Local governments could seek a constitutional interpretation if the central government decides to nullify local municipalities’ food safety regulations demanding “ractopamine-free” products, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Evaluation and Discipline Committee director-general Yeh Ching-yuan (葉慶元) said yesterday.
Media reports have cited an anonymous Cabinet official as saying on Saturday that the central government was considering whether to nullify such new food safety regulations, but a decision would not be made until the Executive Yuan communicated further with local governments, hoping that they would drop plans for such rules.
The Legislative Yuan in Taipei on Thursday voted to approve a slew of administrative directives related to the government’s decision to lift restrictions on imports of pork containing ractopamine and on US beef from cattle older than 30 months, effective Friday. Ractopamine remains banned from use in domestic livestock farming.
Executive Yuan Secretary-General Li Meng-yen (李孟諺) said that ordinances by several local governments requiring zero tolerance for ractopamine in pork are causing confusion, not only because they conflict with Cabinet-level directives, but they also contradict one another.
Since the central government is responsible for enforcing food safety regulations, there should be a unified regulation so that the public is not at a loss as to what to do, he said.
The Executive Yuan would address the issue once it has gathered more opinions from local governments, Li added.
However, Yeh said that the Local Government Act (地方制度法) stipulates only that autonomous regulations carrying penalties must be sent to the central government for approval.
Those without penal measures can take effect immediately upon passage by a county or city council, and are not subject to central approval, he said.
While the Council of Grand Justices is deliberating a case, regulations established by local authorities remain in effect and cannot be overturned, modified or suspended by the central government, he added.
If the Democratic Progressive Party administration insists that local regulations are illegal or unconstitutional, local councils should in principle support local governments in filing for a constitutional interpretation, Yeh said.
City and county governments could also form a coalition to file for an interpretation by the grand justices, and the KMT headquarters would provide assistance if requested, he said.
The decision to label the local regulations as contradictory would be determined by the central government’s own political wisdom, Yeh added.
Additional reporting by CNA
‘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