This Act is specially enacted for the purposes of ensuring the security and public welfare in the Taiwan Area, regulating dealings between the peoples of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area, and handling legal matters arising therefrom before national unification. With regard to matters not provided for in this Act, the provisions of other relevant laws and regulations shall apply.

The following terms as used in this Act are defined below.
1. "Taiwan Area" refers to Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen, Matsu, and any other area under the effective control of the Government.
2. "Mainland Area" refers to the territory of the Republic of China outside the Taiwan Area.
3. "People of the Taiwan Area" refers to the people who have household registrations in the Taiwan Area.
4. "People of the Mainland Area" refers to the people who have household registrations in the Mainland Area.

The provisions of this Act pertaining to the people of the Mainland Area shall likewise apply to the people of the Mainland Area who reside outside the Mainland Area.

The Mainland Affairs Council, Executive Yuan shall coordinate the handling of all Mainland-related affairs and is designated as the competent authorities of this Act.

The Executive Yuan may set up or designate an institution to handle the affairs relating to any dealings between the peoples of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area.
The Mainland Affairs Council, Executive Yuan may entrust the institution referred to in the preceding paragraph or any private organization meeting the following criteria to handle the affairs relating to any dealings between the peoples of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area:
1. Upon establishment, more than half of its total assets is donated by the government, and
2. The purpose of its establishment is for handling the affairs relating to any dealings between the peoples of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area, and the central competent authorities for it or for its business is the Mainland Affairs Council, Executive Yuan.
The Mainland Affairs Council, Executive Yuan or each competent authorities approved by the Executive Yuan in accordance with Paragraph 1 of Article 4-2 may, based on the need and the nature of the affairs to be handled, entrust any accountable, professional, and experienced non-profit juristic person other than those referred to in the preceding two paragraphs on a case-by-case basis to assist the handling of the affairs relating to any dealings between the peoples of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area; if necessary, it may also be entrusted to execute agreements.
The institution or private organization referred to in the preceding two paragraphs may upon the approval of the entrusting authorities, entrust any other non-profit juristic person as referred to in the preceding paragraph to assist the handling of the affairs relating to any dealings between the peoples of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area.

The civil servants transferred to the institution or private organization referred to in the preceding Article shall be permitted to return to government services, and when they return, the length of their service at the referred institution or organization may be added to their years of service as civil servants. This provision shall apply mutatis mutandis to those who were transferred prior to the entering into force of this Act or the amendments to this Act.
For the civil servants who do not return to government services after being transferred to the institution or private organization referred to in the preceding Article and receive the retirement benefits, layoff or death compensation from the referred institution or private organization, the Mainland Affairs Council, Executive Yuan shall make the budget to pay them for the years of their service as civil servants before and after the implementation of the new retirement and compensation scheme, based on the lump-sum payment criteria provided for in the relevant laws and regulations governing retirement and compensation scheme applicable to them before their transfer.
For the civil servants who return to government services after being transferred to the institution or private organization referred to in the preceding Article or who receive retirement benefits, layoff or death compensation from the referred institution or private organization, the length of service for which they have received benefits or compensation shall not be calculated in addition thereto.
Rules governing the transfer arrangement, return, calculation of the length of service, ranking determination and any other requirements referred to in Paragraph 1 shall be prescribed by the Examination Yuan in conjunction with the Executive Yuan.
Rules governing the lump-sum payment criteria, the calculation, and budget making shall be prescribed by the Executive Yuan.

The Mainland Affairs Council, Executive Yuan shall coordinate the administration of the matters related to any agreement making between the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area; where the content of the agreement is of professional and technical nature, and suitable to be made by each competent authorities concerned, the administration may be taken charge by the referred competent authorities in conjunction with the Mainland Affairs Council, Executive Yuan upon the approval of the Executive Yuan.
The Mainland Affairs Council, Executive Yuan or each competent authorities approved by the Executive Yuan in accordance with the preceding paragraph may entrust any institution or private organization referred to in Article 4 to negotiate and execute agreements, in the name of the entrusted, with the concerned authorities of the Mainland Area or their delegated juristic person, organization, or any other institution.
The agreement referred to in this Statue means any written document involving the exercise of governmental powers or any matter of political issues, and executed between the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area; any additional protocol, additional provision, protocol executed, agreed minutes, annex, and any other attachment shall constitute an integral part of the agreement.

Where any other non-profit judicial person referred to in Paragraph 3 of Article 4 is entrusted to assist the handling of the affairs or execute agreements, it shall be instructed and supervised by the entrusting authorities, or institution or private organization referred to in Paragraph 1 or 2 of Article 4.

The institution or private organization entrusted in accordance with the provisions of Paragraph 1 or 2 of Article 4 as well as any other non-profit juristic person referred to in Paragraph 3 of Article 4 during the entrusted period, shall comply with the following provisions:
1. Upon sending delegates to the Mainland Area or any other area to handle the entrusted affairs or any relevant important business, shall apply for approval to, comply with the instructions of, and promptly provide updated reports to the entrusting authorities, institution or private organization referred to in Paragraph 1 or 2 of Article 4; upon sending delegates to the Mainland Area for the other affairs, shall inform in advance the entrusting authorities, institution or private organization referred to in Paragraph 1 or 2 of Article 4.
2. Its representative and any person handling the entrusted affairs shall have the same obligation of confidentiality as civil servants even after they are discharged of the duty.
3. Its representative and any person handling the entrusted affairs shall have the same obligation to avoid conflict of interest as civil servants for the handling of the entrusted affairs.
4. Its representative and any person handling the entrusted affairs shall not negotiate or execute any agreement with the concerned authorities of the Mainland Area or their delegated juristic person, organization or any other institution without the approval of the entrusting authorities.

