Chapter  I General Principles

Article 1
The Consumer Protection Law (hereinafter “this law”) is enacted for the purposes of protecting the interests of consumers, facilitating the safety of the consumer life of nationals, and improving the quality of the consumer life of nationals.
The protection of consumers shall follow the provisions of this law, and where this law does not provide, other laws shall be applicable.

Article 2
Definitions of terms as used in this law are as follows:
1. The term "consumers" means those who enter into transactions, use goods or accept services for the purpose of consumption.
2. The term "business operators" means those who are engaged in the business of designing, producing, manufacturing, importing or distributing goods, or providing services.
3. The term "consumer relationship" means the legal relationship arising between consumers and business operators for sale of goods or provision of services.
4. The term "consumer dispute" means a dispute between consumers and business operators as a result of the sale of goods or provision of services.
5. The term "consumer litigation" means litigation brought to court because of consumer relationship.
6. The term "consumer protection groups" means those approved legal entitles established in accordance with the laws for the purpose of protecting consumers.
7. The term “articles for standard contracts” refers to those contract terms unilaterally prepared by business operators for entering into contracts with nonspecific and multiple parties. In addition to written form, the articles for standard contracts also include those which can be shown on public screens, flyers, public message boards, the Internet, or other methods.
8. The term “bargaining terms” means contracts terms which come to agreement through separate bargaining parties.
9. The term “standard contracts” means contracts in which articles for standard contracts fully or partially are contracts prepared by business operators.
10. The term “mail order purchase” means trade transactions in which business operators utilize radios, television broadcasts, telephones, facsimiles, catalogs, newspapers, magazines, the Internet, flyers, or other similar mechanisms, which make a business transaction between a business operator and a consumer who does not have opportunity to review the purchased merchandise.
11. The term “door-to-door sale” means a sale completed through business operators’ solicitation at the consumer’s premises or other locations without any invitation.
12. The term “installment sales” means the type of transaction under a sales contract in which the consumer is required to pay a down payment, with the balance to be paid in installments, and the business operator shall deliver the subject matter to the consumers upon receipt of the down payment.

Article 3
In order to achieve the purposes of this law, the government shall implement the following measures and shall periodically review, coordinate and improve upon the laws and regulations relating to the following matters and their enforcement:
1. Maintaining the quality, safety and sanitation of goods and services;
2.Preventing goods or services from injuring the lives, bodies, health, properties or other interests of the consumers;
3.Ensuring that the labeling of goods or services shall meet the requirements of laws and regulations;
4.Ensuring that the advertisings of goods or services shall meet the requirements of laws and regulations;
5.Ensuring that the measurements and weights of goods and services shall meet the requirements of laws and regulations;
6.Facilitating the maintenance of reasonable prices for goods and services;
7.Facilitating the reasonable packaging of goods;
8.Facilitating fair trade in goods or services;
9.Facilitating and encouraging consumer protection groups;
10.Coordinating for handling consumers dispute ;
11.Promoting consumer education;
12.Handling consumer consulting services; and
13.Other consumer protection measures necessary for the development of the consumer life.
In order to achieve the foregoing purposes, the government shall enact relevant laws.

Article 4
With regard to goods or services provided by them, business operators shall pay attention to the health and safety of consumers, and shall explain to the consumers the methods of use for goods and services, ensure the fairness of transactions, provide consumers with adequate and accurate information, and implement other measures necessary to protect consumers.

Article 5
All the government, business operators and consumers shall endeavor together to enhance consumer information, provide the same to be used by the consumers so as to ensure that appropriate and reasonable consumer behaviors can be adopted, in order to ensure their safety and interests.

Article 6
The competent authorities defined by this Law at the central government level shall be the competent authorities having primary jurisdictions, at the municipal level the municipal governments and at the county city levels the county and city governments.

Chapter  II Interests of Consumers

Subchapter  One Safeguarding of Health and Safety.

