The Commodity Labeling Act was last amended on 26 January, 2011. During the interim, application of the Internet has rapidly spread parallel to the prosperity of information technology, and thus almost all aspects of society have experienced significant changes. For instance, online shopping becomes popular in the market. To respond to this new trend of commerce, the competent authority conducted a comprehensive review of the Commodity Labeling Act, and on April 10, 2020 issued a draft Amendment for public comments. The main points of amendment are as follows:
1. Commodities sold online shall be subject to the Community Labeling Act as well.
2. Second-hand commodities, gold ornaments, jewelries, and books do not need to be labeled in compliance with the Commodity Labeling Act.
3. The parties who are obliged to label are as follows:
(i) commodity manufactured in Taiwan: manufacturer
(ii) imported commodity: importer
(iii) sub-packed commodity: sub-contractor
(iv) commodity wholly or partly manufactured by others, such as ODMs or OEMs: contract manufacturer
4. A commodity must be labeled right before it is sold or displayed on the market for the purpose of selling.
5. Regarding the net weight, volume, or measurement that are required to be identified in a statutory measuring unit under the current act, the draft amendment provides that they may be labeled based on an internationally used measurement system instead. In addition, production date in the form of month/year can be used to identify a commodity, in lieu of day/month/year.
The current labeling regulations regarding (i) commodity name, (ii) name, address and telephone number of the labeling obligor, (iii) place of origin, and (iv) main ingredients or materials all remain unaltered.
If a change in the name, address or telephone number of the labeling obligor occurs after a commodity is sold or displayed for the purpose of selling on the market, the labeling can remain intact. However, consumers shall be made aware of the change in a public manner.
6. Labeling can be on the commodity, packaging or instruction manual. On the other hand, the competent authority is authorized to designate, depending on the status-quo of society, certain types of commodities subject to electronic labeling, such as using QR code or 2D bar code.
7. Except for the commodity name, the name of the labeling obligor, as well as the address and telephone number of the service provider which are required to be labeled in Chinese, all the other mandatory information can be labeled merely in English, or internationally accepted words or symbols.
8. The competent authority may inspect the place where the commodities are manufactured, stored or sub-packed. If a commodity labeling is suspected of breaching the Commodity Labeling Act, the authority may visit the place where the commodity is manufactured, stored or sub-packed to make an investigation. On the other hand, the labeling obligor and the person in charge of the place have the obligation to help the authority with the investigation and provision of relevant information.
9. In case a commodity displayed for sale on the Internet is suspected of breaching the Commodity Labeling Act, the platform operator is obliged to provide to the authority information regarding the publisher, seller or subscriber for investigation purpose.
10. Under the current Commodity Labeling Act, a person failing to comply with the labeling requirement will be imposed with a fine only if his misconduct is not rectified within a time limit designated by the competent authority. The draft amendment provides that a fine may be imposed without first giving the offender a chance for rectification, save a petty offence.