Page 145 - TAIWAN TOBACCO CONTROL ANNUAL REPORT 2019

6 Appendix Tobacco Hazards Prevention Act January 23, 2009, Hua-Tsung (1) Yi-Zi No.09800016541 Amendment Chapter 1 General Principles Article 1 This Act is enacted to prevent and control the hazards of tobacco in order to protect the health of the people. Any subjects not mentioned herein shall be governed by other pertinent and applicable laws and decrees. Article 2 For the purposes of this Act, the terms used herein are defined as follows: 1. "Tobacco products" refer to cigarettes, cut tobacco, cigars and other products entirely or partly made of the leaf tobacco or its substitute as raw material which are manufactured to be used for smoking, chewing, sucking, snuffing or other methods of consuming. 2. "Smoking" refers to the act of smoking, sniffing, sucking, or chewing tobacco products, or holding burning tobacco products. 3. "Tobacco product containers" refer to all the packaging boxes, cans, or other containers used for selling the tobacco products to the consumers. 4. "Tobacco product advertisements" refer to any form of commercial advertisements, promotions, recommendations, or actions, whose direct or indirect purposes or effects are to market or promote tobacco use to unspecified consumers. 5. "Tobacco sponsorship" refers to the donations of any form to any events, activities or individual, whose direct or indirect purposes or effects are to market or promote tobacco use to unspecified consumers. Article 3 The competent authority for the purposes of this Act at the central government level shall be the Department of Health of the Executive Yuan; at the municipal level, the municipal government; and at the county (city) level, the county (city) government. Chapter 2 The Health And Welfare Surcharge And The Administration Of Tobacco Products Article 4 The Health and Welfare Surcharge shall be imposed on tobacco products, the amount of which shall be as follows: 1. Cigarettes: NTD 1,000 every one thousand sticks. 2. Cut tobacco: NTD 1,000 every kilogram. 3. Cigars: NTD 1,000 every kilogram. 4. Other tobacco products: NTD 1,000 every kilogram. The competent authority at the central government level and the Ministry of Finance shall, for once every two years, invite and assembly scholars and experts specialized in finance, economic, public health and relevant fields to conduct reviews of the amounts of the aforementioned Health and Welfare Surcharge based on the following factors: 1. The various types of diseases attributable to the smoking activities, the morbidity and mortality of such diseases, as well as the medical costs thereby incur upon the National Health Insurance; 2. Total amount of consumption on tobacco products and smoking rate; 3. Ratio of tobacco levies to average retail prices of the tobacco products; 4. National income and consumer price index; and 5. Other relevant factors affecting the prices of the tobacco products and the preventions of the tobacco hazards. If the amounts contained in the first paragraph, after being reviewed by the competent authority at the central government level and the Ministry of Finance pursuant to the second paragraph above, are considered necessary to be increased, such increased amounts shall be approved by the Executive Yuan and passed by the Legislative Yuan after examination. 143 Appendix