The government has no intention of drafting specific legislation to regulate Uber, Minister of Transportation and Communications Hochen Tan (賀陳旦) said yesterday, adding that it would be difficult to remove the UberEats app from mobile app stores.
Controversy over the ride-sharing app remained the focus of discussions at a meeting of the legislature’s Transportation Committee yesterday, which was scheduled to review the budget for the Institute of Transportation for fiscal 2017.
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislators Cheng Pao-ching (鄭寶清), Chao Cheng-yu (趙正宇) and Cheng Yun-peng (鄭運鵬) mentioned UberEats, an app developed by Uber to deliver food from restaurants to its users’ homes, and asked what the ministry was going to do about it as Uber Taiwan is today set to unveil the details of the service.
The lawmakers said that UberEats should not be available for download if Uber continues to operate illegally in Taiwan, adding that taking down the app is the only effective solution to the problem.
UberEats plans to recruit motorcycle riders who are 19 or older, whose motorcycles are less than 15 years old and can carry items weighing 15kg, the lawmakers said, adding that it might encourage many young motorcycle riders to take a part-time Uber job.
Should the ministry fail to regulate the food delivery service, the nation would see more motorcyclists speeding or swerving in and out of traffic, they added.
Hochen said the ministry would crack down on drivers or motorcyclists working for UberEats, even though they would be carrying food rather than people.
However, he said there might be a problem if the government requests that the app be taken down from mobile app stores, which could cause there to be litigation with e-commerce operators.
The ministry is to send an official notice to Uber to address the situation, Hochen said.
He said Uber is apparently interested in expanding its market in Taiwan, but it insists on doing business its own way.
“Uber has only two ways to go, it either becomes taxi company or a taxi service operator. The latter can develop an app that matches consumers with legal taxi services. I am sure that Uber should know by now our determination to keep handing down fines if it is unwilling to become a legal operation,” Hochen said.
The bottom line is that Uber should be regulated, pay taxes and ensure that passengers are fully insured, Hochen said, but the government would not draft a tailor-made law to regulate the ride-sharing app.
An undersea cable to Penghu County has been severed, the Ministry of Digital Affairs said today, with a Chinese-funded ship suspected of being responsible. It comes just a month after a Chinese ship was suspected of severing an undersea cable north of Keelung Harbor. The National Communications and Cyber Security Center received a report at 3:03am today from Chunghwa Telecom that the No. 3 cable from Taiwan to Penghu was severed 14.7km off the coast of Tainan, the Ministry of Digital Affairs said. The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) upon receiving a report from Chunghwa Telecom began to monitor the Togolese-flagged Hong Tai (宏泰)
EVA Air is prohibiting the use of portable chargers on board all flights starting from Saturday, while China Airlines is advising passengers not to use them, following the lead of South Korean airlines. Current regulations prohibit portable chargers and lithium batteries from check-in luggage and require them to be properly packed in carry-on baggage, EVA Air said. To improve onboard safety, portable chargers and spare lithium batteries would be prohibited from use on all fights starting on Saturday, it said. Passengers are advised to fully charge electronic devices before boarding and use the AC and USB charging outlets at their seat, it said. South
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Actor Lee Wei (李威) was released on bail on Monday after being named as a suspect in the death of a woman whose body was found in the meeting place of a Buddhist group in Taipei’s Daan District (大安) last year, prosecutors said. Lee, 44, was released on NT$300,000 (US$9,148) bail, while his wife, surnamed Chien (簡), was released on NT$150,000 bail after both were summoned to give statements regarding the woman’s death. The home of Lee, who has retreated from the entertainment business in the past few years, was also searched by prosecutors and police earlier on Monday. Lee was questioned three
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