Newsletter
Regulations on the Designation of National Core Critical Technologies
Regulations on the Designation of National Core Critical Technologies
To maintain the development and competitiveness of Taiwan's high-tech industries, Article 3 of the National Security Act was amended on June 8, 2022 to better protect the trade secrets associated with national core critical technologies. As a result, the National Science and Technology Council ("NSTC") promulgated the Regulations on the Designation of National Core Critical Technologies ("Regulations") on April 26, 2023 to specify the scope of national core critical technologies. The key points of the Regulations are as follows:
1. The NSTC will establish the Review Committee of National Core Critical Technologies ("Review Committee") responsible for the designation, alternation and other matters of national core critical technologies ("Critical Technologies"), and the Office of National Core Critical Technologies ("Office") to track and analyze the development of relevant technologies and make proposals regarding Critical Technologies (Article 2 and Article 4 of the Regulations).
2. If a government agency (authority) proposes to designate or alter a Critical Technology, a proposal will be reviewed by the expert committee under such government agency (authority). Once approved, the proposal will be escalated to the Office and then to the Review Committee, with the relevant explanatory materials attached for further review and approval, and finally be announced by the Executive Yuan (Article 6 to Article 8 of the Regulations).
3. The competent authority in charge of Critical Technologies shall review the Critical Technologies under its jurisdiction annually, and assist the relevant industries in clarifying the scope and application thereof (Article 10 of the Regulations).
In addition, according to Paragraph 4, Article 9 of the Act Governing Relations between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area ("Cross-Strait Act"), if an individual or member has engaged (or had engaged within the past three years) in Critical Technologies-related research projects funded by government agencies (authorities) ("Member"), he/she must submit a prior application and obtain an approval before entering into the mainland China. In this connection, the NSTC promulgated the Regulation on the Designation of National Core Critical Technologies-Related Projects Commissioned, Subsidized or Funded by Government Agencies (Authorities) ("Subsidies Regulations") on April 26, 2023, in order to clarify the scope of the Member. The key points of the Subsidies Regulations are as follows:
1. The engagement in "any business related to any national core critical technology as commissioned, subsidized or funded by government agencies (authorities) and met certain threshold" under the Cross-Strait Act refers to the situation where: (1) the results expected or produced during a scientific and technological research and development project involve any Critical Technologies announced by the Executive Yuan; (2) more than half of the funds supporting the implementation of the afore-mentioned scientific and technological research and development project comes from the commissioning, subsidizing, or funding by government agencies (authorities) (Article 2 of the Subsidies Regulations).
2. The commissioning, subsidizing, or funding government agencies (authorities) shall track the projects commissioned, subsidized or funded by them which are terminated within three years, contemplated, ongoing or tracked/monitored within three months after the Executive Yuan announces a new Critical Technology or an alternation of Critical Technologies (Article 3 of the Subsidies Regulations).
3. The commissioning, subsidizing, or funding government agencies (authorities) shall notify the National Immigration Agency under the Ministry of the Interior and the party(ies) concerned, the NSTC copied, of the member list covering the project director and the persons having access to technical secrets due to their involvement in businesses regarding Critical Technologies in the event where (i) it is determined that a project commissioned, subsidized or funded by government agencies (authorities) involves any Critical Technology or such project no longer needs to be tracked/monitored, (ii) the Critical Technology involved has changes or has no longer be deemed a Critical Technology, or (iii) the involved persons have changed (Article 4 of the Subsidies Regulations).
Now that the Regulations and the Subsidies Regulations are established, one must pay attention to the scope of the Critical Technologies and any alternation thereof; any Member who wish to enter mainland China must obtain an approval in advance. If you have any questions about the Regulations and the Subsidies Regulations, or need any legal assistance, please feel free to contact us.