通訊保障及監察法

This Act is enacted to safeguard the freedom of private communications and privacy, to protect from unlawful intrusion, and to ensure national security and maintain social order.

1Communication surveillance may only be conducted for the necessity of ensuring national security, and maintaining social order.

2The surveillance mentioned in the preceding Paragraph shall not exceed the necessary limits to achieve the objective, and the appropriate methods for the action should have only the minimum intrusion.

1The "communications" as defined in this Act refer to:

21. Utilizing wired and wireless telecommunication equipment to send, store, transmit, or receive symbols, texts, images, sound or other types of information.

32. Mail and letters

43. Speeches and conversations.

5Surveillance of the "communications" mentioned in the preceding Paragraph is limited to those who have sufficient facts to support that those being monitored have reasonable expectations that the contents of their communications are private or secret.

1The “communications records” as defined in this Act refer to records such as the telecommunications numbers of the sender and the recipient, time of communication, length of use, address, service type, mailbox or location information generated by the public telecommunications network after the user or the telecommunications user uses the telecommunications services.

2The “communications user information” as defined in this Act refers to the user or telecommunications user name, number of identification document, telecommunications number and information filed in the application, for any type of telecommunications service.

3The term "network traffic records" as used in this Act refers to non-communication content records, including the communication equipment identification information, Internet address and location information, communication time, connection traffic and number of data packets, domain names, application service types and protocols, and other records generated by the public telecommunications network after the user or telecommunications user uses the telecommunications service.

Persons under surveillance as defined in this Act include, in addition to those delineated in the provisions of Article 5 and Article 7, those who assist in sending, transmitting, receiving communications or those who provide communication equipment, or facilities.

1An interception warrant may be issued, if there is sufficient evidence that the accused or the suspect is involved in one of the following crimes, which may severely endanger national security, economic order or social order, and that there is reasonable belief that the content of his/her communication is relevant to the case being investigated, and that it is difficult or there are no other methods to collect or investigate the evidence:

21. The offenses are punishable with a minimum of a three-year fixed-term imprisonment.

32. Offenses as stipulated in Article 100, Paragraph 2 preparing to commit civil disturbance, Article 101, Paragraph 2 preparing to commit civil disturbance with force, or Article 106, Paragraph 3; Article 109, Paragraphs 1 and 4 and the attempted offense in Paragraph 1; Article 121; Article 122, Paragraph 3; Article 131; Article 142; Article 143; Article 144; Article 145; Article 201-1; Article 256, Paragraph 1 and the attempted offense; Article 257, Paragraph 1 and the attempted offense; Article 298, Paragraph 2 and the attempted offense; Article 300; Article 302, Paragraphs 1 and 3; Article 302-1, Paragraphs 1 and 3; Article 319-1, Paragraphs 2 and 3 and the attempted offense in these two paragraphs; Article 319-2; Article 319-3; Article 319-4; Article 339; Article 339-3; Article 339-4 or Article 346 of the Criminal Code.

43. Offenses of corruption for breach of official duty as stipulated in Article 11, Paragraphs 1 and 4 of the Anti-Corruption Act.

54. Offenses as stipulated in Article 2, Paragraphs 1 and 2, or Article 3 of the Smuggling Penalty Act.

6

1If there are sufficient facts to support that the accused or the suspect is committing the offenses of interference with voting as stated in the Criminal Code; the offenses as stipulated in the Civil Servants Election and Recall Act, the Presidential and Vice Presidential Election and Recall Act, Articles 7 and 8 of the Act Governing the Control and Prohibition of Guns, Cannon, Ammunition, and Knives, Article 4 of the Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act; the offenses of Extortion and Kidnapping for Ransom, or the offenses of Extortion by means of using bombs, explosives, or poison; offenses as stipulated in Article 3 of the Organized Crime Prevention Act, Article 19 of the Money Laundering Control Act, Article 8 of the Counter-Terrorism Financing Act, Article 222, Article 226, Article 271, Article 302-1, Article 325, Article 326, Article 328, Article 330, Article 332, Article 339, Article 339-3 or Article 339-4 of the Criminal Code, Articles 43 and 44 of the Fraud Crime Hazard Prevention Act, in order to protect people's lives, bodies, or property from immediate harm, or there are facts justifying the existence of other communications that are used for contact in order to commit the offenses under Paragraph 1 of the preceding Article and the situation is urgent, the judicial police authority may report to the prosecutor concerned, who will then verbally inform the enforcement agency to give priority to the communication surveillance. However, the prosecutor should inform the enforcement agency of the content as delineated in Article 11, and report to the court concerned within 24 hours and request the issuance of an interception warrant; the prosecutorial agency should designate a Head Prosecutor, or a prosecutor, as an emergency contact to facilitate the investigation in a timely manner.

