Goto Main Content
:::

Chapter Law Content

Title: Social Order Maintenance Act CH
Category: Ministry of the Interior(內政部)
Part 1 General Provisions
Chapter 3 Punishment
Article 19
The punishments are as follows:
1. Detention: between one and three days; a maximum of five days in aggravated circumstances.
2. Termination of business.
3. Suspension of business: between one and twenty days.
4. Fine: between NTD 300 and NTD30,000; a maximum of NTD 60,000 in aggravated circumstances.
5. Confiscation.
6. Reprimand: Written or verbal reprimands.
Punishments such as termination of business or suspension of business shall be imposed in conformity with the principle of proportionality.
Article 20
A fine shall be paid off within ten days starting from the next day the punishment decision is made.
When the punished party is unable to pay off a fine because of unfavorable economic conditions, they may be allowed to pay in installments over a period of three months. However, when the payment is delayed and in default on any one of the installment, the deadline for the installment first defaulted shall be set as the deadline for paying off the unpaid installment.
Article 21
(Deleted)
Article 22
The following items shall be confiscated:
1. Items obtained through the commission of an offense against this Act.
2. Banned items.
Items prescribed in the subparagraph 1 of the preceding paragraph are limited to those belonging to offenders while items prescribed in the subparagraph 2, whether belong to the offender or not, shall be confiscated.
Goods used for commission of an offense shall be confiscated if they belong to the offender. Confiscation, however, shall conform to the principle of proportionality.
Article 23
Confiscation shall be announced along with other punishments. However, under any one of the following circumstances, confiscation may be announced separately:
1. Other punishments are exempted.
2. The offender has fled.
3. Banned items.
Article 24
Multiple behaviors against this Act shall be punished respectively. But if those offenses against the provision of the same article prior to the delivery of police notification or on-scene notification, those offenses shall be counted as one and aggravated punishments may be applied.
When one behavior results in two or more offenses, the one with heavier punishment shall be applied. When it results in offenses against the provision of the same article, harsher punishment shall be imposed.
Article 25
Multiple offenses against this Act shall be adjudicated respectively and punished separately. If multiple punishments have been determined before execution, the execution shall be carried out in accordance with the following rules:
1. When multiple sentences of detention are imposed, they shall be served concurrently, with a total length of not more than five days.
2. When multiple orders of business termination are imposed, only one of the orders shall be executed if those businesses run on the same site; however, if they run on different business sites, the orders shall be executed concurrently.
3. When multiple orders of business suspension are imposed, they shall be executed concurrently. If the suspensions have been imposed on the same business site, the total length shall not exceed twenty days.
4. When termination of business and suspension of business are imposed separately, only termination of business shall be executed if they have been imposed on the same business site. Otherwise, they shall be executed concurrently.
5. When multiple fines are imposed, they should be executed concurrently and the total amount of fines shall not exceed NTD 60,000. If the fines are replaced by detention, the total length of detention shall not exceed five days.
6. When multiple confiscation orders are announced, they should be executed concurrently.
7. When multiple orders of reprimand are announced, they should be executed concurrently.
8. When different types of punishments are imposed, they should be executed concurrently. If termination of business and suspension of business are both imposed, the principle of subparagraph 4 of this Article shall apply.
Article 26
A repeated offense against this Act within three months after the original punishment has been executed, shall be subject to aggravated punishment.
Article 27
Any person who violates this Act and turns themselves in before the offense is discovered shall have their penalties reduced or exempted.
Article 28
All the circumstances shall be taken into account when imposing punishments on offenses against this Act. Notably, the following circumstances shall be the criteria to determine the severity of punishments.
1. The motive and purpose behind the offense.
2. The stimulation which has affected the offender during the commission of an offense.
3. By what means the offense was committed.
4. The offender’s living condition.
5. The disposition of the offender.
6. The intellectual level of the offender.
7. Relationship between the offender and the victim.
8. The extent to which the obligation was violated by the offender.
9. The danger or damage caused by the offense.
10. The offender’s attitude after the offense.
Article 29
Violation of this Act with extenuating circumstances is entitled to mitigated or exempted punishment.
The mitigating factors prescribed in the preceding paragraph may still apply to an offense where statutory aggravating or mitigating circumstances are involved.
Article 30
The criteria for aggravating or mitigating punishments under this Act are as follows:
1. A fine or detention may add up to one and a half of the original punishment or reduce to one half of the original punishment.
2. When the length of detention is shorter than a day or the amount of a fine is less than NTD 300 after the punishment has been aggravated or mitigated, the residual length of detention or amount of fine shall be dropped.
3. When detention is reduced to shorter than a day or a fine is reduced to less than NTD 300, the punishment shall be replaced with reprimand or be exempted.