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Chapter Law Content

Title: Satellite Broadcasting Act CH
Category: National Communications Commission(國家通訊傳播委員會)
Chapter III Regulations of Operations
Article 12
A satellite broadcasting business and the branch office or agent of a foreign satellite broadcasting business shall not have the operations authorized to a third party or have its license leased, lent, transferred, or assigned to a third party unless stipulated by law.
Article 13
A satellite broadcasting business and the branch office or agent of a foreign satellite broadcasting business shall receive regulatory agency’s permission before installing the earth station.
The application and permission procedures, installation, examination, issuance / renewal / reissuance of license, abolishment of permit, installation and use management, use frequency, engineer qualifications and evaluation system, and other regulatory matters of the earth station stated in preceding Paragraph shall be enacted by the regulatory agency.
Article 14
Anyone who obtains the satellite broadcasting business license and the branch office or agent of a foreign satellite broadcasting business shall initiate the broadcasting according to the date stated in operations plan. Those who are unable to initiate the operations on time shall apply for an extension and submit it to the regulatory agency. The extension shall not exceed six months and is limited to one time only.
Anyone who obtains the satellite broadcasting business license and the branch office or agent of a foreign satellite broadcasting business and do not initiate the broadcasting according to the date stated in operations plan or within the approved extension period will have the permit abolished and the satellite broadcasting business license revoked.
Article 15
When a change is made to an application form and/or operations plan that has already been approved, a satellite broadcasting business and the branch office or agent of a foreign satellite broadcasting business shall file for approval of the changes with the regulatory agency in advance. This provision shall not apply to changes in the contents specified in Subparagraph 3 of Paragraph 1 of Article7.
If the change mentioned in the preceding Paragraph involves registration of establishment, the said business shall first obtain approval from the regulatory agency before it proceeds with business establishment or the change of registration.
If the content of changes mentioned in preceding two Paragraphs is having any situation stated in Subparagraph 1 through Subparagraph 4 of Paragraph 1 of Article 10, the application shall be rejected with reasons stated.
Article 16
When a change is made to the license of a satellite broadcasting business or the branch office or agent of a foreign satellite broadcasting business, an application for a new license shall be filed with the regulatory agency within 15 days after the change. In the event that the license is lost, an application for its re-issuance shall be filed within 15 days after the loss.
If the change mentioned in the preceding Paragraph involves registration of establishment, the said business shall first obtain approval from the regulatory agency before it proceeds with business establishment or the change of registration.
Article 17
Three years after the satellite broadcasting business and the branch office or agent of a foreign satellite broadcasting business acquire the license, the regulatory agency shall conduct an assessment based on the operations plan execution report provided by the said business.
Should the assessment results mentioned in the preceding Paragraph reveal the said business has failed to live up to the operations plan, the regulatory agency shall notify the said business to make corrections within a specified period of time. In the event that no corrections are made, the regulatory agency shall revoke the satellite broadcasting operation permit and cancel the satellite broadcasting business license.
The assessment procedures, examination items, assessment standards and other regulatory matters shall be enacted by the regulatory agency.
Article 18
Six months prior to the expiry date of the license, a satellite broadcasting business and the branch office or agent of a foreign satellite broadcasting business shall complete and submit an application form, along with an operations plan for license renewal operations, to the regulatory agency.
In addition to examining the application form and operations plan mentioned in preceding Paragraph, the regulatory agency shall evaluate the following circumstances, when reviewing the application for license renewal.
1. Evaluation of the execution of the operations plan and any improvements;
2. Record of violations of the Act;
3. Record of infringing others' rights by broadcasting certain programs and advertisements; and
4. Handling of disputes with subscribers.
5. Financial status
6. Other circumstances that can affect the operations
The license-renewal procedures, examination items, assessment standards and other regulatory matters shall be enacted by the regulatory agency.
Article 19
The regulatory agency shall conduct an examination according to Paragraph 2 of preceding Article. In the event that the applicant is potentially having a bad operation, the regulatory agency shall notify the applicant to make up the documents in time. If an applicant fails to do so by the given time or the supplemented sections are still incomplete, the application shall be rejected.
Article 20
The regulatory agency shall summon satellite broadcasting business application, establishment, assessment and license renewal advisory meetings to discuss the following proceedings and to provide advices accordingly.
1. The application, installation, assessment and license renewal of the satellite broadcasting business, foreign broadcasting business and other type channel and program supply business.
2. Other things to be done per the request of regulatory agency
The advisory meeting mentioned in preceding paragraph shall have nine to eleven members, where the number of any gender shall not be less than one-third of the total number of members, including:
1. Two representatives of the regulatory agency;
2. Three to four representatives of public interest groups selected and employed according to the channel and program category; Three to four experts/scholars;
3. One representative of the national satellite broadcasting association;
The advisory meeting members mentioned in paragraph one shall be selected and employed/appointed by the regulatory agency. The said members shall have a tenure of two years and consecutive tenure by employment or assignment upon expiration is allowed.
The rules of selecting members of the satellite broadcasting business application, establishment, assessment and license renewal advisory meetings as well as the discussion method shall be regulated by the regulatory agency.
Article 21
When a domestic or foreign satellite broadcasting business plans to suspend or terminate the operations of one or all the channels, the said business or its branch office or agent shall submit a written report to the regulatory agency three months in advance, and notify its subscribers one month in advance.
The period of suspension of operations mentioned in the preceding Paragraph shall not exceed six months and is limited to one time only.
Article 22
The produced and broadcasted news or other satellite channel and program supply business designated by the regulatory agency shall establish an independent self-regulatory mechanism that accepts audience’s appeal related to the accuracy, balance and taste of the broadcast content. The said mechanism shall also submit specific reports to the regulatory agency and make such report open information.
The self-regulatory mechanism mentioned in preceding Paragraph shall be reported to the regulatory agency for future reference.
Article 23
A satellite broadcasting business and the branch office or agent of a foreign satellite broadcasting business shall put logo on the program and advertisement pictures.
Article 24
The number of shopping channels of a direct satellite broadcasting business and the branch office of a foreign satellite broadcasting business that operates direct satellite broadcasting business shall be less than ten percent of the total channels.
Article 25
A direct satellite broadcasting business and the branch office of a foreign satellite broadcasting business that operates direct satellite broadcasting business shall not treat satellite channel and program supply business and the branch office or agent of a foreign satellite channel supply business differently without justification.
A satellite channel and program supply business and the branch office or agent of a foreign satellite channel supply business that provides satellite channel and program supply service shall not treat cable radio/television system operator (including the cable television program broadcasting system), direct satellite broadcasting service business or other public audio and visual broadcasting platforms differently without justification .
The scope of the public audio and visual broadcasting platform mentioned in preceding Paragraph shall be announced by the regulatory agency and be published in the Government Gazette.
Article 26
In the event of a natural disaster or emergency, the regulatory agency may direct satellite broadcasting businesses to broadcast specific programs or messages.
When the situation mentioned in the preceding Paragraph no longer exists, the regulatory agency shall immediately notify the said businesses to revert to broadcast of regular programming.
Regulations for dealing with natural disasters and emergencies applied to cable radio and television system operators shall apply to satellite broadcasting businesses mutatis mutandis.