Anti-terrorism Act finalized

The Ministry of Justice eventually finalized the prominent “Anti-terrorism Act” on November 11, 2002 defining that any persons who participate in terrorist organizations shall be subject to imprisonment of more than five years, in addition to a fine of not more than one hundred million NT dollars; any persons who contribute financial assistance to terrorists shall be subject to imprisonment of more than one year but less than seven years, in addition to a fine of not more than ten million NT dollars.  Moreover, in order to prohibit terroristic activities from occurring in Taiwan, the Ministry particularly included the “surrender clause” which defines that any persons who surrender themselves to the police or make confession in the course of investigation or trial so as to enable the police to uncover terrorist organizations or arrest the terrorist shall be exempted from punishment or given an abatement of punishment.

Meanwhile, in order to prevent terrorists from carrying out terroristic activities via Internet to attack, destroy, invade and interrupt the network of Taiwan or attacking other countries by virtue of the network of Taiwan, the Directorate General of Telecommunication of the Ministry of Transportation and Communication shall, in conformity with the requirement of such law executor as the National Security Bureau, maintain the communication record for the cross-border links over Internet for a maximum period of 90 days so as to help trace and prevent crimes.