Barring any opposition, draft regulations by the Transitional Justice Commission on submission of classified records or files held by political parties, their affiliate organizations and party-operated organizations are to be passed on Wednesday next week, the commission said yesterday.
The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and the Young China Party (中國青年黨) were the only parties to attend a commission meeting yesterday afternoon.
Parties invited included the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), the Chinese Democratic Action Party (民主行動黨) and the Chinese Democratic Socialist Party (中國民主社會黨), the commission said.
Resolutions were passed regarding the submission format, file names, file serial numbers, signatures, method of storage and duration of storage, and would be forwarded for committee approval at the Legislative Yuan on Wednesday, commission Deputy Chairman Chang Tien-chin (張天欽) said.
The parties in attendance were glad to cooperate on measures that would reveal historic truths, commission member Yeh Hung-ling (葉虹靈) said.
Forms are to be designed to make it easy for political parties to fill them out, Yeh said, adding that whether files or records need to be stored in the National Archives would depend on their contents.
Regarding the absence of the KMT, Chang said that attendance at the meeting was voluntary, and the commission hoped to receive input from political parties and experts.
There would be no punitive measures for parties that did not attend, Chang added.
Article 14 of the Act on Promoting Transitional Justice (促進轉型正義條例) states that the commission could launch investigations of political parties and ask them to clarify what files are in their possession.
Political parties that fail to cooperate with such an investigation could face a fine of between NT$100,000 and NT$500,000 (US$3,271 and US$16,354), Chang said, adding that those that refuse to turn over political files could be fined up to NT$5 million.
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