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Chapter Law Content

Title: Communicable Disease Control Act CH
Category: Ministry of Health and Welfare(衛生福利部)
Chapter 4 Disease Control Measures
Article 35
When communicable diseases occur or are expected to occur, local competent authorities may impose restrictions, prohibitions or other adequate measures on farming, husbandry, swimming or drinking water of certain area under their jurisdiction; when necessary, they may request various central enterprise competent authorities for assistance.
Article 36
When communicable diseases occur or are expected to occur, the public shall cooperate and accept the inspections, treatment, immunization or other disease control and quarantine measures conducted by the competent authorities.
Article 37
When communicable diseases occur or are expected to occur, local competent authorities shall, by considering actual needs, take the following measures in collaboration with organizations (institutions) concerned:
1.regulate schooling, meeting, gathering or other group activities;
2.regulate entry and exit of people to and from specific places and restrict the number of people admitted;
3.regulate traffic in specific areas;
4.evacuate people from specific places or areas;
5.restrict or prohibit patients or suspected patients with communicable diseases from traveling by means of public transportation or entering/leaving specific places;
6.other disease control measures announced by government organizations at various levels.
Organizations (institutions), groups, enterprises and individuals shall not refuse, evade or obstruct the abovementioned measures.
Measures mentioned in Paragraph 1 that shall be taken by local competent authorities shall be implemented during the period when the central epidemic command center is in existence in accordance with instructions of its commander.
Article 38
When communicable diseases occur, any personnel who need to enter public and private places or transportation means for disease control practices shall be personnel from local competent authorities working in collaboration with personnel of the police and other organizations concerned; owners, managers or users of the public and private places or transportation means shall be notified in advance to be present at the site. When they are present at the site, they shall not refuse, evade or obstruct disease control operations. If they are not present at the site, personnel concerned may enter directly for the reason of disease control operations; when necessary, village (“li”) leaders or neighborhood chiefs may be requested to be present at the site.
Persons in the preceding Paragraph that are notified and are present at the site, the organizations (institutions), schools, groups, companies, factories that they belong to shall grant them official leaves according to instructions of the competent authorities.
Article 39
When physicians or forensic physicians detect communicable diseases or suspected communicable diseases in patients or corpses during the process of examination or autopsy of corpses, they shall immediately take the necessary infection control measures and report such cases to the local competent authority.
Reporting of cases mentioned in the preceding Paragraph shall be made, for Category 1 and Category 2 communicable diseases, within 24 hours; for Category 3 communicable diseases, within one week, and when necessary, the central competent authority may make adjustment to the timing of reporting; for Category 4 and Category 5 communicable diseases, by the deadline and according to the regulations announced by the central competent authority.
Physicians, when needed to explain disease conditions of relevant case to the public, shall first report to the competent authorities in the locality and only proceed to making public explanation after the content of the explanation has been verified by the competent authorities.
Medical care institutions, physicians, forensic physicians and related organizations (institutions), shall, upon request of competent authorities provide diagnosis records, medical records, results of relevant laboratory testing, treatment, and report of autopsy assessment of patients of communicable diseases or cases of adverse reactions after immunization; they shall not refuse, evade or obstruct. The central competent authority, for the purpose of controlling disease outbreaks, may announce information of deaths related to communicable diseases or immunization without being bound by the confidentiality of investigations.
If the supplied report or information mentioned in Paragraph 1 and the preceding Paragraph is incomplete, competent authorities may request the pertinent party for correction or supplementation within a specified deadline.
Article 40
When medical personnel other than physicians, in the course of their duties, detect patients, suspected patients or the remains that they consider to have been affected by communicable diseases, they shall immediately report such cases to physicians or to competent authorities of the locality in accordance with regulations of Paragraph 2 of the preceding Article.
Medical institutions shall assign a full-time person who is responsible for the supervision of subordinate medical personnel to ensure the regulations of the preceding Paragraph or the preceding Article are followed.
Article 41
When village (“li”) leaders, neighborhood chiefs, village (“li”) clerks, police officers or fire fighters detect suspected patients or the remains that they consider to have been affected by communicable diseases, they shall notify the competent authorities of the locality of such cases within 24 hours.
Article 42
When the following persons detect suspected patients or the remains that they consider to have been affected by communicable disease but are not yet diagnosed or examined by physicians, they shall notify the competent authorities of the locality of such cases within 24 hours:
1.relatives or cohabitants of the patients or the deceased;
2.persons in charge of hotels or stores;
3.owners, managers or drivers of transportation means;
4.persons in charge or managers of organizations, schools, pre-school (nurseries) institutions, enterprises, factories, mines, temples, churches, funeral services or other public places;
5.persons in charge or managers of nursing homes, nursing care institutions, long-term care institutions, placement (reform) institutions, correction organizations and other similar places;
6.travel service representatives, tour guides or tour leaders.
