Commodity Labeling Law amended; false labeling may cause business to be shut down
E030607Y9 Jul. 2003（E46）
The Legislative Yuan passed on June 6 the third reading of the Commodity Labeling Law Amendment. In the cases of gravely false labeling, the competent authority may impose suspension of business for six months or shut down the business altogether. The Amendment will come into effect one year from now.
The Amendment stipulates that commodity labeling should be distinctive and its contents should be consistent. Even in cases where commodity is too small or sold in bulk, or the nature of commodity is so special that labeling on the commodity per se or its package is not feasible, manufacturers is still required to label the commodity in a distinctive way that will attract consumer’s attention.
To implement a bilingual environment and create an internationalization-friendly environment, the Amendment specifically request the labeling be made mainly in Chinese, and maybe complemented in English or other foreign languages. However, the name and address of a foreign manufacturer does not have to be made in Chinese.
For effective implementation of commodity labeling, the Amendment also provides the competent authorities at municipally, county and city levels with the right to make random checks, and obliges the business operators to comply. Punishment provisions are also added into the Amendment. If the commodity labeling is false or misleading, or fails to meet the requirement of law or is forbidden by law, or is against public order or good morals, a punitive fine between NT$30,000 and NT$300,000 may be imposed and imposed successively if such labeling is not corrected within the time limit imposed by competent authority.
