Major reform on Code of Civil Procedure, which has been rare over thirty-five years

  The Legislative Yuan passed the Amendment to Part Provisions of the Code of Civil Procedure after final reading yesterday (January 14, 2003).  Totally 286 provisions were amended or added in this amendment.  It has been the most significant amendment for the late thirty-five years since last major amendment occurred in 1968, and can be considered as a critical reform in the law-making history.

 

  The points of the amendment include the addition of “permit system for appeal to third instance” and “the procedure for withdrawal of action by a third party”.  Meanwhile, the amendment also includes the addition of “class action” against pollution suits and “penalty provisions against lawsuit abusers”, as well as the “skippable appealing system”, in order to save resources of lawsuit.  The “rigid requirements on continued trials” are also introduced into the amendment to forbid concerned parties from launching new offensive and defensive measures, in hopes of rectifying the defect that concerned parties and their attorneys give weight to second instances but ignore first instances.

 

  The other provisions included in the amendment, such as requirement on court fees to be decreased level by level, suspension of proceedings and system for reconciliation, fit the social demand much more and also strengthen the protection on concerned parties’ right to suit.

Translated by Corrina Wu