2The court should designate a specific communication contact to handle the case, and should issue an interception warrant within 48 hours; if an interception warrant is not issued within 48 hours, the surveillance activity should be halted.

1When it is necessary to conduct surveillance on the following communications in order to collect intelligence on foreign forces or hostile foreign forces to protect national security, the head of the authority overseeing national intelligence may issue the interception warrant.

21. Domestic communications of foreign forces, hostile foreign forces, or their agents.

32. Cross-border communications of foreign forces, hostile foreign forces, or their agents.

43. Off-shore communications of foreign forces, hostile foreign forces, or their agents.

5The issuance of an interception warrant for persons under the communication surveillance as described in the preceding Paragraph, who have a registered permanent address within the country, should be approved by the dedicated judge of the high court that has jurisdiction over the authority overseeing national intelligence. However, this restriction does not apply in the event of an emergency.

6As for the proviso in the preceding Paragraph, the authority overseeing national intelligence should inform the dedicated judge of the high court concerned of the issuance of interception warrant and obtain the permission ex post facto. If permission is not granted within 48 hours, the surveillance activity should be halted.

1The foreign forces or the hostile foreign forces as referred to in Paragraph 1 of the preceding Article are defined as follows:

21. Foreign governments, foreign or overseas political entities, their subordinate organizations or representative agencies.

32. Organizations under the direction or control of foreign governments, foreign or overseas political entities.

43. Organizations with the aim of operating international or cross-border terrorist activities.

1An agent of foreign forces or offshore hostile forces as referred to in Article 7, Paragraph 1 is defined as follows:

21. A person who participates, coerces others, or abets others in gathering secret intelligence, or other secret intelligence activities for foreign forces or offshore hostile forces, that risk endangering national security.

32. A person who participates, coerces others, or abets others in sabotage or cross-border terrorist activities for foreign forces or offshore hostile forces.

43. A person who serves as an official, or an employee for foreign forces or offshore hostile forces, or as a member of an international terrorist organization.

Information gathered via communication surveillance pursuant to the provisions of Article 7 is to be used for national security warning intelligence purposes only. However, if circumstances as described in Article 5 are found, the information obtained should be forwarded to judicial police authorities, judicial authorities, or military courts to be processed in accordance with the law.

1The following information should be included in an interception warrant:

21. Grounds for the case, and the laws and regulations referencing the alleged violation.

32. Surveillance subjects.

43. Features of the communication surveillance, such as types or numbers, that is sufficient for identification purposes.

54. Surveillance location

65. Reasons for surveillance

76. Duration and methods for surveillance

87. Petition agency

98. Enforcement agency

109. Setup organization

11

1For the purposes of investigating crimes and collecting evidence, prosecutors and judicial police officers may obtain the communications user information, if there are sufficient facts to determine that it is necessary and relevant to the investigation of the case.

2For the purposes of investigating crimes and collecting evidence, prosecutors may obtain the communications records or network traffic records, if there are sufficient facts to determine that it is necessary and relevant to the investigation of the case, unless in the situation of an emergency for which prior application is not possible, a written application should be filed with the court for an access warrant. For the matters to be specified in the application, Paragraph 1 of the preceding Article shall apply mutatis mutandis.

3For the purposes of investigating crimes and collecting evidence, judicial police officers may obtain the communications records or network traffic records, if there are sufficient facts to determine that it is necessary and relevant to the investigation of the case, following an approval by the prosecutor, an application may be filed with the court of jurisdiction for issuance of an access warrant in accordance with the preceding Paragraph.

