TAIWAN Law and Practice Contributed by: Stephen Wu, Yvonne Hsieh, Wei-Han Wu and Erica Chiu, Lee and Li, Attorneys-at-Law
decision, as the plaintiff, will be in front of judges in a formal legal proceeding. Although the decision of the High Administrative Court can be appealed to the Supreme Adminis - trative Court for legal review, the Supreme Admin - istrative Court will not hold any hearing. The High Administrative Court’s judgment will be reversed only when such judgment is legally flawed. 8.2 Typical Timeline for Appeals The parties (or any interested parties with legal standing) can appeal against the TFTC’s deci - sion to the court within two months of receipt of the decision. The timeline for an appeal is approximately 12 to 18 months. As far as is known, no enterprise has filed an appeal in the High Administrative Court against the TFTC’s merger filing decision in the past five years. 8.3 Ability of Third Parties to Appeal Clearance Decisions If any clearance decision will have an adverse effect or impose burdens on a third party, such interested third party can appeal. As far as is known, no third party has filed an appeal in the High Administrative Court against the TFTC’s merger filing decision in the past five years.
FDI is generally permitted in Taiwan, except for certain specific businesses and industries in which foreign investments are prohibited or restricted due to concerns about national securi - ty, public order, environmental protection, public health, etc, such as aviation and telecommuni - cations. To provide a clear guideline on restricted and/or prohibited foreign investment, the Depart - ment of Investment Review has promulgated the “Negative List”, which sets forth the sectors in which foreign investment is either restricted or prohibited. Sectors that are not in the Negative List are open to foreign investment without any restriction (other than the requirement to obtain foreign investment approval in advance). However, it is important to note that investors from the People’s Republic of China (PRC) are subject to different and stricter rules and regula - tions, and greater regulatory scrutiny. PRC inves - tors may only invest in certain permitted busi - nesses listed in the “Positive List” promulgated by the Department of Investment Review. The definition of a PRC investor is a PRC individual, legal person, organisation, other institution or their third-area company; a third-area company is deemed a PRC investor if 30% of its shares are held or controlled by a PRC individual, legal person, organisation or any other institution.
9. Foreign Direct Investment/ Subsidies Review
9.1 Legislation and Filing Requirements Taiwan welcomes and encourages foreign direct investment (FDI). Under the Statute for Invest - ment by Foreign Nationals, which was promul - gated on 14 July 1954 and further amended on 19 November 1997, all foreign investment must be approved by the Department of Investment Review of the Ministry of Economic Affairs in advance.
592 CHAMBERS.COM
Powered by FlippingBook