Article 7
Business operators engaging in the design, production or manufacture of goods or in the provisions of services shall ensure that goods and services provided by them meet and comply with the contemporary technical and professional standards of the reasonably expected safety prior to the sold goods launched into the market, or at the time of rendering services.
Where goods or services may endanger the lives, bodies, health or properties of consumers, a warning and the methods for emergency handling of such danger shall be labeled at a conspicuous place.
Business operators violating the two foregoing two paragraphs and thus causing injury to consumers or third parties shall be jointly and severally liable therefor, provided that if business operators can prove that they are not guilty of negligence, the court may reduce their liability for damages.

Article 7-1
Where business operators allege that when their goods launched into the market or at the time of rendering service were in compliance with the contemporary technical and professional standards, of reasonably expected safety, they are required to produce evidence in support thereof.
Goods or services can not be presumed inconsistent with the requirement of safety set forth in the first paragraph of the preceding Article simply because better goods or services are subsequently provided.

Article 8
Business operators engaging in distribution of goods and sales shall be jointly and severally liable for damages with those business operators engaging in the design, production or manufacture of goods or services with respect to injury caused by such goods or services, provided that if they have exercised due care for the prevention of such injury, or even if they had exercised due care, injury would still have occurred, such joint and several liability shall not be applicable.
If the business operators referred to in the preceding paragraph retrofit goods or package bulk goods into smaller units or alter the nature of services shall be deemed as business operators set forth in the preceding Article.

Article 9
Business operators engaging in the importation of goods or services shall be deemed as the designers, producers or manufacturers of such goods or the providers of such services and shall therefore bear the liability of producers set forth Article 7 of this law.

Article 10
Where there are facts sufficient to prove the existence of suspicion that goods or services provided will endanger the safety and health of the consumers, business operators shall immediately recall such goods or discontinue such services, provided that if necessary treatments taken by the business operators are sufficient to remove such danger, the foregoing recalling is not applicable.
Where goods or services are of a threat to endanger the lives, bodies, health or properties of the consumers in the absence of conspicuous warning labels with descriptions of the methods for emergency handling of such danger, the provision of the preceding paragraph shall apply mutatis mutandis.

Article 10-1
The liability for damages of business operators to customers set forth in this Subchapter shall be prohibited from being limited or exempted in advance.

Subchapter  Two Standardized Contracts

Article 11
The terms and conditions used in the standard contracts by the business operators shall be based on the principles of equality and reciprocity.
Where the terms and conditions of standard contracts are ambiguous, interpretations shall be made favorable to the consumers.

Article 11-1
Before business operators intend to make a standard contract with consumers, a reasonable period of no less than thirty (30) days must be given to consumers for them to review the contents of all terms and conditions.
Contracts issued by violators of the provisions in the previous paragraph shall not constitute the contents of the standard contract, but consumers may propose that the terms and conditions make up the content of the standard contract.
The central competent authority may select a particular industry and post to the public the appropriate review period of a standard contract with reference to the importance of such terms and conditions, number of matters concerned and degree of complication in a standard contract.

Article 12
The terms and conditions in standard contracts, which violate the principle of good faith and are conspicuously unfair to consumers, shall be null and void. Where the terms and conditions of standard contracts fall within any of the following circumstances, they shall be presumed to be unfair:
1.Their conditions violate the principle of the equality and reciprocity;
2.They are obviously contradictory to the legislative purport of the discretionary provisions which may be excluded by such terms and conditions; or
3.Where the chief rights or obligations of the contract are restricted by such terms and conditions and as a result, the purpose of the contract cannot be achieved.

Article 13
Where articles for standard contracts are not specified in standard contracts, business operators are required to expressly illustrate their contents to consumers; and where it is obviously difficult to expressly illustrate their contents, a public notice of their contents shall be prominently made and, upon the consent of the consumers to be so bound, such terms shall constitute a part of the contract.
In the circumstance set forth in the preceding paragraph, business operators, at the request of consumers, shall provide photocopies of the articles for standard contracts or affix such photocopies as an attachment to the contract.

