TAIWAN Law and Practice Contributed by: Jaclyn Tsai, Aaron Chen, Teresa Huang and Jaime Cheng, Lee, Tsai & Partners
• businesses are advised to establish internal mechanisms for handling consumer disputes; • businesses are advised to provide external alternative dispute resolution mechanisms; and • governments should encourage payment service providers to offer appropriate dispute resolution mechanisms and compensation systems. The guidelines also recommend that businesses establish a consumer service centre or provide a dedicated consumer complaint hotline to han - dle consumer disputes and prioritise resolution through the Consumer Dispute Mediation Com - mittee or by reaching a settlement between the parties. Ensuring Compliance With Consumer Protection Standards To align with relevant consumer protection standards, businesses are advised to implement and ensure the following: • proper online information disclosure; • payment security; • fairness in standardised contracts; • compliance with regulations on personal data collection and privacy policies; and • establishment of consumer dispute resolution mechanisms. 1.5 The Role of Blockchain in the Digital Economy The Impact on Taiwan’s Legal Landscape Blockchain and cryptocurrency technology ena - ble large-scale, timely and cross-border trans - fers of funds, thus promoting financial inclusion. However, they have also become instruments for illicit conducts or crimes.
To address these issues, the Taiwan government continues to strengthen regulations on anti- money laundering and fraud prevention, while progressively bringing Virtual Asset Service Pro - viders (VASPs) under regulatory oversight and promoting industry self-regulation. Legal Challenges and Opportunities of Blockchain and Cryptocurrency Challenges • The innovative business models make it chal - lenging to apply existing or traditional regula - tions to operators’ products or services. • The diverse nature of products and services makes it difficult for regulators to establish a single set of requirements that applies to dif - ferent service providers. • The cross-border nature of transactions makes it difficult for operators to determine the applicable governing law. It also poses significant challenges for law enforcement. Opportunities • On-chain transactions leave a trail of financial activity, which, when combined with cryp - tocurrency flow analysis tools, helps trace financial flows to tackle fraud or money-laun - dering. • Blockchain promotes financial inclusion by offering faster, low-cost means of providing diverse payment, transfer and investment tools. Regulation in Taiwan Governing VASPs Taiwan adopts a progressive regulatory approach for VASPs. The Financial Supervisory Commis - sion (FSC) first developed guidance principles and supported the establishment of self-regu - latory codes to balance financial innovation and consumer protection, before introducing more stringent regulations.
482 CHAMBERS.COM
Powered by FlippingBook