4When a prosecutor or judicial police officer investigates an offense punishable by a term of imprisonment of at least 10 years, the offense of robbery, forcible taking, fraud, extortion, kidnapping for ransom, against the computer security, escape or violation of the Human Trafficking Prevention Act, Statute for Fire Arms, Ammunition and Harmful Knives Control, Statute for Punishment of Smuggling, Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act, Organized Crime Prevention Act, Waste Disposal Act, Child and Youth Sexual Exploitation Prevention Act, Money Laundering Control Act, National Security Act, Anti-Infiltration Act, Presidential and Vice Presidential Election and Recall Act, Public officials Election And Recall Act, Articles 47-1 to 47-3 of Farmers Association Act, Articles 50-1 to 50-3 of Fishermen Associations Act and, if the prosecutor or judicial police officer has sufficient facts to determine that the communication records or network traffic records are necessary and relevant to the investigation of the case, the prosecutor may obtain the communications records or network traffic records, following an approval by the prosecutor, and the restrictions under the preceding two paragraphs shall not apply.

1The communication surveillance duration of Articles 5 and Article 6 is not to exceed 30 days each time; while the communication surveillance duration of Article 7 is not to exceed one year each time. If it is necessary to continue the surveillance, specific reasons must be specified, and the last date for petition should be no later than two days before the expiration date. However, the period of continuous surveillance under Articles 5 and 6 shall not exceed one year. If the enforcement authority deems it necessary to continue surveillance, a new application shall be filed in accordance with Articles 5 and 6.

2Prior to the expiration of the communication surveillance described in Article 5 and Article 6, if the surveillance is deemed as unnecessary by the prosecutor or the trial judge, the surveillance activity should be halted immediately.

3Prior to the expiration of the communication surveillance described in Article 7, if the surveillance is deemed as unnecessary by the head of the authority overseeing national intelligence, the surveillance activity should be halted immediately.

1Surveillance should be conducted by intercepting, wiretapping, sound recording, video recording, photographing, opening, checking, copying communications or other similar necessary methods, but there should be no installation of listening devices, video recording equipment, or other surveillance devices in a private residence.

2When implementing communication surveillance, with exception to those having been dealt with by the law, the communications should be maintained in a smooth and open manner.

3Unless the enforcement authority has any justification, the surveillance recordings should be collected every 3 days.

4Any content of surveillance recording under the previous Paragraph that is not related to the purpose of surveillance shall not be translated.

1The enforcement agency and location for the communication surveillance should be designated in accordance with the request from the petitioning agency. When a judge issues an interception warrant ex officio, the issuer shall designate such agency and location; likewise, when issuing a warrant pursuant to the provisions of Article 7.

2Telecommunications enterprises and those who set up public telecommunications networks and postal enterprises are obligated to assist in the implementation of communication surveillance. The items of assistance include providing communication surveillance related facilities for the use of the enforcement agency, and personnel assistance.

3Expenses generated, while assisting in the implementation of communication surveillance as defined in the preceding Paragraph, may be reimbursed by the enforcement agency after the surveillance operation is completed. The expense items and fee standards shall be set forth and announced by the competent authority of the target enterprise in consultation with the relevant agencies.

4The communication systems of telecommunications enterprises and those who set up public telecommunications networks should be equipped with the functions required to provide surveillance assistance. While the telecommunications enterprises are obligated to assist in the setup for the established organization, and to maintain the communication surveillance system, its obligations are limited to having reasonable technology and economic development at the time of setup, and expectations should not exceed the possibilities.

5Expenses generated by assisting in the setup of communication surveillance systems, as defined in the preceding Paragraph, shall be paid for by the established organization. The necessary expenses generated while assisting in maintaining the normal functions of the communication surveillance operation shall be enacted and promulgated by the competent authority of the target enterprise in consultation with relevant agencies.

1Telecommunications enterprises and those who set up public telecommunications networks have the obligation to keep and assist in obtaining communication user information and communication records.

2Telecommunications enterprises and those who set up public telecommunications networks have the obligation to keep and assist in obtaining network traffic records as designated by the established organization of communications supervision..

3Telecommunications enterprises and those who set up public telecommunications networks may request the enforcement agency to pay the necessary expenses incurred by assisting in obtaining information or records referred to in the preceding two paragraphs.

