Chapter 5 Penalties
Article 27
Under any of the following circumstances, a subject is fined from NTD600,000 up to NTD60,000,000:
1.Violation of paragraph 1 of Article 11, engaging in accreditation activities without the permission of the Central Competent Authority or engaging in accreditation activities without the renewal permission of the Central Competent Authority in accordance with paragraph 2 of Article 11.
2.Violation of the suspension of accepting new accreditation applications imposed on accreditation bodies by the Central Competent Authority under paragraph 1 of Article 33.
Article 28
Violating paragraph 1 of Article 12 by engaging in certification activities without accredited by an accreditation body and obtaining a corresponding certificate is fined from NTD300,000 up to NTD30,000,000.
Article 29
Under any of the following circumstances, a fine from NTD200,000 up to NTD2,000,000 is applicable to each individual violation:
1.Violation of paragraph 1 of Article 20, labeling organic mark on uncertified products.
2.Violating the suspension of the usage of organic mark imposed by the Central Competent Authority under paragraph 2 of Article 32.
Article 30
Under any of the following circumstance, a fined from NTD100,000 up to NTD1,000,000 is applicable to each individual violation:
1.Violation of paragraph 4 of Article 12, evading, impeding, or refusing the examination by the competent authority, or providing false data and records, or failing to retain relevant data and records in accordance with the items, methods, and time periods promulgated by the Central Competent Authority.
2.Violation of Article 21, failing to retain data, evading, impeding, or refusing to provide data or providing false data.
3.Violation of Article 22, evading, impeding or refusing the staffs of the competent authority entering the premise or transporting vehicles for the purpose of conducting examination, or sampling specimen for testing, or failing to provide relevant data or records, or providing false data or records.
4.Failing to comply with the proceedings by the Central Competent Authority under Article 34.
Article 31
Under any one of the following circumstances, an operator is subject to a fine from NTD60,000 up to NTD600,000 for each individual violation:
1.Violation of paragraph 2 of Article 15, using the prohibited substances.
2.Violation of paragraph 3 of Article 15, the organic agricultural products and organic in-conversion agricultural products containing the prohibited substances; however, operators validating that they have taken necessary prevention measures, and their fields are identified by the competent authority to be contaminated by adjacent farms, are exempted from penalties.
3.Violation of paragraph 1 and 2 of Article 16 or paragraph 1 of Article 17, agricultural products not certified or imports not reviewed qualified being sold, labeled, displayed, or advertised as organic or in a misleading way.
4.Violation of paragraph 3 of article 16, non-natural person operator using the term “organic” as whole or a part of its name without having all its product certified or reviewed qualified under subparagraph 2 of paragraph 1 of Article 17.
5.Violating the suspension of selling, labeling, displaying, or advertising products as organic imposed by the Central Competent Authority under paragraph 2 of Article 32.
Operators in the above situations in production, processing, packaging, or distribution under the instruction of an entruster or client shall inflict penalties on the entruster or client instead.
Article 32
Under any of the following circumstances, operators shall be order to correct within a specified period; a fine from NTD30,000 up to NTD300,000 is applicable to those unable to comply in time and to each individual violation.
1.Not labeling in accordance with paragraph 1 of Article 18, making false labeling, or not updating the label within 3 months of the date when a change to the subject matter indicated occurs in accordance with paragraph 3 of Article 18.
2.Violation of paragraph 1 of Article 19, not displaying the product name, origin, a duplicate copy of the certificate of organic certification or organic in-conversion certification, or a duplicate copy of the approval document; violation of paragraph 2 of Article 19, which directly refers to subparagraph 1 and 4 of paragraph 1 of Article 18, not displaying the product name or origin (country).
3.Violation of paragraph 3 of Article 19 regarding the items and methods of labeling and displaying.
4.Violation of paragraph 2 of Article 20 regarding the specification, design, and usage of organic marks.
For any one of the above circumstances, the competent authority shall suspend the operators’ usage of organic mark, selling, labeling, displaying, and advertising products as organic for a period from 3 months up to 1 year.
Article 33
Under any of the following circumstances, the Central Competent Authority shall warn the accreditation bodies according to the severity, or impose a penalty of suspending the accreditation bodies to accept new accreditation applications for a period from 2 months up to 2 years:
1.Violation of paragraph 4 of Article 11, accreditation bodies evading, impeding, or refusing the supervision by the Central Competent Authority, or providing false data.
2.Violation of subparagraph 1 of paragraph 4 of Article 11, accreditation bodies accepting accreditation applications from countries or areas not permitted by the Central Competent Authority.
3.Violation of subparagraph 2 of paragraph 4 of Article 11, accreditation bodies failing to report the formulation, amendment or abolishment of accreditation standards to the Central Competent Authority.
4.Violation of subparagraph 3 of paragraph 4 of Article 11, accreditation bodies failing to review accreditation applications or assess certification activities performed by the certification body in accordance with standards approved by the Central Competent Authority.
5.Violation of subparagraph 4 of paragraph 4 of Article 11, failing to retain records related to accreditation task for at least 5 years, keeping false records, or failing to notify the Central Competent Authority for the record.
6.Violation of subparagraph 5 of paragraph 4 of Article 11, accreditation bodies failing to comply with the Central Competent Authority on examining the certification bodies they accredited.
7.Violation of subparagraph 6 of paragraph 4 of Article 11, accreditation bodies failing to coordinate with other certification bodies to take over the certification tasks when one certification body is unable to continue the certification business.
8.Violation of paragraph 5 of Article 11, regarding the supervision and management of accreditation bodies, the required items related to the accreditation tasks to be recorded, and the notification documents specified in the above paragraph.
If an accreditation body has been suspended from accepting new applications by the Central Competent Authority under the above paragraph twice in the previous 3 years, another violation specified in the previous paragraph shall result in Central Competent Authority abolishing the permission and prohibit accreditation body to apply for permission under paragraph 1 of Article 11 for a period from 2 years up to 5 years.
For accreditation body revoked in accordance with the above paragraph, the Central Competent Authority shall assume the accreditation body’s contracts signed with the certification bodies; those certification bodies shall enter into an accreditation contract with other accreditation bodies within the period designated by the Central Competent Authority, and the accreditation contracts with the Central Competent Authority will thereby be terminated at the same time.
Article 34
For agricultural products appearing in advertisements and meeting circumstances specified in Article 31 or Article 32, aside from penalties prescribed by this Act, the following proceedings also apply:
1.Enforcing the advertiser to order the broadcast of corrective advertising on the same page or timeslots of the original broadcast that shall extend apology and corrective message.
2.Enforcing the broadcaster to suspend the broadcast and withdraw advertising materials.
Article 35
For situations specified between Article 29 and 32, aside from imposing penalties under the relevant regulations, the administrator may announce the details of violations, the product name, the name and address of operators, the name of its affiliated legal entities, organizations, firm offices, or business premise, the name of its manager or representative, and the site and date the agricultural product sampled.
Article 36
The penalties established by this Act, except those targeting accreditation bodies and certification bodies, which are imposed by the Central Competent Authority, are carried out by the municipality or county (city) government.