POST-APPROVAL: Most investors would be allowed to apply after the fact, as of about 3,500 applications that are received every year, only 500 require greater scrutiny
Taipei Times
Date: Jan 04, 2019
By: Lee Hsin-fang and Sherry Hsiao / Staff reporter, with staff writer
The Executive Yuan yesterday approved draft amendments to the Statute for
Vice Minister of Economic Affairs Wang Mei-hua speaks at a news conference in Taipei yesterday after an Executive Yuan meeting. Photo: CNA
Investment by Foreign Nationals (外國人投資條例) and the Statute for Investment by Overseas Chinese (華僑回國投資條例) that would relax regulations on foreign and overseas investments.
The amendments would allow ordinary mergers, divisions and start-ups to be reported after the fact, Investment Commission Executive Secretary Emile Chang (張銘斌) said, adding that only more complex mergers and acquisitions would still require advance approval.
Of the 3,500 applications that the commission receives annually, 3,000 could be reported afterward, while only 500 would need preapproval, he said, adding that the new rules would simplify the process for foreign and overseas investments.
The exemption from advance application would apply to all cases except for those in which the investment exceeds a certain sum or involves a substantial percentage of shares; the investment is restricted; or the investor is a foreign government or in a region facing UN sanctions, he said. [FULL STORY]