Article 14
Where articles for standard contracts are not specified in a standard contract and, under normal circumstances, they cannot be foreseen by consumers, such articles shall not constitute a part of the contract.

Article 15
Where articles for standard contracts in a standard contract contradict the bargaining contracts, the contradicted part shall be null and void.

Article 16
Where articles for a standard contracts are null and void in whole or in part or do not constitute a part of the contract, and if the contract can be upheld without such portions, the remaining parts of the contract shall still be valid, except when they are obviously unconscionable to one of the parties, the entire contract shall be null and void.

Article 17
The competent authorities at the central government level may designate certain industries, and set forth by public notice the mandatory and prohibitory provisions of standard contracts to be used by them.
Articles for standard contracts of standard contracts in violation of the publicly posted standard contracts set forth in the preceding paragraph shall be null and void, and the validity of such contract shall be governed by the provisions of the preceding Article.
Competent authorities may at any time dispatch officials to audit standard contracts used by business operators.

Subchapter  Three Extraordinary Purchase and Sale.

Article 18
Business operators engaging in mail order purchase or door-to-door sales shall inform buyers-consumers, who make the purchase, of the terms of such purchase and the name, the title, the responsible person, office or residence of the seller.

Article 19
Consumers of a mail order or door-to-door sale, if unwilling to purchase the goods received by them, may return the goods or notify in writing the business operators to rescind the purchase contract within 7 days upon receipt such goods without stating reasons or paying any expenses or the purchase price.
Any covenants set forth in the mail order purchase or door-to-door sale violating the preceding paragraph shall be null and void.
In case of the termination of the aforesaid contract, if the agreement relating to restoration between the business operators and consumers is less favorable to the consumers than Article 259 of the civil code, such agreement shall be null and void.

Article 19-1
The provisions of the foregoing two articles shall be applied, mutatis mutandis, to services offered and rendered.

Article 20
Consumers shall not be held responsible for keeping custody of goods mailed or delivered to them without an offer by consumers.
The sender of the goods set forth in the preceding paragraph shall be deemed to have abandoned the goods mailed or delivered, if after a reasonable period set by the consumer’s notice, the sender still fails to repossess such goods or if a notice by the consumer cannot be made. Even though no notice is given by the consumer, if the consumer has not expressed acceptance for over one month after such mailing or delivery, the goods shall be similarly deemed abandoned so long as they are not repossessed.
Consumers may claim compensation for damage injury suffered as a result of the mailed goods and may claim reimbursement of necessary expenses for handling the mailed goods.

Article 21
Contracts of installment sales between business operators and consumers shall be made in writing.
The written contract in the preceding paragraph shall specify the following particulars:
1.The amount of down-payment,
2.The price difference between the total price by adding up the amount of each installment and other incidental charges, and the cash transaction price, and
3.The interest rates.
Where business operators fail to specify the interest rats in accordance with the preceding paragraph, the interest rate shall be calculated at 5% per annum of the cash transaction price.
If business operators violate the provisions of paragraph 2, subparagraphs 1 and 2, the consumers shall not be liable to pay any price above the cash transaction price.

Subchapter  Four Regulations Governing Consumer Information

Article 22
Business operators shall ensure the accuracy of the contents of advertisements and their obligations to consumers shall not be less than what is stated in the advertisements.

Article 22-1
When engaging in transactions relating to credit with consumers, business operators must indicate in their advertisements the annual percentage rates of all the costs of borrowing over the term of the credit.
The scope of the “ costs of borrowing over the term of the credit ” and the methods of calculating the “annual percentage rates” as expressed in the previous paragraph are to be set by the competent authorities of each relevant industry.

Article 23
If a media business operator engaged in publishing or reporting advertisements knows or should have known that the contents of the advertisements are inconsistent with the facts, it shall be jointly and severally liable to consumers for their reliance upon such advertisements.
The foregoing liabilities for compensation may not be restricted or waived by any agreement in advance.

