The Civil Aeronautics Administration (CAA) is to present draft amendments regulating the use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) for legislative review next week, a Cabinet official said on Wednesday.
The draft amendments to the Civil Aviation Act (民用航空法) would also cover aerial photography, airspace and equipment after relevant rules are finalized this week, the official said.
The new measures are to serve as a regulatory framework and come in response to the rising number of UAVs and remote-controlled camera drones appearing in the skies over Taiwan. Th agency is imposing stricter regulations on camera drones weighing 15kg or more, including mandatory certification for the vehicle and operator.
Photo: Lo Pei-der, Taipei Times
Under the proposed rules, the CAA will have authority over drones weighing 15kg and above, while local governments will have jurisdiction over those that weigh less than 15kg, the official said.
The amendments are to take effect next year if they are approved by the Legislative Yuan.
The government is revising the law to tighten drone regulations following a number of crashes that raised security concerns, the official said.
Given that Taiwan is small in area, but densely populated, the regulations will be more stringent than similar laws in the US and the EU, which categorize remote drones as those weighing 25kg and above, the official said.
According to CAA rules, drones must not be flown at an altitude of more than 121.92m and are prohibited from being used to take aerial photographs of important facilities such as the Presidential Office Building and the now-shuttered Fourth Nuclear Power Plant in Gongliao District (貢寮), New Taipei City.
National Kaohsiung University of Science and Technology (NKUST) yesterday promised it would increase oversight of use of Chinese in course materials, following a social media outcry over instances of simplified Chinese characters being used, including in a final exam. People on Threads wrote that simplified Chinese characters were used on a final exam and in a textbook for a translation course at the university, while the business card of a professor bore the words: “Taiwan Province, China.” Photographs of the exam, the textbook and the business card were posted with the comments. NKUST said that other members of the faculty did not see
The Taipei City Government yesterday said contractors organizing its New Year’s Eve celebrations would be held responsible after a jumbo screen played a Beijing-ran television channel near the event’s end. An image showing China Central Television (CCTV) Channel 3 being displayed was posted on the social media platform Threads, sparking an outcry on the Internet over Beijing’s alleged political infiltration of the municipal government. A Taipei Department of Information and Tourism spokesman said event workers had made a “grave mistake” and that the Television Broadcasts Satellite (TVBS) group had the contract to operate the screens. The city would apply contractual penalties on TVBS
A new board game set against the backdrop of armed conflict around Taiwan is to be released next month, amid renewed threats from Beijing, inviting players to participate in an imaginary Chinese invasion 20 years from now. China has ramped up military activity close to Taiwan in the past few years, including massing naval forces around the nation. The game, titled 2045, tasks players with navigating the troubles of war using colorful action cards and role-playing as characters involved in operations 10 days before a fictional Chinese invasion of Taiwan. That includes members of the armed forces, Chinese sleeper agents and pro-China politicians
The lowest temperature in a low-lying area recorded early yesterday morning was in Miaoli County’s Gongguan Township (公館), at 6.8°C, due to a strong cold air mass and the effect of radiative cooling, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. In other areas, Chiayi’s East District (東區) recorded a low of 8.2°C and Yunlin County’s Huwei Township (虎尾) recorded 8.5°C, CWA data showed. The cold air mass was at its strongest from Saturday night to the early hours of yesterday. It brought temperatures down to 9°C to 11°C in areas across the nation and the outlying Kinmen and Lienchiang (Matsu) counties,
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