萬國法律事務所

Amendments to an article related to the regulatory sandbox in connection with the Insurance Act, Banking Act, Securities Exchange Act, Futures Trading Act, Trust Law, Securities Investment Trust and Consulting Act, Act Governing Issuance of Electronic Stored Value Cards, and Act Governing Electronic Payment Institutions passed its first reading in the Legislative Yuan (Taiwan’s legislature) on December 19, 2016 (“Amendments to Eight Financial Laws”). 

In addition to the above amendments, the Financial Supervisory Commission (“FSC”) also proposed an amendment to the Financial Consumer Protection Act with respect to an article related to the regulatory sandbox (“FSC Amendment”). In the future, the Amendments to the Eight Financial Laws and the FSC Amendment will be discussed in interparty consultation before the third reading. 

The “Regulatory Sandbox” refers to the government providing a space and a period of time for technology enterprises and financial services enterprises to conduct experiments regarding any newly developed technology to strengthen the accessibility, availability, and quality of financial products, financial services, or financial business models. Before conducting such experiments, a plan must be proposed and examined by the FSC in advance. The FSC may use the experimental results to amend relevant laws or regulations. 

If the Legislative Yuan passes the regulatory sandbox amendment, Taiwan, following the path of the UK, Singapore, and Australia, will become the fourth country to adopt such a regulatory sandbox mechanism.