The Executive Yuan yesterday unveiled draft legislation for the planned national transportation safety council, which is expected to be formed next year at the earliest.
Premier William Lai (賴清德) approved the bills at a meeting, Executive Yuan spokeswoman Kolas Yotaka told a news conference in Taipei.
One bill seeks to change the name of the Organizational Act of the Aviation Safety Council (飛航安全調查委員會組織法) to the organizational act of the national transportation safety council and outlines what the proposed council’s purview would be and how it would be staffed.
Photo: CNA
To complement the bill, a draft amendment to the Aviation Occurrence Investigation Act (飛航事故調查法) was also introduced, which seeks to rename the act to transportation occurrence investigation act and recommends an investigation procedure for major rail, air or marine accidents.
The bills were drafted in the wake of the derailment of Puyuma Express No. 6432 in Yilan County on Oct. 21, in which 18 people were killed and more than 200 were injured, Kolas said, adding that they are part of the premier’s promise to the public to create an impartial and professional body capable of independently probing major transportation accidents.
The council would be modeled after the Japan Transport Safety Board and the US National Transportation Safety Board by expanding the Aviation Safety Council (ASC) to include experts on rail, marine and air transportation safety, she said.
Lai said the bills would be delivered to the Legislative Yuan for review and instructed the Aviation Safety Council and the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics to communicate extensively with the four legislative caucuses in the hope that they would soon be passed, Kolas said.
The proposed council would require about 100 staff members, including the 23 full-time ASC personnel, who are expected to be incorporated into it, ASC Chairman Young Hong-tsu (楊宏智) said.
The proposed council would employ experts specializing in all types of rail transportation systems, as well as experts in highway, sea and river transportation, Young said.
Asked what the bills’ definition of “major” transportation incidents would be, he said the question would have to be answered after the ASC and the Ministry of Transportation and Communications iron out the details.
The council could be created next year at the earliest, while it would take another two years for it to recruit specialists in all of the transportation fields, Young said.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and
RSS