4Telecommunications enterprises and those who set up public telecommunications networks are designated by the established organization of communications supervision. Their communication or network systems should have the function of keeping and obtaining network traffic records, and the performance of the public telecommunications network shall be limited to the extent that the performance of the public telecommunications network can be provided.

5Necessary expenses incurred by telecommunications enterprises and those who set up public telecommunications networks, as designated by the established organization of communications supervision, for setting up a system for keeping network traffic records and maintaining the normal operation of keeping and obtaining network traffic records shall be determined by the construction agency shall bear the burden.

6

1The enforcement agency of communication surveillance cases as described in Article 5, Article 6, and Article 7, Paragraph 2 should, when the communication surveillance is over, state the name, permanent address or contact address of the person under surveillance, the Subparagraph under Article 11, Paragraph 1 that is applicable to the surveillance case and reference number of the authority issuing the interception warrant, the actual period of surveillance, whether communications information corresponding to the purpose of the surveillance has been obtained and the remedy procedure in the report to the prosecutor, or the authority overseeing national intelligence, whom in turn should report to the court, so that the person under surveillance may be notified. The report should also include the reasons if such a notification is deemed to be interfering with the purpose of the surveillance, or if the person should not be notified.

2If the report under the preceding Paragraph is not filed with the prosecutor and the authority overseeing national intelligence one month after the completion of the communications surveillance, the court shall notify the person under surveillance within 14 days, unless such notification is not possible.

3Upon receiving the report as described in the first Paragraph, the court should notify the person who was under surveillance, with the exception that if there is a concrete reason showing that such a notification is deemed to be interfering with the purpose of the surveillance, or if the person should not be notified.

4When the reasons for not notifying cease to exist, the enforcement agency should submit a report to the prosecutor, or the authority overseeing national intelligence, so that the court may supplement the notification. If the reason has not ceased to exist, the status of said case shall be continuously reported to the court every three months after submission of the report under the preceding Paragraph. If the report is not filed in time, the court shall notify the person under surveillance within 14 days.

1Upon commencing the communications surveillance, the enforcement authority should submit a monthly status report to the prosecutor, the judge who issued the interception warrant or the head of the authority overseeing national intelligence. The prosecutor, the judge who issued the interception warrant ex officio or the head of the authority overseeing national intelligence may also request that the enforcement authority submit reports at any time.

2The supervision over a communications surveillance operation as referred to in Article 5, or Article 6 shall be assumed by the prosecutorial agency during the investigation, or by the court during a trial. The supervision over the communications surveillance operation as referred to in Article 7 shall be assumed by the authority overseeing national intelligence. The authority will dispatch personnel to the setup organization or use electronic supervision devices, to supervise the enforcement of the communications surveillance. For cases under investigation, the court shall dispatch personnel to supervise the enforcement authority on a regular basis.

1The enforcement authority and supervisory authority for communications surveillance shall prepare an annual report with relevant statistical information of the communications surveillance performed during the year. Said report shall be published online regularly and shall be submitted to the Legislative Yuan for reference.

2The previous Paragraph concerning regular online publication shall not be applicable to communications surveillance under Article 7.

3The annual report of statistical information under Paragraph 1 shall include the following matters:

41. Cases of applications and approvals for communications surveillance under Articles 5, 6 and 7 and Article 12, Paragraph 1, number of targets under surveillance, number of cases, number of lines and types of lines. The same shall be applicable to case access under Article 11-1.

52. Situations where surveillance is stopped under Article 12, Paragraphs 2 and 3.

63. Notice or non-notice under Article 15, types of reasons for non-notice and situations where the reasons continue to or do not continue to exist.

74. The court’s supervision of the enforcement by the enforcement authority in accordance with the previous Article.

8

1The information obtained from the communication surveillance should be sealed or otherwise marked, and stamped by the enforcement authority to preserve its true completeness without addition, deletion or change. Information used as case evidence shall be kept in the file, or otherwise kept for as long a time as is necessary for surveillance purposes. The enforcement authority should safe-keep the information for five years after the communication surveillance is completed, and destroy it afterwards.

