Taiwan
Amendments to Communication Security and Surveillance Act Take Effect
The new amendments to the Communication Security and Surveillance Act took effect on June 29. Changes include: (i) prosecutors who are applying for an interception warrant must now provide sufficient evidence showing that the underlying offenses are punishable with a minimum of a three-year fixed-term imprisonment; and (ii) any information that is obtained for a particular purpose cannot be used for other investigative purposes.
Amendment to Financial Holding Company Act Takes Effect
The new amendment to the Financial Holding Company Act took effect on June 4. The Act now requires all information to be subject to the Personal Information Protection Act except for names and addresses of the clients.
Taiwan Proposes Amendment to Personal Information Protection Act
While both criminal data and medical records are considered "sensitive data" under the Personal Information Protection Act, a newly proposed amendment puts medical records into yet another category in which "public interest" is no longer a justifiable reason for collecting them. The amendment passed review at the Legislative Yuan's committee and now awaits discussions between the political parties and additional procedures at the Legislative Yuan. For more detail, see the meeting minutes from the Judiciary and Organic Laws and Statues Committee of the Legislative Yuan dated May 8, 2014 (source document in Chinese) and the meeting minutes dated May 14, 2014 confirming the proposals by the Judiciary and Organic Laws and Statues Committee of the Legislative Yuan (source document in Chinese).
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