REGULATIONS GOVERNING AWARDS TO INFORMANTS REPORTING VIOLATIONS AGAINST THE ORGANIC AGRICULTURE PROMOTION ACT

Regulations Governing Awards to Informants Reporting Violations against the Organic Agriculture Promotion Act Legislative history 1. Full text of 10 articles was promulgated by the Council of Agriculture on May 9, 2019 per Order Nung-Liang-Tze 1081069051A, and was set to be effective on May 30, 2019. Article 1 These Regulations are established in accordance with paragraph 2 of Article 26 of Organic Agriculture Promotion Act (hereinafter referred to as the Act). Article 2 Once the violation report of the Act proves to be true after an investigation by the competent authority and the administrative disposition or fines of the violation report is imposed, the informants shall be rewarded according to these regulations. The reward described in the previous paragraph may be medal, prize, certificate or money. And the rewarding money may only be granted if the reported violation is determined to be fined in accordance with Article 27 to 29 of the Act. Article 3 The competent authority shall set up the Act violations report email, private telephone line, fax, or website of the authority to accept violation report. Article 4 An informant may report the Act violations to the competent authority by means of written communications, oral communications, telephone number, fax number, email or other available media. The report shall include the following information: 1. The informant’s name and contact means. 2. The violator’s name, the name of the business and address. 3. The specifics of the violation, including the acts of violation, location, relevant information. The government agency that receives a violation report through oral communication shall produce a written record. Article 5 According to paragraph 2 of Article 2, the reward given by the competent authority to the informant shall not be less than 20 percent of the amount of the fine that the violator is subject to. When rewarding the informant, the competent authority shall require the informant to provide relevant documents that can provide proof of the identification. Article 6 When two or more people jointly file individual reports for the same violation, the rewarding money is to be equally distributed to all informants; when two or more people file individual reports for the same violation, the informant who files first receives the reward. When it is impossible to identify the chronological order of the reports, the reward is to be equally distributed to all informants. Article 7 No reward will be granted for the following reports: 1. The report is made anonymously or a forged name by the informant. 2. The report does not contain specifics of a violation or does not reflect the specifics of a violation. 3. The competent authorities or the certification body are already aware of or have processed the violation before the filing of the report. Article 8 The competent authority shall be strictly confidential to information of informants and appropriately store the relevant document. The competent authority may, ex officio or upon an application filed by an informant, ask the police authorities for the protection of the informant when deeming it as necessary. Article 9 The competent authority shall take reference of the amount of fine on violations of the Act from the previous year to allocate annual budget to pay out the rewarding money. Article 10 These Regulations shall enter into force on May 30, 2019.