2For information obtained from the communication surveillance that is completely irrelevant with the surveillance objective, the enforcement authority should submit a report to the prosecutor, the judge who issued the interception warrant ex officio or the head of the authority overseeing national intelligence, and destroy the information after gaining their approval.

3When destroying the information as described in the preceding two Paragraphs, the enforcement authority should record the facts concerning the communication surveillance, and submit a request to the prosecutor, the judge who issued the interception warrant ex officio or the head of the authority overseeing national intelligence to dispatch an on-site representative.

1Information obtained from the communications surveillance pursuant to this Act shall not be provided to other agencies (institutions), groups or individuals. However, this restriction does not apply to those complying with the surveillance objective as described in Article 5 or Article 7, or other laws and regulations.

2Records of continuous process flow shall be established for the safekeeping, use and destruction of information acquired from the applications, issuances, execution of interception warrants under Articles 5 and 6. Network connection shall be established with the communications surveillance management system of the Taiwan High Court.

3The other authorities that enforce communications surveillance under the previous Paragraph shall transmit all interception records to the communications surveillance management system of the Taiwan High Court through a designated line or in a confidential manner on a monthly basis.

1Any content about any other case acquired through communications surveillance enforced in accordance with Articles 5, 6 or 7 shall not be used as evidence. However, a submission may be filed with the court within 7 days from the discovery and such evidence may be admitted if the court recognizes that said case is related to the case for which communications surveillance is enforced or if the case involves an offense listed under any Subparagraph under Article 5, Paragraph 1.

2Any content acquired through communications surveillance enforced in accordance with Articles 5, 6 or 7, or any evidence deriving therefrom that is not related to the purpose of the surveillance, shall not be used as evidence or for any other purpose in any judicial investigation, judgment or other proceeding and must be destroyed in accordance with Article 17, Paragraph 2.

3Any content acquired through interception that is in violation of Articles 5, 6 or 7 or any evidence deriving therefrom shall not be used as evidence or used for any other purpose in any judicial investigation, judgment or other proceeding and must be destroyed in accordance with Article 17, Paragraph 2.

1Persons who conduct communication surveillance that violates the provisions of this Act or other laws, or leak, provide, or use the information obtained from such communication surveillance are liable for damages.

2Victims who suffered a non-pecuniary damage may claim a commensurate amount of compensation; those who suffered damages to their reputation may also request appropriate punishment for the restoration of their reputation.

3The right to claim as described in the preceding Paragraph shall not be transferred or inherited. However, this restriction does not apply to those claims where the compensation amount has been committed to in a contract or where the claims are in an ongoing trial.

4The preceding paragraphs 1 to 3 shall also apply in cases of obtaining other people's communication user information and network traffic records in violation of the provisions of this Act or other laws.

1The total compensation for the damage as described in the preceding Article shall be calculated based on the days of the communication surveillance: each person who was under surveillance may be compensated with more than one thousand and less than five thousand New Taiwan dollars per day. However, this restriction does not apply to those who can produce proof that the damage suffered is beyond this dollar amount.

2If the total days of communication surveillance as described in the preceding Paragraph is unknown, the amount shall be calculated as thirty days.

The right to claim begins when the claimant realizes the existence of a damage-and-compensation obligor, and ceases to exist if the right is not exercised in two years. Likewise, when exceeding five years since the damage occurred.

1If civil servants or persons entrusted with power of authority, monitor others' communications while performing their duties, and violate the provisions of this Act or other laws, or leak, provide, or use the information obtained from the communication surveillance, then the nation should bear the responsibility for damage compensation.

2Provisions of Article 19 Paragraph 2, Paragraph 3, and Article 20 are applicable to the petitions filed for national compensation pursuant to the provision of the preceding Paragraph.

Damage compensations shall be determined in accordance with the provisions of this Act. Provisions of the Civil Code and the State Compensation Law are also applicable.

1Persons convicted of illegally monitoring other people's communications are subject to a fixed-term imprisonment of no more than five years.

2Civil servants or employees, who enforce or assist with the enforcement of the communication surveillance, thus committing the offense as described in the preceding Paragraph by using the power, opportunity or means entrusted to their duties or businesses are subject to a fixed-term imprisonment of more than six months and less than five years.