Article 24
Business operators shall label on the products or for services in accordance with the Products Labeling Law and other relevant laws and regulations.
Imported goods or services shall be accompanied with labels and instructions in Chinese, the contents of which shall not be less comprehensive than the contents of such labels or pamphlets required in the place of their origin.
If imported goods or services at the place of their origin are accompanied with warning labels, the preceding paragraph shall apply mutatis mutandis.

Article 25
Business operators shall furnish written warranties by their own initiatives when they warrant to consumers concerning the quality of goods or services.
The written warranties set forth in the foregoing paragraph shall specify the following matters:
1.The name, type and quantity of goods or services and, the manufacture numbers or batch numbers if any;
2.The contents of such warranties,
3.The period of the warranties and the method for calculating commencement of such warranty period;
4. The name and address of the manufacturer;
5. If sold by a distributor, the name and address of the distributor; and
6. The date of the transaction.

Article 26
In order to ensure the quality of goods and the safety of consumers, business operators shall provide shockproof, moisture-proof, dust-proof or other necessary packaging to preserve the goods in accordance with the nature of and supplied practice for goods provided by them, provided that they may not exaggerate the contents or such goods or provide excessive packaging thereof.

Chapter  III Consumer Protection Groups

Article 27
Consumer protection groups may only be in the form of juridical person of an association or foundation.
Consumer protection groups shall set the protection of consumer interests and the promotion of consumer education as their primary purposes.

Article 28
The tasks of consumer protection groups are as follows:
1.The survey, comparison, research and announcement of the prices of goods or services;
2.The survey, testing, research and announcement of the quality of goods or services;
3.The survey, comparison, research and announcement of the labeling of goods and their contents;
4.Consultation, introduction and reporting relating to consumer information;
5.The editing and publishing of consumer protection publications;
6.The survey, analysis and conclusion of compilation opinions;
7.Accepting consumers’ complaints and mediating consumer disputes;
8.Handling consumer disputes and filing consumer litigations;
9.Suggesting to the government to take appropriate consumer protection legislation or administrative measures;
10.Suggesting to business operators to adopt appropriate consumer protection measures; and
11.Other matters relating to the protection of consumers’ interests.

Article 29
In order to engage in the testing of goods or services, consumer protection groups shall install testing equipment, or commission the agencies or organizations having the testing equipment, for the items subject to the testing.
The examiner conducting the testing shall prepare testing records stating the sampling and using facilities, the testing methods, the process of testing and the result of such testing, and submit such records to consumer protection groups.

Article 30
The government shall consult consumer protection groups, the relevant industries, scholars and experts concerning legislative or administrative measures for the protection of consumers.

Article 31
In order to engage in the survey or testing of goods or services, consumer protection groups may request the government to provide necessary assistance.

Article 32
The competent authorities may provide financial support to consumer protection groups which have good performance records on consumer protection work.

Chapter  IV Administrative Supervision

Article 33
If the government of a municipality or county (city) believes that the goods or services provided by business operators may endanger the lives, bodies, health or properties of consumers, they shall immediately undertake an investigation and may publicly disclose the process and results of such investigation.
In conducting the investigation as set forth in the previous paragraph, the investigators must show relevant identifications, and the investigation shall be conducted in the following ways:
1.They shall make inquiry of business operators or related persons;
2.They shall notify business operators or related persons to be present so as to make statements;
3.They shall notify business operators to provide information to prove that such goods or services will not endanger the lives, bodies, health or properties of consumers;
4.They shall dispatch personnel to the place of business, place of operations or other related premises of the business operators to conduct an investigation; and
5.When necessary, they may take samples of goods at the premises for testing.

Article 34
Governments of municipalities or counties (cities) may petition prosecutors to seize objects which may be served as evidence in the course of investigations.
The provisions governing seizures set forth in the code of criminal procedures shall be applied, mutatis mutandis, to such seizures mentioned in the preceding paragraph.

Article 35
In conducting a test, the competent authorities of municipalities or counties (cities) may commission consumer protection groups, professional groups or other relevant public or private agencies or organizations having testing facilities to perform such testing.

