Annotated Republic of China Laws/Special Act for Prevention, Relief and Revitalization Measures for Severe Pneumonia with Novel Pathogens

=History=
 * 1) Enacted and promulgated a total of 19 articles of the Act by President Order Hua-Zong-1-Yi No. 10900021291 on February 25, 2020; the implementation period shall be January 15, 2020 to June 30, 2021 except for Articles 12 to 16 which shall be implemented on the promulgation date. The Act may be extended with the approval of the Legislative Yuan upon expiry.
 * 2) Amended 11 articles of the Act and added Article 9-1 by President Order Hua-Zong-1-Yi No. 10900042411 on April 21, 2020.

=Content= /Article 11/ and /Article 19/ have been amended. /Article 9-1/ has been added.

Article 1
 * This Act is established to effectively prevent and control severe pneumonia with novel pathogens (COVID-19), protect the health of the people, and mitigate the impact of the disease on the domestic economy and society.

Article 2
 * The central competent health authority shall provide subsidies or allowances to medical personnel engaged in disease prevention and control, medical services, and medical care in private and public medical care (medical) institutions.
 * Where public medical care (medical) institutions, other related authorities (agencies), schools, legal entities, organizations, and their personnel have achieved outstanding performance in the execution of disease prevention and control tasks in this Act, the local government authorities (agencies), schools, legal entities, and organizations shall provide incentives.
 * Where individuals are infected with severe pneumonia with novel pathogens in the performance of tasks specified in the Act, resulting in illness, disabilities, or death, the central competent health authority shall provide compensation and subsidize various payments or their children’s education expenses.

Article 3
 * Individuals assigned by a competent health authority of any level to home isolation, home quarantine, group isolation, or group quarantine, and family members who take leave or cannot work due to caring for isolated or quarantined individuals may apply for disease prevention compensation from the starting date to the ending date of the isolation or quarantine once the competent health authority deems that the isolated or quarantined individual has not violated related isolation or quarantine regulations.However, individuals with paid salary or subsidies similar in nature prescribed by other laws or regulations may not apply for repeated collection of compensation claim.
 * The application for the disease prevention compensation in the preceding paragraph shall be extinguished if not exercised within two years from the day the isolation or quarantine ends.
 * For individuals assigned to home isolation, home quarantine, group isolation, or group quarantine, the authorities (agencies), enterprises, schools, legal entities, and organizations shall provide disease prevention isolation leave during the isolation or quarantine period and may not treat them as absent without a reason, force them to take personal leave or other leaves, deduct attendance bonuses, dismiss them, or impose other unfavorable penalties. The same shall apply to family members who take leave to care for isolated or quarantined individuals.
 * Regulations on the recipients of disease prevention compensation, eligibility, qualifications, methods, amount, procedures, and other related matters specified in Paragraph 1 shall be established by the central competent health authority after consulting related authorities.
 * Individuals who take leave or cannot work due to response measures conducted in accordance with Paragraph 1 or orders issued by the Commander of the Central Epidemic Command Center, the competent authority shall provide assistance in accordance with the Public Assistance Act and related regulations if their livelihood is affected.

Article 4
 * Authorities (agencies), enterprises, schools, legal entities, and organizations that pay employees salary during their leave period in accordance with Paragraph 3 of the preceding article may deduct 200% of their salary payment from its amount of income of the current year. The same shall apply to salaries for employees who take leave due to response measures conducted in accordance with orders issued by the Commander of the Central Epidemic Command Center during their leave period.
 * Where the salary paid to employees is already eligible for tax incentives prescribed in other laws, the provisions in the preceding paragraph shall not apply.
 * Regulations on the leave period, employees, scope of salary payment, scope of income, deduction method, application deadline, application procedures, required certification documents, and other related matters specified in Paragraph 1 shall be established by the central competent health authority and the Ministry of Finance after consulting related authorities.

Article 5
 * To produce disease prevention supplies specified in Paragraph 1, Article 54 of the Communicable Disease Control Act, where necessary, government authorities on all levels may, based on instructions of the Commander of the Central Epidemic Command Center, expropriate or requisition required production equipment and raw materials and provide appropriate compensation.
 * The operating procedures for expropriation or requisition, methods of compensation, and other related matters in the preceding paragraph shall be established by the central competent health authority after consulting related authorities.

Article 6
 * The management, use, proceeds, and disposal of disease prevention supplies, production equipment, and raw materials expropriated or requisitioned in accordance with Paragraph 1, Article 54, of the Communicable Disease Control Act and Paragraph 1 of the preceding article shall not be restricted by Article 11, Article 28, and Article 60 of the National Property Act or local public property management regulations.

