萬國法律事務所

Taiwan’s Executive Yuan has recently proposed the imposition of harsher punishments for illegal high-technology exports sent to China during a period of heightened tensions resulting from the enactment of an \"Anti-Secession\" Law passed in Beijing this Spring.

This draft version of the Sensitive Scientific Technology Protection Bill, which is intended to supplement and update the National Technology Protection Law, stipulates that persons or entities may be fined a maximum amount of up to NT$ 30 million (approximately US$ 951,500) if it is discovered that they are exporting \"sensitive technologies\" to China without the necessary Taiwan government authorization. It is expected that the draft bill will soon be sent to Taiwan’s lawmakers ate the Legislative Yuan for review and deliberation.

Under the current the National Technology Protection Law, a person convicted of violating the restrictions on the export of sensitive technologies may be subject to a sentence of up to ten and one-half years imprisonment and or a fine of a maximum amount of NT$ 10 million (approximately US$ 317,167).

Taiwan currently prohibits the transfer to China of technologies such as 12-inch wafer manufacturing, integrated-circuit (IC) design, IC packaging and testing, and high-end flat-panel display production, because Taiwan’s Ministry of Economic Affairs considers these technologies to be “sensitive”.