The Consumer Protection Commission yesterday announced the creation of a standard contract for the purchase of columbaria — a niche in a vault where cremated remains are stored — which protects consumers’ rights to cancel a contract and decide where their urn is placed.
The commission said most Taiwanese place considerable importance on making good funeral arrangements for their parents, so more people are buying columbaria in columbariums.
However, there have been many contractual disputes over columbaria purchases in recent years, such as the seller requesting a large compensation for breach of contract, or the buyer being unable to choose where the urn will be placed, it added.
In effort to solve these disputes, the commission has reviewed and approved a standard contract proposed by the Ministry of Interior that requires columbarium management to make clear their management and operation fees so consumers can be properly informed.
In addition, the standard contract allows consumers to terminate the purchase before the columbaria is used. It further stipulates that the provider may only charge a limited compensation for breach of contract that is determined at an accelerating ratio — a full refund if the contract is broken 14 days after signing, less than 10 percent of the charged price if the breach is between 15 days and three months after signing and a maximum of 40 percent of the price if the contract is terminated after three years.
Commission official Chen Hsing-hung (陳星宏) said that given the custom of selecting a location for urns according to fengshui (風水), columbarium management should allow consumers to choose their location. Providers also cannot define the contents of their service items as “for reference only.”
The standard contract may be enacted as early as next month and providers who do not comply with its terms may face a fine between NT$30,000 and NT$150,000, he said.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫), spokeswoman Yang Chih-yu (楊智伃) and Legislator Hsieh Lung-chieh (謝龍介) would be summoned by police for questioning for leading an illegal assembly on Thursday evening last week, Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) said today. The three KMT officials led an assembly outside the Taipei City Prosecutors’ Office, a restricted area where public assembly is not allowed, protesting the questioning of several KMT staff and searches of KMT headquarters and offices in a recall petition forgery case. Chu, Yang and Hsieh are all suspected of contravening the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法) by holding
PRAISE: Japanese visitor Takashi Kubota said the Taiwanese temple architecture images showcased in the AI Art Gallery were the most impressive displays he saw Taiwan does not have an official pavilion at the World Expo in Osaka, Japan, because of its diplomatic predicament, but the government-backed Tech World pavilion is drawing interest with its unique recreations of works by Taiwanese artists. The pavilion features an artificial intelligence (AI)-based art gallery showcasing works of famous Taiwanese artists from the Japanese colonial period using innovative technologies. Among its main simulated displays are Eastern gouache paintings by Chen Chin (陳進), Lin Yu-shan (林玉山) and Kuo Hsueh-hu (郭雪湖), who were the three young Taiwanese painters selected for the East Asian Painting exhibition in 1927. Gouache is a water-based
Taiwan would welcome the return of Honduras as a diplomatic ally if its next president decides to make such a move, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. “Of course, we would welcome Honduras if they want to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan after their elections,” Lin said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, when asked to comment on statements made by two of the three Honduran presidential candidates during the presidential campaign in the Central American country. Taiwan is paying close attention to the region as a whole in the wake of a
OFF-TARGET: More than 30,000 participants were expected to take part in the Games next month, but only 6,550 foreign and 19,400 Taiwanese athletes have registered Taipei city councilors yesterday blasted the organizers of next month’s World Masters Games over sudden timetable and venue changes, which they said have caused thousands of participants to back out of the international sporting event, among other organizational issues. They also cited visa delays and political interference by China as reasons many foreign athletes are requesting refunds for the event, to be held from May 17 to 30. Jointly organized by the Taipei and New Taipei City governments, the games have been rocked by numerous controversies since preparations began in 2020. Taipei City Councilor Lin Yen-feng (林延鳳) said yesterday that new measures by
RSS