TAIWAN Law and Practice Contributed by: Jui-Hua Fan, Hsiang-Yang Hsieh, Chia-Hsin Wu, Chi-Ying Lee and Jin-Han Hsieh, Formosa Transnational Attorneys At Law
The courts will grant such a motion when it is estab - lished that the requested materials are likely to be destroyed, hidden or altered. An evidence preservation order is also different from a search warrant. While the courts may request the requested party (or third party) to produce the request - ed materials, failure to produce the requested materi - als will result only in court sanctions or in the court’s stipulation of a certain fact in the lawsuit proceeding. The TFTC’s Investigation Power When the TFTC is investigating an alleged violation, it may order the parties under investigation to produce materials that it finds relevant to the violation. Failure to comply with this request will result in administra - tive penalties. The TFTC may also conduct an on-site search and may seize any materials that it deems rel - evant to any alleged violations. Any parties that have interests in any of the TFTC’s current/past investigations may request the TFTC’s approval for access to the materials collected by the TFTC during its investigation. The TFTC will consider whether the requesting party has grounds to have access to the materials. 6.2 Legal Professional Privilege As noted earlier, there is no discovery in Taiwan’s legal system. When a party is requested to produce certain documents that are privileged, the requested party may refuse to obey the production order and explain to the courts the grounds for its refusal. It will be sub - ject to the courts’ discretion whether to impose any sanctions in response to a party’s refusal to produce. 6.3 Leniency and Settlement Agreements The TFTC will keep confidential materials that relate to leniency and/or settlement agreements. In particular, the TFTC may reduce sanctions on a member of a concerted action if the member actively reports the concerted action to the TFTC and helps the TFTC to investigate the concerted action. In this situation, the identity of the whistle-blower will be kept confidential. In the TFTC’s history of enforcement of the TFTA, there are two cases where the TFTC settled with the inves - tigated enterprises. The enterprises in these cases
were Microsoft and Qualcomm. Except for the pub - lished version of the settlement terms, the specific terms and conditions of the settlements for these two cases were protected from disclosure.
7. Witness and Expert Opinions 7.1 Witness Procedure
Witness testimony is one of the five types of eviden - tiary methods under the Taiwan Code of Civil Proce - dure, the Code of Criminal Procedure, and the Admin - istrative Litigation Act. Pursuant to the above acts, every person is under a general duty to testify in a lawsuit proceeding if this person has witnessed a certain set of facts that are relevant to the proceeding. That is, witnesses are required to state their own observations to the court in the trial proceedings as ordered or summoned by the court. In a civil or administrative litigation procedure, a wit - ness may, by consent of the parties, make written statements that set forth their testimony. In most cases, a witness of facts will be subject to direct examination by the party that calls the witness and to cross-examination by the opposing party. When being called to testify in a lawsuit proceeding, a witness may decline to answer any questions if the witness has proper grounds (such as self-incrimi - nation) to do so. Otherwise, the witness will have to answer questions raised in the direct and/or cross- examination, as well as questions raised by the pre - siding judge. Failure to give testimony without due cause will result in sanctions. 7.2 Expert Witness Role and Procedure Expert opinions are frequently relied upon by courts in antitrust law cases. In particular, when it comes to complicated economic issues or technology issues, courts tend to request institutions with relevant knowl - edge or experience to render expert opinions.
194 A NTITRUST LI T IGATI O N 2026
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