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Taiwan govt to revise law for higher fines on Uber’s illegal operations

 
Sat, August 27, 2016

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Taiwan govt to revise law for higher fines on Uber’s illegal operations In this Dec. 16, 2014, file photo a man leaves the headquarters of Uber in San Francisco. (AP/Eric Risberg)

T

aiwan's transportation ministry will move to amend the Highway Act to strengthen fines on illegal ride-hailing service Uber Taiwan and will continue to levy fines until the company legalises its operations, the Central News Agency reported on Friday.

This is part of the conclusions reached at an inter-ministerial meeting convened by the Cabinet on Friday afternoon to seek measures to curb Uber’s illegal ride-hailing service and minimise its adverse impact on local taxi drivers.

At the meeting, the Transportation Ministry’s Department of Railways and Highways said fines on operators of illegal transportation services currently ranged from NT$50,000 (US$1,576) to NT$150,000 (US$4,729).

How fines are to be increased is subject to the further discussion, according to the department.

Statistics released by the Transportation Ministry’s Directorate General of Highways showed that fines imposed on Uber Taiwan and individual private drivers contracted by Uber to provide riding services have amounted to over NT$68 million (US$2 million app) over the past two years. 

Uber was registered in Taiwan as an information service company four years ago, but local taxi drivers have accused the company of illegally operated car-riding services.

The transportation ministry said it would help taxi drivers apply digital technologies to their own services to counter competition from the online ride-hailing services offered by Uber.

The transportation ministry will also assist remote rural townships in setting up taxi-hailing platforms. 

One more conclusion of the inter-ministerial meeting is that the Ministry of Finance will investigate whether Uber Taiwan has evaded taxes and then take actions to retrieve any missing tax payments.

The Taiwanese finance ministry will also revise taxation laws to legalise collection of taxes from cross-border e-commerce business operations.

At the meeting, the government decided to revise related rules and regulations to attract foreign funds and technologies to Taiwan to facilitate the development of innovative industries and new types of economic activities on the island.

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