TAIWAN Law and Practice Contributed by: Peng-Kwang Chen, Pamela Huang, Claudia Huang and Ching-Tzu (Katie) Chang, Formosa Transnational Attorneys At Law
Once evidence is admitted to the court, there are no specific standards governing the assessment of its weight and probative value. Judges employ the principle of free evaluation of evidence. For evidence illegally gathered by private indi- viduals, the court will weigh several factors, including the intrusion on privacy, principles of good faith, protection of constitutional rights, the necessity to establish the truth through such approaches, and balance all the interests on a case-by-case basis to determine if such evi- dence is admissible. 7.5 Expert Testimony As explained in 5.4 Alternatives to Discovery Mechanisms , in most civil cases, the parties may apply for a court-appointed expert to inves- tigate relevant facts. If the parties can mutually agree on the selection of an expert, the court will usually honour such agreement. However, the parties cannot introduce privately obtained expert testimony to the court. For major commercial cases to which the pro- cedures stipulated under the Commercial Case Adjudication Act are applicable, apart from the court-appointed experts, the parties may choose to introduce expert witnesses to provide profes- sional opinions with court permission. 7.6 Extent to Which Hearings Are Open to the Public In principle, trials are generally open to the pub- lic, but transcripts of the proceedings are not available to third parties. Please also refer to 1.3 Court Filings and Proceedings . 7.7 Level of Intervention by a Judge As explained in 1.1 General Characteristics of the Legal System , Taiwan uses an adversarial system in civil cases. The parties involved pri-
marily shoulder the responsibility for advancing or defending their positions and presenting evi- dence while the court takes the lead in managing the litigation process. During the final oral argument session, the court will set a date for the announcement of its deci- sion. The operative part of the judgment is read out in the court and published online on that date. The full judgment, which includes the operative part of the judgment and the court’s reasoning, is delivered in writing to the parties within one to two weeks after the announcement. 7.8 General Timeframes for Proceedings Commercial disputes in Taiwan can be catego- rised into general commercial cases, which are subject to the Code of Civil Procedure, and major commercial cases, which are subject to the Commercial Case Adjudication Act. Exam- ples of major commercial cases include the fol- lowing. • Civil disputes between a responsible person of a company and the company arising out of conduct of the company’s business with a claim amount exceeding TWD30 million (approximately USD925,000). • Civil disputes arising from violations of securi- ties laws, such as securities fraud, false finan- cial reporting, failure to provide a prospectus, short-term trading and insider trading, with a claim amount exceeding TWD30 million (approximately USD925,000). • Petitions to select a temporary administrator, appoint an inspector, and dismiss the relevant personnel pursuant to the Company Act for publicly traded companies. To facilitate a speedy, appropriate and profes- sionally handled resolution of major commercial disputes, major commercial cases have only two
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