Article 43
Local competent authorities, upon receipt of report or notification of communicable diseases or suspected communicable diseases, shall immediately proceed with laboratory testing, diagnosis and investigating sources of communicable diseases or take other necessary measures, and report to the central competent authority.
Patients or suspected patients with communicable diseases and relevant personnel shall not refuse, evade or obstruct the laboratory testing, diagnosis, investigation and management mentioned in the preceding Paragraph.
Article 44
Measures for the management of patients with communicable diseases by the competent authorities are as follows:
1.patients with category 1 communicable diseases shall be placed under isolation care in designated isolation care institutions;
2.patients with category 2 and category 3 communicable diseases, when necessary, may be placed under isolation care in designated isolation care institutions;
3.patients with category 4 and category 5 communicable diseases shall be managed in accordance with the control measures announced by the central competent authority.
When competent authorities conduct isolation care of patients with communicable diseases, they shall prepare isolation care notice, deliver the original to the patient or the family, and the copy to the isolation care institution three days within the second day of mandatory isolation care.
The central competent authority shall set budget to pay for the costs associated with patients placed under isolation care by competent authorities mentioned in the Subparagraphs of the preceding Paragraph.
Article 45
Patients who are affected by communicable diseases and are notified by the competent authorities to receive mandatory isolation care at designated isolation care institutions shall receive care in isolation wards by instructions, and shall not depart at will; for those who refuse to comply with such instructions, medical care institutions shall request local competent authorities to notify police authorities for assistance in the management of such cases.
For patients under isolation care mentioned in the preceding Paragraph, competent authorities shall provide them with necessary care and assessment any time; when they, after receiving treatment and assessment, are no longer considered in need of further isolation care, they shall be immediately removed from their isolation care management, and a notice of removal of isolation care shall be prepared three days within the second day of the removal notice; the original notice shall be sent to the patient or the family, and the copy to the isolation care institution.
When the period of isolation care mentioned in the preceding Paragraph exceeds thirty days, local competent authorities shall invite, no later than every thirty days, two and more other specialists to reassess the need for further isolation care.
Article 46
Collection for testing, laboratory-testing and reporting of specimens of communicable diseases shall be conducted in the following ways:
1.Specimen collection for testing: in principle, specimens of communicable diseases shall be collected by physicians; specimens from contacts of patients shall be collected by physicians or other medical personnel; environmental specimens shall be collected by medical personnel or personnel trained in specimen collection. For collecting specimens, persons in charge of medical institutions shall be responsible for supervising specimen collection; patients and persons concerned shall not refuse, evade or obstruct specimen collection.
2.Laboratory testing and reporting: Relevant specimens of category 1 and category 5 communicable diseases shall be sent to the central competent authority or its designated local competent authorities, medical institutions, academic or research institutes that are certified of laboratory testing capabilities for testing; specimens of other communicable diseases may be laboratory-tested by health or medical institutions, academic or research institutes commissioned or recognized by the central competent authority. Results of laboratory testing shall be reported to the local and central competent authorities.
3.Confirmation: Results of laboratory testing of communicable diseases shall be confirmed by the central competent authority or its designated, commissioned, recognized laboratory testing units.
4.Disinfection: Medical institutions shall disinfect or destroy specimens of communicable diseases; patients and persons concerned shall not refuse, evade or obstruct.
Regulations concerning the items of specimens to be collected from patients, time of collection, methods of delivering the specimens for laboratory testing of Subparagraph 1 of the preceding Paragraph, and qualifications, duration, procedures for application and review of the institutions designated, commissioned, recognized for laboratory testing mentioned in Subparagraph 2, and the storage of specimens and their detected pathogenic agents and other matters to be complied with shall be decided by the central competent authority.
Article 47
Specimens collected by the preceding Article may be, for the need of disease control, handled and studied.
Article 48
Competent authorities may detain, for the reason of case confirmation, persons who have been in contact with patients affected by communicable diseases or who are suspected of being infected; when necessary, they may be ordered to move to a designated place for required measures such as examination, immunization, medication, control of certain designated areas, or isolation.
The central competent authority may implement disease control measures concerning risk groups for communicable diseases and specific target population; the target populations to act according to the regulations, the scopes of the regulations and other matters to be complied with shall be decided by the central competent authority.