Article 7
 * The Commander of the Central Epidemic Command Center may, for disease prevention and control requirements, implement necessary response actions or measures.

Article 8
 * Where an individual subject to isolation or quarantine during the disease prevention period violates isolation or quarantine orders or intends to violate such orders, the Commander of the Central Epidemic Command Center may instruct personnel to record videos or photographs of the individual's violation, publish their personal data, or conduct other necessary disease prevention measures or actions.
 * To prevent the spread of the disease, the same shall apply to patients with confirmed diagnoses of severe pneumonia with novel pathogens.
 * The personal data specified in the preceding two paragraphs shall be processed in accordance with related regulations for personal data protection after the end of the epidemic.

Article 9
 * For industries, enterprises, medical care (medical) institutions, and related practitioners that suffer difficulties in operations due to the impact of severe pneumonia with novel pathogens, the competent authorities of their respective industries may provide relief, subsidies, and revitalization measures and provide necessary assistance to their employees.
 * The government shall also provide appropriate compensation to medical care institutions that suspend operations to cooperate with the disease prevention requirements of the Central Epidemic Command Center.
 * The criteria for industries, enterprises, and medical care (medical) institutions and the items, baseline, amount, and other related matters for relief, subsidies, compensation, and revitalization measures in the preceding two paragraphs shall be formulated by the central competent authorities of respective industries and submitted to the Executive Yuan for approval.


 * /Article 9-1/ (later added)

Article 10
 * Where radio/television businesses or satellite broadcasting businesses are assigned to broadcast disease prevention information or programs due to disease prevention requirements in the operation period of the Central Epidemic Command Center, the competent authority of communications may relax regulations on the duration of advertisement based on the conditions of the impact. The restrictions specified in Article 31 of the Radio and Television Act and Article 36 of the Satellite Broadcasting Act shall not apply.


 * /Article 11/ (later amended)

Article 12
 * Individuals who drive up prices of disease prevention devices, equipment, drugs, medical equipment, or other disease prevention supplies announced by the central competent health authority or hoard such items without legitimate reason instead of selling them on the market shall be sentenced to imprisonment not more than five years and may in addition thereto, be imposed with a fine of no more than NT$5 million.
 * An attempt to commit an offense specified in the preceding paragraph is punishable.

Article 13
 * Individuals suffering from or suspected of suffering from severe pneumonia with novel pathogens fail to abide by the instructions of competent health authorities of any level and thus are at risk of infecting others shall be sentenced to imprisonment for not more than two years or criminal detention and may in addition thereto, be imposed with a fine of no less than NT$200,000 and no more than NT$2 million.

Article 14
 * Individuals who disseminate rumors or false information regarding the epidemic conditions of severe pneumonia with novel pathogens, causing damage to the public or others, shall be sentenced to imprisonment for not more than three years or criminal detention, or in lieu thereof or in addition thereto, a fine of no more than NT$3 million.

Article 15
 * Individuals who violate the isolation measures prescribed by a competent health authority of any level in accordance with Paragraph 1, Article 48 of the Communicable Disease Control Act shall be imposed with a fine of no less than NT$200,000 and no more than NT$1 million.
 * Individuals who violate the quarantine measures specified by a competent health authority of any level in accordance with Subparagraph 4, Paragraph 1, Article 58 of the Communicable Disease Control Act shall be imposed with a fine of no less than NT$100,000 and no more than NT$1 million.

Article 16
 * In the event of one of the following conditions, the central competent authority of the respective industry or the municipality or county (city) government shall impose a fine of no less than NT$50,000 and no more than NT$1 million:
 * 1. Violation of regulations specified in Paragraph 3 of Article 3.
 * 2. Refusal, evasion, or obstruction of expropriation or requisition conducted by a government authority of any level in accordance with Paragraph 1 of Article 5.
 * 3. Violation of response actions or measures instructed by the Commander of the Central Epidemic Command Center in accordance with Article 7.

Article 17
 * Government authorities of all levels may, where necessary, appoint, delegate, or commission related authorities to execute related items specified in the Act except for matters specified in Article 4 and Article 11 to Article 14.

Article 18
 * The Executive Yuan shall file a written report on the epidemic situation and related budget execution to the Legislative Yuan three months after the implementation of the Act.
 * The Premier shall be required to submit a report on the epidemic situation and related budget execution to the Legislative Yuan in the administrative report six months after the implementation of the Act.
 * The Executive Yuan shall set up a dedicated website to provide weekly updates on laws, regulations, or administrative rules for allowances, incentives, compensation, subsidies, relief, and revitalization established by the competent authority of the respective industry.


 * /Article 19/ (later amended)

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