Article 36
If, after an investigation taken in accordance with Article 33, the government of a municipality or county (city) believes that the goods or services provided by business operators have endangered or will endanger the lives, bodies, health or property of consumers, the government concerned shall order such business operators to immediately cease the design, production, manufacturing, processing, importation, distribution of such goods or the rendering of such services, or take other necessary measures.

Article 37
If the government of a municipality or county (city) believes that goods or services provided by business operators have caused or will threaten to cause major material injury or damage to consumers, and the situation is an emergency, then in addition to the measures to be taken pursuant to the preceding article, that government shall publicize their names, addresses, commodities and services through the mass media, or take other necessary measures.

Article 38
If the competent authorities at the central level believe it necessary, they may also take measures set forth in the preceding five articles.

Article 39
The Consumer Protection Commission and the municipality and county (city) governments shall respectively maintain several consumer ombudsmen.
The appointment and responsibilities of consumer ombudsmen shall be regulated by the Executive Yuan.

Article 40
The Executive Yuan shall set up a Consumer Protection Commission to study, propose and review the basic policies relating to consumer protection and supervise their implementation.
The Chairman of the Consumer Protection Commission shall be the Vice Premier of the Executive Yuan, and other commissioners shall include the heads of relevant ministries, representatives of national consumer protection organizations, representatives of national business operators, scholars and experts. The organizational regulations of such Commission shall be regulated by the Executive Yuan.

Article 41
The powers of the Consumer Protection Commission shall be as follows:
1.To study, propose and review the basic policies and measures concerning consumer protection;
2.To study, draft, revise and implement consumer protection plans and review the results of their implementation;
3.To review consumer protection proposals and to promote, coordinate and review their implementation;
4.To study domestic and foreign trends in consumer protection and issues relating to social and economic development;
5.To educate and promote consumer protection, and to gather and provide information for the protection of consumers;
6.To coordinate policies and measures of various ministries, bureaus, departments and competent authorities concerning consumer protection; and
7.To supervise competent authorities in charge of consumer protection and to direct consumer ombudsmen in the exercise of their powers.
The Consumer Protection Commission shall periodically publish the results of enforcing consumer protection measures and related information.

Article 42
Municipality and county (city) governments shall establish consumer service centers handing such matters as rendering consultation, educational dissemination, complaints, etc.
Governments of municipalities and counties (cities) may establish branch offices under the consumer service centers within their jurisdictions.

Chapter  V Handling of Consumer Disputes

Subchapter  One Complaint and Mediation

Article 43
When a consumer dispute arises between consumers and business operators relating to goods or services, consumers may file a complaint with the business operators, consumer protection groups, or consumer service centers or their branch offices.
Business operators shall properly handle the complaint made by consumers within 15 days of such complaint.
If the complaint of consumers referred to in the preceding paragraph has not been properly responded to, a further complaint with the consumer ombudsmen of the governments of the municipality or county (city) can be made.

Article 44
If the consumers’ complaint referred to in the preceding article is still not properly responded to, a petition for mediation may be made with the consumers’ dispute mediation commission of the municipality or county (city).

Article 44-1
The receipt of and procedures for conducting the consumer dispute mediation as set forth in the preceding article shall be prescribed by the Customer Protection Commission.

Article 45
The governments of municipalities and counties (cities) shall each establish a consumer dispute mediation committee consisting of 7 to 15 commissioners.
Commissioners referred to in the preceding paragraph shall be representatives of the government of municipalities or counties (cities), consumer ombudsmen, and representatives of consumer protection organizations, and representatives of the professional groups to which business operators belong or to which they are related, and the consumer ombudsman shall be the chairman. The organization of such committee shall be separately prescribed.

Article 45-1
The mediation procedure shall be conducted at the municipality and county (city) governmental offices or other appropriate venues, and the mediation procedure may be not open.
Members of mediation committees, coordinating mediators and other staff who are responsible for mediation cases must keep the contents of mediation matter confidential unless those matters have already been publicly disclosed.