Article 49
When patients affected by communicable diseases move to other places or die, the medical institutions caring for the patients or the respective competent authorities, depending on the actual situation, shall conduct necessary disinfection or other adequate management of the inside and the outside of the wards or the residences that the patients originally occupied.
Article 50
The medical institutions caring for patients affected by communicable diseases or the respective local competent authorities shall conduct disinfection and other adequate management of remains of humans known or suspected to have died from communicable diseases. Families of the deceased and the funeral services shall not refuse, evade or obstruct.
For the remains mentioned in the preceding Paragraph, the central competent authority, when deemed necessary to perform pathological autopsy for understanding the pathological causes of communicable diseases or for controlling the epidemic conditions, may perform pathological autopsy examination; families of the deceased shall not refuse.
In deaths suspected due to immunization, when the central competent authority deems it necessary to perform a pathological autopsy to determine the cause of death when the autopsy may influence the overall outcome of the disease control efforts, a pathological autopsy may be required.
Families of the deceased shall place corpses into coffins and conduct cremation of remains within 24 hours when infection with Category 1 communicable diseases is confirmed; remains that have been infected with Category 5 communicable diseases must be cremated within the deadline announced by the central competent authority; remains of humans known to have died from other communicable diseases, if they cannot be cremated for special reasons, shall be reported to the local competent authorities for permission for deep burial as per relevant regulations.
For remains that have been examined by a pathological autopsy as mentioned in Paragraph 2, the central competent authority shall decide criteria for subsidies to subsidize the funeral costs.
Article 51
When communicable diseases occur or are expected to occur, the central competent authority, for the reason of emergency, may procure pharmaceuticals and equipments, provided that the relevant documents shall be filled within six months and complete the test.
If the operating procedures in the preceding paragraph cannot be fulfilled or other alternative pharmaceuticals are unavailable, the central competent authority may make exceptions and explain the risks associated with the product to the general public.
Article 52
During the period the central epidemic command center is in existence, government organizations at various levels, in accordance with instructions of the commanding officer, may have the priority to use communication media and facilities to report epidemic conditions and information relevant to the measures necessary for the emergency.
Article 53
During the period the central epidemic command center is in existence, the commanding officer, for the necessity of disease control, may instruct the central competent authority to flexibly adjust the management measures outlined in Article 39, Article 44 and Article 50.
During the period mentioned in the preceding Paragraph, government organizations at various levels, in accordance with instructions of the commanding officer, may designate or expropriate public, private medical care institutions or public places to set up quarantine or isolation sites, and may requisite personnel concerned for assistance in performing disease control practices; when necessary, the Ministry of National Defense may be requested to designate military hospitals for support. Losses due to designation, expropriation, requisition, isolation or quarantine shall be compensated adequately.
Operational procedures concerning the designation, the expropriation, and the requisition mentioned in the preceding Paragraph, methods of compensation and other matters to be complied with shall be decided by the central competent authority.
Article 54
During the period the central epidemic command center is in existence, government organizations at various levels, in accordance with instructions of the commanding officer, may expropriate or requisite private land, products, buildings, devices, facilities, pharmaceuticals and medical devices for disease control practices, facilities for the treatment of contamination, transportation means, and other designated disease control resources announced by the central competent authority, and adequate compensations shall be made to appropriate parties.
Operational procedures, methods of compensation and other matters to be complied with for the expropriation and the requisition mentioned in the preceding Paragraph shall be decided by the central competent authority.
Article 55
During the period the central epidemic command center is in existence, the actions taken by government organizations at various levels pursuant to the instructions of the commanding officer for expropriating enterprises and allocation and sales of disease control resources shall not be subject to the regulations outlined in Article 14 of the Fair Trade Act, and the regulations of the Commodity Labeling Act concerning labeling wordings, methods and items of labeling; no business tax shall be levied on enterprises selling, under commission of government organizations at various levels, the expropriated or the rationed disease control resources at the regulated prices set by government organizations, and the total income generated from such sales must be handed to the commissioning organizations for paying into public treasury.
Article 56
During the period the central epidemic command center is in existence, government organizations at various levels, in accordance with instructions of the commanding officer, may use public properties without being subject to the regulations outlined in Article 40 of the State Property Act and the related regulations on local public property management.
Administrative organizations shall not refuse the request made by government organizations at various levels for using public properties when the request is made according to the regulations outlined in the preceding Paragraph; when necessary, upon agreement by the administrative organizations, public properties may be used by government organizations at various levels prior to completing the loan procedures.
Article 57
During the period the local epidemic command centers are in existence, upon approval by the central competent authority, local competent authorities may apply the regulations outlined in Article 53 through the preceding Paragraph.