Draft Act Governing the Management and Guidance of Farmland Factories Passes Preliminary Review; Feedback Levy Ratio Pending Negotiation
The draft amendment to certain articles of the "Act Governing the Management and Guidance of Factories," which is closely related to farmland factories, was deliberated on the 6th by the Economics Committee of the Legislative Yuan. Several amended articles were passed in accordance with the Executive Yuan version, while some articles were sent to cross-party negotiation. One of the key points of deliberation was when farmland is rezoned as land for a specified business purpose, how high the feedback levy ratio should be set and whether it should be explicitly stipulated in the act. In the end, that article was sent to cross-party negotiation.
According to a recent survey by the Council of Agriculture, farmland factories occupy 1.4 ten-thousand hectares of farmland. According to statistics from the Ministry of Economic Affairs, only a little over 10 factories have completed temporary registration, showing that a large number of farmland factories still have not completed temporary registration. In order to encourage more unregistered factories to complete temporary registration, the Ministry of Economic Affairs introduced the draft amendment to certain articles of the Factory Guidance Act.
For Article 28-3, "the central competent authority may directly order the suspension of water and electricity supply in accordance with the law." In addition to passing it according to the Executive Yuan version, Legislator Lai Jui-lung also proposed an amendment motion adding that the central competent authority should regularly publish on its website the list of unregistered factories in each locality and the enforcement situation, including the suspension of electricity and water supply and demolition. In the end, it was passed according to Lai Jui-lung's proposal.
Article 28-9 of the draft states that "specific factories are permitted to operate under existing conditions, but may not expand their use." Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Lin Tai-hua argued that for factories that have obtained specific factory registration, restrictions should be limited to public safety, environmental protection and similar matters, and should not restrict their commercial activities. Ministry of Economic Affairs Deputy Minister Wang Mei-hua said that if their commercial activities were not restricted, these farmland factories would have no incentive to change their land category and obtain formal factory registration. That article was sent to the plenary session for negotiation.
Article 28-10 of the draft stipulates that after obtaining specific factory registration and changing the land category, a feedback levy should be paid to the Agricultural Development Fund. Lin Tai-hua pointed out that the current feedback levy for changing farmland into land for a specified business purpose is too high, causing many factories to be unwilling to change their land category, and proposed that the feedback levy ratio should be explicitly stipulated in the act. Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Tsai Pei-hui argued that if the land category could be changed without paying a high feedback levy, would that not be telling everyone that they do not need to take the legal path? Council of Agriculture Deputy Minister Chen Chun-chi responded that currently, changing farmland into land for a specified business purpose requires paying a feedback levy of 50 percent of the announced land value, and expressed hope that there would be clearer regulations in the subsidiary regulations. That article was sent to the plenary session for negotiation.
Regarding the "whistleblower clause" in Article 28-12, Legislator Lin Tai-hua said that authorizing unspecified persons to report violations would create social disputes. Legislator Hung Tzu-yung proposed an amendment motion to Article 28-13, hoping to include citizen suits in order to respond to government inaction. Both articles were sent to the plenary session for negotiation.