Article 45-2
Regarding the mediation of customer disputes, if the parties can not reach an agreement but have narrowed their differences of opinion, the mediators may plan a solution proposal and send it ex officis to the parties after considering all situations to balance the benefits between parties within the scope of major intent of the parties.
The foregoing proposal must be approval by more than half of commissioners who attended the mediation, and in which the appeal period and the legal consequence of failure to file appeal within the statutory period as set forth in Article 45-3 must be specified.

Article 45-3
Parties may bring an appeal against the proposal as set forth in the preceding article within 10 days after receiving the proposal.
Where an appeal is brought within the preceding statute of limitation, the mediation shall be presumed to have not been completed; where no appeal is brought within the preceding statute of limitation, the mediation shall be presumed to have been completed on the basis of the said proposal.
Regarding the appeal set forth in the first paragraph, the consumers dispute mediation commission shall inform the other party of it.

Article 45-4
Regarding consumer disputes involving a small amount of money, if one party does not appear at mediation date without due cause, the mediators shall render a default judgment upon application of the other party or conclude ex officis a resolution plan, and send it forth via process of service to the parties.
The foregoing plan must be approved by more than half of all mediating commissioners, and in which the appeal period and the legal consequence of failure to file appeal within the statutory period as set forth in Article 45-3 must be specified.
The “process of service” as described in the first paragraph shall not follow the rules governing delivery of public announcements.
The “small amount of money” as described in the first paragraph shall be determined by the Executive Yuan.

Article 45-5
Parties may file an appeal against the plan set forth in the preceding article within the specified 10 days after being served; where no appeal is brought within the appeal period, the said plan shall be presumed to have been completed.
If parties bring an appeal within the appeal period and the mediator has rescheduled a mediation date but parties do not appear at the mediation without due cause, the said plan shall be presumed to have been completed.

Article 46
Where a mediation is successfully concluded, the letter of mediation must be in writing.
The provisions of Articles 22 through 26 of the Statute for Mediation at village, township and city levels shall be applied, mutatis mutandis, to the execution and validity of the written letter of mediation referred to in the preceding paragraph.

Subchapter  Two Consumer Litigation

Article 47
Consumer litigation may be subject to the jurisdiction of the court of the place where the consumer relationship occurs.

Article 48
The high courts, their lower courts and branches thereof may establish a consumer affairs tribunal or designate a magistrate dedicated to the hearing of consumer litigations.
If a court renders a judgment unfavorable to business operators, the court may at its own discretion, ex officio, declare provisional execution of the judgment without security or with reduced security.

Article 49
A consumer protection group, which has been established for more than 3 years after its approval, has obtained upon application a rating of excellence by the Consumer Protection Commission, maintains a special staff dealing with consumer protection, and meeting any of the following requirements, may, with the approval of the consumer ombudsman, bring in its own name an action for damages to consumers in accordance with Article 50 or an action for omission in accordance with Article 53.
1. An association established as juristic person having more than 500 members, or
2.A foundation established as a juristic person having total registered assets of NT$10 million or more.
If a consumer protection group brings litigation in accordance with the preceding paragraph, it shall retain a lawyer to litigate on its behalf. The engaged lawyer may request the reimbursement of any necessary expenses but not claim any compensation for such litigation.
If a consumer protection group has committed any unlawful conduct in connection with the litigation brought by it in accordance with the first paragraph, the competent authorities of having chartered its establishment shall revoke its approval.
Regulations governing the rating of consumer protection groups shall be separately provided for by the Consumer Protection Commission.

