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進入《TAIPEI TIMES 焦點》 Series of new policies to take effect tomorrow
By Shelley Shan / Staff reporter
A wide variety of new national policies are scheduled to take effect tomorrow, ranging from an increase in the minimum monthly wage to required mandatory detailed labeling of the ingredients in food products and beverages.
The minimum monthly wage is to rise from NT$19,047 to NT$19,273, while the Labor Standards Act （勞動基準法） is to be applied to the staff of the management committee of the residential building.
Meanwhile, first-time applicants for passports, as well as people requesting and receiving new identification cards, are to be able do so at any household registration office nationwide, instead of having to return to the locality in which they are registered as residents.
After the changes are made, people traveling abroad regularly can file applications to access the automatic passport inspection service at the Joint Central Government Office Building on Jinan Rd in Taipei, the same building where people can apply for passports.
Before, people could only apply at airports or specific service stations set up by the National Immigration Agency.
The agency said that people will be able to get their passports at the Bureau of Consular Affairs on the third floor of the building and then have the automatic passport inspection service activated on the ground floor, so it can all be done in one day.
The service, which uses biometrics to verify the travelers’ identifications, was launched in 2011, and as of last month, the number of people applying for the service had topped 1.54 million.
The amendment to the Act Governing Food Safety and Sanitation （食品安全衛生管理法） that is to be implemented tomorrowrequires food products to display percentages for ingredients in the product. For example, a product can only be labeled as “flavored milk” or “milk beverage” if it contains at least 50 percent milk.
“Mixed-rice noodles” would mean that rice accounts for more than 50 percent, but less than 100 percent of the ingredients.
Manufacturers cannot label the products as rice noodles if rice accounts for less than 50 percent of them.
The same rule also applies to the labeling of juices. If manufacturers do not add any juice to the beverage and create flavor through legal food additives, the beverage can only be labeled as having the flavor of a certain fruit.
In addition, slaughterhouses will only be allowed to accept cattle with ear tags with documents showing the ranches where the cows were raised.
The packaging of the beef must inform consumers how the meat was processed, including the names of the ranch where the cow was raised and slaughterhouse.
Aside from the food safety rules, the indoor air quality of 466 public locations is to come under regulation, including libraries, hospitals, senior homes, airports, train stations and others.
The indoor air is to be checked to see whether the pollutants it contains exceed the standard on carbon dioxide, carbon oxide and other particulate matters.
According to the Environmental Protection Administration, Taiwan will be only the second country in the world regulating indoor air quality. South Korea was the first.
新聞來源：TAIPEI TIMES