The institution, private organization, or any other non-profit juristic person entrusted to execute an agreement in accordance with Paragraph 3 of Article 4 or Paragraph 2 of Article 4-2 shall submit the draft agreement through the entrusting authorities to the Executive Yuan for approval before its execution of the agreement.
Where the content of the agreement requires any amendment to laws or any new legislation, the administration authorities of the agreement shall submit the agreement through the Executive Yuan to the Legislative Yuan for consideration within 30 days after the execution of the agreement; where its content does not require any amendment to laws or any new legislation, the administration authorities of the agreement shall submit the agreement to the Executive Yuan for approval and to the Legislative Yuan for record, with a confidential procedure if necessary.

Any authorities or institution at each local government level of the Taiwan Area shall not negotiate or execute any agreement in any form with any individual, juristic person, organization, or other authorities or institution of the Mainland Area unless authorized by the Mainland Affairs Council, Executive Yuan. The same applies mutatis mutandis to the civil servants, elected public offices at all levels, or local representative organs at all levels.
Any individual, juristic person, organization, or other institution shall not execute any agreement involving the governmental powers of the Taiwan Area or political issues with any individual, juristic person, organization, or other authorities or institution of the Mainland Area unless authorized by the Mainland Affairs Council, Executive Yuan or each competent authorities concerned in accordance with the provisions of this Act.

Rules governing the entrusting and re-entrusting of any entrusted institution, private organization, or other non-profit juristic person to handle the affairs, or negotiate or execute agreements and the supervision thereof in accordance with the provisions of Paragraph 3 or 4 of Article 4 or Paragraph 2 of Article 4-2 shall be drafted by the Mainland Affairs Council, Executive Yuan and submitted to the Executive Yuan for approval.

Ninety days prior to the commencement of the negotiation of an agreement involving political issues, the Executive Yuan shall submit to the Legislative Yuan a plan for entering into the agreement and an evaluation report on the constitutional or major political impact arising therefrom. The negotiation for entering into such an agreement shall not commence until the plan therefor is approved by an affirmative vote of three-quarters of the attending members of the Legislative Yuan at a session attended by three-quarters of all members of the Legislative Yuan.
An agreement involving political issues as referred to in the preceding paragraph shall mean any agreement that could cause a constitutional or major political impact.
The agency responsible for handling the agreement shall conduct negotiations based upon the approved plan for entering into the agreement and shall submit report(s) to the Legislative Yuan at appropriate times. The Legislative Yuan and the related committees may request the agency responsible for handling the agreement to appear before them to make a report.
In the event that the Legislative Yuan determines based upon the report(s) referred to in the preceding paragraph that the negotiation of the agreement between the parties could no longer proceed pursuant to the plan for entering into the agreement, the Legislative Yuan may demand the agency responsible for handling the agreement to terminate the negotiation by a resolution adopted by the vote of one-half or more of all members of the Legislative Yuan. In the event that the Executive Yuan determines that the negotiation of the agreement could no longer proceed pursuant to the plan for entering into the agreement, the Executive Yuan shall terminate the negotiation and report the circumstances to the Legislative Yuan.
The agency responsible for handling the agreement shall submit the draft agreement to the President for review and approval through a resolution of the Executive Yuan Council within fifteen days after the completion of the negotiation of the draft agreement pursuant to the plan for entering into the agreement. Within fifteen days after the approval by the President, the Executive Yuan shall publicize the full content of the draft agreement, and forward it to the Legislative Yuan for review and discussion, and report to the Legislative Yuan the process of the negotiation and the evaluation of any constitutional or major political impact as a result of the draft agreement.
All committees of the Legislative Yuan shall conduct hearing on the content of the draft agreement and the evaluation of its constitutional and major political impact prior to the review and discussion by the Legislative Yuan.
After the review and discussion of the draft agreement by the Legislative Yuan and upon an affirmative vote of three-quarters of the attending members of the Legislative Yuan at a session attended by three-quarters of all members of the Legislative Yuan, the Executive Yuan shall forward the draft agreement together with the main text of referendum and the statement of reasons to the Central Election Commission to hold a national referendum. The draft agreement shall be deemed adopted if the number of valid affirmative ballots exceeds one-half of the total number of eligible voters for the referendum. The agency responsible for handling the agreement shall then arrange the draft agreement to be signed and the exchange of notes, and shall submit the agreement to the President for promulgation.
Articles 9 through 16, Paragraph 1 of Article 17 regarding the time periods and Subparagraph 3 thereof, Article 19, Article 23, and Articles 26 through 29 of the Referendum Act shall not be applicable to the referendum of an agreement involving political issues. The Referendum Act shall be applicable to other matters of the referendum not regulated in this Act.
The destruction or change of the nation’s sovereign status or the free and democratic constitutional order shall not be the subject of a negotiation or an agreement involving political issues.
Any negotiation or agreement in violation of this Article shall be void.

To handle the affairs relating to any dealings between the peoples of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area, the Executive Yuan may permit in accordance with the principle of reciprocity juristic persons, organizations, or any other institutions of the Mainland Area to establish branches in the Taiwan Area.
The matters relating to the granting of permission for the establishment referred to in the preceding paragraph shall be prescribed by law.

Documents produced in the Mainland Area shall be presumed to be genuine provided that they are authenticated by the institution set up or designated, or by the private organization entrusted by the Executive Yuan.

Where any legal process or document is required to be served, or any necessary investigation is required to be conducted in the Mainland Area, judicial authorities may request or entrust the institution or private organization referred to in Article 4 to do so.