforcement proceedings, injunctive proceedings, preservation of evidence petitions and actions where the value of the claim does not exceed NT$ 400,000 will be referred to the appropriate District Courts. Moreover, traffic cases will be referred to administrative proceeding rather than be referred to the criminal court. The judgments will become final and binding upon the conclusion of appeal at the High Administrative Court.

For actions where the value of the claim exceeds NT$ 400,000, the High Administrative Court will remain the court of first instance. This new amendment will become effective on 6 September 2012.