Taiwan

• Pages: 411-416

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CHAPTER XIX

TAIWAN

A. Introduction

The Republic of China (“Taiwan”) is a civil law jurisdiction.

Assistance extended by a Taiwan court on request of service of process or

investigation of evidence by foreign court is codified in the Act on

Assistance to Matters Requested by Foreign Court 1 and its regulations.

For civil matters, due to Taiwan’s particular international status, Taiwan

is not a signing party to the Hague Convention on Civil Procedure of

March 1, 19542 or the Hague Convention on the Service Abroad of

Judicial and Extrajudicial Documents in Civil or Commercial Matters of

November 15, 1965.3 By contrast, for criminal matters, Taiwan and the

United States have executed the Agreement on Mutual Legal Assistance

in Criminal Matters 4 which lays a legal foundation for bilateral

cooperation in criminal investigation matters. Nevertheless, there is no

similar agreement in place on civil matters between Taiwan and the United

States, and all legal assistance requests concerning civil matters are

executed under Foreign Assistance Act and its regulations. The act gives

Taiwanese courts the power to provide legal assistance for requesting U.S .

courts, including service of process and evidence investigation matters,

such as taking witness statement/testimony and/or documentary evidence

and providing any other form of assistance not contrary to the Taiwan laws.

Taiwan maintains statistics on legal assistance cases in total amount

on a yearly basis, including requests from foreign jurisdictions and seeking

1. WAIGUOFAYUANWEITUOSHIJIANXIEZHUFA [ACT ON ASSISTANCE TO

MATTERS REQUESTED BY FOREIGN COURT] (1962) (Taiwan) [hereinafter

FOREIGN ASSISTANCE ACT].

2. Convention on Civil Procedure, Mar. 1, 1954, 286 U.N.T.S. 265.

3. Convention on Service Abroad of Judicial and Extrajudicial Documents in

Civil and Commercial Matters, Nov. 15, 1965, 20 U.S.T. 361, 658 U.N.T.S.

163.

4. U.S. DEP’T. OF STATE, AGREEMENT ON MUTUAL LEGAL ASSISTANCE IN

CRIMINAL MATTERS BETWEEN THE AMERICAN INSTITUTE IN TAIWAN AN D

THE TAIPEI ECONOMIC AND CULTURAL REPRESENTATIVE OFFICE IN THE

UNITED STATES, available at www.state.gov/s/l/38633.htm.