Article 50
Where numerous consumers are injured as the result of the same incident, a consumer protection group may take assignment of the rights of claims from 20 or more consumers and bring litigation in its own name. Consumers may revoke such assignment of the rights of claims before the close of oral arguments, in which case they shall notify the court.
In the foregoing litigation, if some customers terminate their assignment of the rights of claims and thus the said litigation results in less than 20 consumers the function of consumer protection group standing will not be affected.
The assignment of the rights of claims referred to in the preceding paragraph shall include non-pecuniary damages set forth in Articles 194 and 195, paragraph 1, of the civil code.
The period of statute of limitations for consumers to seek damages referred to in the preceding paragraph shall be separately determined for each consumer who has made such assignment.
After taking an assignment of the rights of claims set forth in the third paragraph, the consumer protection group shall deliver the balance of compensation received as a result of the litigation by deducting necessary expenses for the litigation, and lawyer fees set forth in second paragraph of the preceding Article, to consumers who have made such assignment of rights.
Consumer protection groups shall not claim rewards from consumers for litigation referred to in the first paragraph.

Article 51
In a litigation brought in accordance with this law, the required consumer may claim for punitive damages up to 3 times the amount of actual damages as a result of injuries caused by the willful act of misconduct of business operators; however, if such injuries are caused by negligence, a punitive damage up to one time the amount of the actual damages may be claimed.

Article 52
If a consumer protection group brings a litigation in accordance with Article 50 in its own name, the court fees for the portion of the claim exceeding NT$600,000 shall be waived.

Article 53
Consumer ombudsmen or consumer protection groups may petition to the court for an injunction to discontinue or prohibit a business operator’s conduct which has constituted a material violation of the provisions of this law relating to consumer protection.
Court fees for a litigation referred to in the preceding paragraph shall be exempted.

Article 54
If a mass of parties injured out of the same consumer relationship select one or more persons to bring an action for damages in accordance with Article 41 of the Code of Civil Procedures, the court may announce by public notice after obtaining the consent of the chosen representative(s), whereby other injured parties may within a certain period of time set forth in writing the facts, evidences and declarations of claims resulting from the injury and request for damages in the same litigation preceding. Persons making such claims shall be deemed to have made the election in accordance with Article 41 of the Code of Civil Procedures.
Copies of the papers concerning the joinder of parties and claims shall be prepared in copies and be sent to both the plaintiffs and the defendants.
The time period referred to in paragraph 1 shall be not less than 10 days. The public notice shall be attached to the bulletin board of the courthouse and shall be published in newspapers with expenses to be paid for by the National Treasury.

Article 55
Articles 48 and 49 of the Code of Civil Procedure shall apply, mutatis mutandis, to litigations referred to in the preceding article.

Chapter  VII Penalties

Article 56
A person violating any of Articles 24, 25 or 26, and failing to take corrective actions ordered by the competent authorities within the time limit set forth by the competent authorities, shall be punished by an administrative fine of not less than NT$20,000 and not more than NT$200,000.

Article 57
A business operator refusing, circumventing or obstructing any investigation conducted by the competent authorities in accordance with Article 17 Paragraph 3, Article 33 or Article 38 shall be punished by an administrative fine of not less than NT$30,000 and not more than NT$300,000 and which may be assessed consecutively.

Article 58
A business operator violating an order of the competent authorities in accordance with Article 36 or 38 shall be punished by an administrative fine of not less than NT$60,000 and not more than NT$1,500,000 and which may be assessed consecutively.

Article 59
Where a business operator is in the situation described in Article 37, the competent authorities may, in addition to taking the measures provided for in that Article and in Article 36, also punish the business operator by an administrative fine of not less than NT$150,000 and not more than NT$1,500,000.

Article 60
In the case of a material violation of provisions of this law by a business operator, an order for suspension of operations or discontinuance of business may be issued with the approval of the competent authorities at the central government level or the Consumer Protection Commission of the Executive Yuan.

Article 61
Where a certain conduct is punishable in accordance with this law and other laws providing for more severe punishments, then such other laws shall apply; where such conduct constitutes a criminal offense, the case shall be immediately transferred for a criminal investigation.

Article 62
The administrative fines set forth in this law shall be levied by the competent authorities, and any failure to pay such fines within the time limit set by the said authorities shall be referred to the court for compulsory action according to law.

Chapter  VII Ancillary Provisions

Article 63
The Enforcement Rules of the Consumers Protection Law shall be prescribed by the Executive Yuan.

Article 64
This law shall come into force on the date of promulgation.