Telecoms and Internet service providers (ISPs) that fail to comply with government regulations to block broadcasts from illegal over-the-top (OTT) service operators from China could face a fine of up to NT$5 million (US$1.69 million), according to a draft Internet audiovisual service management act passed by the National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday.
Details of the draft act are scheduled to be announced next week after the wording of its articles is reviewed by NCC commissioners, it said, adding that the act would be subject to a 60-day public review period afterward.
Regarding Chinese Internet audiovisual service operators that operate in Taiwan illegally without securing permission in accordance with the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例), the draft act states that Taiwanese telecoms and ISPs should not offer them telecommunication service or equipment, data center services, content delivery network services or cloud services, the commission said.
Photo courtesy of a reader
They should also comply with government regulations to block the broadcast of Chinese operators’ content in the nation, it added.
Industry observers said that the draft act specifically targets Chinese OTT operators iQiyi.com (愛奇藝) and Tencent Video (騰訊視頻), which the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) had ruled as illegal audiovisual service operators based on the act regulating cross-strait affairs.
Although operating illegally in Taiwan, iQiyi has about 6 million subscribers across the nation, they said.
The nation’s ISPs and other relevant service providers must not help OTT operators transmit content so long as the MAC deems them as contravening the cross-strait act, NCC spokesperson Hsiao Chi-hung (蕭祈宏) said.
Those assisting them in doing so could face a fine of NT$500,000 to NT$5 million, he said.
Meanwhile, the draft act would require OTT operators with large-scale operations or significant market influence to register with the government, which would make public the names of the operators, the commission said.
Operators that fail to register with the government after their names are publicized would be fined between NT$100,000 and NT$1 million, it added.
In addition, OTT operators that have registered with the government would be obligated to regularly report key business information to the NCC, from the number of subscribers they have to their sales revenue, the commission said.
They must join or form an OTT service association and follow the ethical guidelines set by the association, it added.
“The OTT operators must annually disclose the percentages of local content on their platforms that are produced by themselves or through partnerships with local content providers. The Ministry of Culture would determine the subsidies and other incentives available to them based on the disclosed percentages,” the commission said.
Taiwan is projected to lose a working-age population of about 6.67 million people in two waves of retirement in the coming years, as the nation confronts accelerating demographic decline and a shortage of younger workers to take their place, the Ministry of the Interior said. Taiwan experienced its largest baby boom between 1958 and 1966, when the population grew by 3.78 million, followed by a second surge of 2.89 million between 1976 and 1982, ministry data showed. In 2023, the first of those baby boom generations — those born in the late 1950s and early 1960s — began to enter retirement, triggering
ECONOMIC BOOST: Should the more than 23 million people eligible for the NT$10,000 handouts spend them the same way as in 2023, GDP could rise 0.5 percent, an official said Universal cash handouts of NT$10,000 (US$330) are to be disbursed late next month at the earliest — including to permanent residents and foreign residents married to Taiwanese — pending legislative approval, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. The Executive Yuan yesterday approved the Special Act for Strengthening Economic, Social and National Security Resilience in Response to International Circumstances (因應國際情勢強化經濟社會及民生國安韌性特別條例). The NT$550 billion special budget includes NT$236 billion for the cash handouts, plus an additional NT$20 billion set aside as reserve funds, expected to be used to support industries. Handouts might begin one month after the bill is promulgated and would be completed within
The National Development Council (NDC) yesterday unveiled details of new regulations that ease restrictions on foreigners working or living in Taiwan, as part of a bid to attract skilled workers from abroad. The regulations, which could go into effect in the first quarter of next year, stem from amendments to the Act for the Recruitment and Employment of Foreign Professionals (外國專業人才延攬及僱用法) passed by lawmakers on Aug. 29. Students categorized as “overseas compatriots” would be allowed to stay and work in Taiwan in the two years after their graduation without obtaining additional permits, doing away with the evaluation process that is currently required,
IMPORTANT BACKER: China seeks to expel US influence from the Indo-Pacific region and supplant Washington as the global leader, MAC Minister Chiu Chui-cheng said China is preparing for war to seize Taiwan, Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said in Washington on Friday, warning that Taiwan’s fall would trigger a regional “domino effect” endangering US security. In a speech titled “Maintaining the Peaceful and Stable Status Quo Across the Taiwan Strait is in Line with the Shared Interests of Taiwan and the United States,” Chiu said Taiwan’s strategic importance is “closely tied” to US interests. Geopolitically, Taiwan sits in a “core position” in the first island chain — an arc stretching from Japan, through Taiwan and the Philippines, to Borneo, which is shared by
RSS