The present Regulations are prescribed pursuant to Article 56 of the Law of Ships.

The term "passenger ship" when used herein shall mean a ship carrying more than twelve passengers on board, except small ship.

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Children less than one year of age shall not be counted in the prescribed number of passengers.
Ages of children mentioned in the previous paragraph shall be computed based on the actual, full ages at the time they go on board and as proven by legal documents.

The term "international passenger ship" when used herein shall mean Republic of China (R.O.C.)-flagged passenger ships, navigating in international routes or shorter international routes.

The term "international route" when used herein shall mean the route, other than shorter international routes, which a ship navigates between ports of the R.O.C. and foreign ports, or between foreign ports.

The term "shorter international route" when used herein shall mean an international route in the course of which a ship is not more than 200 nautical miles distant from a port or place where passengers and crew could be placed in safety. Meanwhile, neither the distance between the last port of call in the R.O.C where the route begins and the final port of destination in a foreign country, nor the return route, shall exceed 600 nautical miles.

The term "domestic passenger ship" when used herein shall mean R.O.C. flagged passenger ships navigating in the outer sea, coastal or inland water routes.

The term "outer sea route" when used herein shall mean routes on outer seas or between islands in possession of the R.O.C, which are not the coastal route.

The term "coastal route" when used herein shall mean a route along the sea coast or between islands in possession of the R.O.C, which is less than 30 nautical miles distant from the coast.

The term "inland route" when used herein shall mean a route in a river, lake and other inland waters or port areas of the R.O.C.

If a coastal route in which a passenger ship navigates does not have severe sea conditions due to natural shields, the owner of the ship may apply to the shipping administration authority for determining such route as an inland water route.

The term "ferryboat" when used herein shall mean passenger ships that shuttle regularly between certain domestic ports or ferries to link the land transportation, with regular schedules every day or every other day.

The term "voyages" when used herein shall mean the voyages on which ships sail from the first port of departure to the final port of destination.

The term "passenger cabin" when used herein shall mean the cabins, steerage cabins, lobbies, halls, public lounge, medical rooms, hospitals, lavatory, toilets and service places, together with passages, corridors and stairways, used exclusively for passengers.

The term "cabin" when used herein shall mean cabins with not more than twelve fixed berths provided for accommodation of passengers.

The term "steerage cabin" when used herein shall mean cabins with more than twelve fixed berths or ground berths, movable berths, reclining chairs, sitting chairs and benches or open cabins used exclusively for passengers.

The term "cabin passenger" when used herein shall mean passengers who hold cabin passenger tickets and use passenger cabins.
The term "steerage passenger" when used herein shall mean passengers who hold steerage passenger tickets and use steerage cabins.
The term "deck passenger" when used herein shall mean passengers who are carried on tween decks or weather decks without designated seats or sleeping places.

The term "passenger deck" when used herein shall mean every tier or every part of the decks above the lowest passenger deck used for passengers.

The term "the lowest passenger deck" when used herein shall mean the lowest deck below the summer load line used for passengers.

No non-power-driven passenger ship shall be operated beyond inland waters.

In no case shall any passenger ship be allowed to carry passengers on weather decks when the ship navigates any outer sea route unless approved by the shipping administration authority or ship register institute commissioned by the administration authority (hereinafter referred to as “ship register institute”).