3Those who commit the offense as described in the preceding two Paragraphs with an intention of making profits are subject to a fixed-term imprisonment of more than one year and less than seven years.

1Persons who leak or give, without good cause, knowingly and illegally obtained communication surveillance information are subject to a fixed-term imprisonment of no more than three years.

2Persons who committed the offense as described in the preceding Paragraph with an intention of making profits are subject to a fixed-term imprisonment of more than six months and less than five years.

(Deleted)

1Civil servants or former civil servants who have access to secret information because of the duties of their positions or possess such information obtained via communications surveillance conducted pursuant to the provisions of this Act or other laws, leak or give away such information without good cause, are subject to a fixed-term imprisonment of no more than three years.

2If any of the circumstances set forth in Article 30, Paragraph 2 or Article 89, Paragraph 4 of the Judges Act exists when a judge or prosecutor applies this Act, he or she shall be subject to individual case evaluation.

3Civil servants or former civil servant who use the information acquired from communications surveillance in a case for other purposes in violation of Article 18-1, Paragraph 2 or 3 shall be subject to a fixed-term imprisonment of no more than three years.

Non-civil servants, who are aware of the secret information due to their duties or possess such information obtained via communication surveillance conducted pursuant to the provisions of this Act or other laws, and who leak or give away such information without good cause, are subject to a fixed-term imprisonment of no more than two years, detention, or a fine of no more than twenty thousand New Taiwan dollars.

1If any one of the following conditions is met when conducting surveillance on other people's communications, it is not punishable:

21. It is conducted pursuant to the law.

32. Employees of telecommunications enterprises and those who set up public telecommunications networks and postal enterprises conducted the surveillance based on the objective of providing public telecommunications, public telecommunications networks or postal services in accordance with the relevant laws.

43. The person conducting the surveillance is one of the parties in communication, or has obtained consent from one of the parties in communication, and the conduct is not for illegal purpose.

The offenses as stipulated in Article 24, Paragraph 1; Article 25, Paragraph 1, and Article 28 are only prosecutable upon receiving a complaint.

1The telecommunications enterprises and those who set up public telecommunications networks and postal enterprises that are obligated to assist in enforcing communication surveillance and have violated the provisions of Article 14, Paragraph 2 shall be subject to a fine of more than five hundred thousand and less than 5 million New Taiwan dollars by the competent authority of the relevant industry. Those who, upon receiving the notification for compliance, continue to violate the law shall be fined continuously on a case-by-case basis.

2Telecommunications enterprises that have the obligation to keep and assist in obtaining communication user information, communication records or network traffic records, and those who set up public telecommunications networks, who violate the provisions of Paragraph 1 or Paragraph 2 of Article 14-1, shall also be subject to the same.

3Those who are dissatisfied with the administrative sanctions imposed by the competent authorities of telecommunications enterprises and those who set up public telecommunications networks in accordance with this Act shall directly apply administrative litigation procedures.

A military judicial authority, during its investigation or trial of active military personnel concerning communications surveillance offenses, may apply mutatis mutandis the provisions of this Act.

1The Ministry of Justice shall make annual reports to the Legislative Yuan about the status of the enforcement of the communications surveillance. If required, the Legislative Yuan may ask the Ministry of Justice to make reports and may ask to access relevant information.

2The Legislative Yuan may send personnel at any time to the infrastructure authority, telecommunications enterprise, postal enterprise or other organizations, businesses and premises that assist with the enforcement of communications surveillance, to supervise the status of enforcement of communications surveillance, or use electronic monitoring equipment to perform said supervision.

3Any matter that is not provided in this Act shall be exercised by the Legislative Yuan ex officio or subject to the application of other laws.

The enforcement rules of this Act shall be formulated by the Executive Yuan in conjunction with the Judicial Yuan.

The Act will be put into effect on the date of its promulgation, except for Articles which were amended and promulgated on May. 30, 2006 and took effect on July. 1, 2006. As for Articles which were amended and promulgated on July.11,2007 and Jan. 29,2014 shall be put into effect five months after its promulgation. As to the implementation date of Articles which were amended on March. 25, 2016 shall be determined by Executive Yuan.