| 2002.07.10 |
Postal Savings and Remittances Act
[Chinese]
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Postal Savings and Remittances Act
1. Full 31 articles adopted and promulgated per 10 July 2002 Presidential Order No. Hua-Zong-I-Yi-09100138700
To be enforced from 1 January 2003 per Order No. Tai-Jiao-0910060323 of the Executive Yuan issued 5 December 2002
Chapter I General Principles
Article 1
This Act is adopted to encourage savings by the public and promote capital formation in line with national policies, and to provide greater convenience to the public and safeguard the security of postal savings and remittances; for matters on which this Act is silent, the provisions of other acts shall govern.
Article 2
Postal savings and remittances business shall be administered by Chunghwa Post Co., Ltd. (hereinafter, "Chunghwa Post"), subject to the authority of the Ministry of Transportation and Communications (MOTC) and supervision of business by the Ministry of Finance (MOF); permission from the Central Bank of China (CBC) is required for any part of such business that involves foreign exchange business.
Article 3
Postal savings shall be categorized as follows:
1. Passbook savings: An account by which the depositor makes deposits or withdrawals at any time by presenting his or her postal savings passbook or otherwise in an agreed manner.
2. Time deposits: An account by which the depositor makes withdrawals, subject to restriction for a certain period of time, by presenting a certificate of deposit or otherwise in an agreed manner.
3. Postal giro: An account by which the depositor makes deposits, withdrawals, remittances, designated payments, fund transfers, and applications for postal giro checks, and may receive fund deposits made by others.
Article 4
Postal remittances shall be categorized as follows:
1. Domestic remittances: means business in which a member of the public may instruct Chunghwa Post to pay a specified amount on his or her behalf to a domestic payee.
2. International remittances: means business in which a member of the public may instruct Chunghwa Post to remit a specified amount to an overseas payee, and to accept and remit to a domestic payee a payment from a country with which a direct remittances agreement is in place.
3. Postal gift coupons: means bearer securities issued by Chunghwa Post and payable by it unconditionally to the bearer at face value.
Article 5
Acts done by a person having no legal capacity or limited legal capacity, when dealing with Chunghwa Post in connection with postal savings and remittances affairs, shall be deemed acts done by a person with legal capacity.
Article 6
In order to verify the identity of a withdrawer, Chunghwa Post may ask the withdrawer to present necessary documentation.
Article 7
Chunghwa Post shall handle the accounting for its postal savings and remittances businesses separately.
Article 8
Chunghwa Post shall be exempted from all taxes for its postal savings and remittances businesses and for all postal property and business vouchers and documents used in the course of such businesses for a period of five years starting from the date of its establishment.
Article 9
Chunghwa Post shall set interest rates for its postal savings business at per annum rates and disclose them at its premises.
Article 10
Chunghwa Post shall establish internal control and audit systems for its postal savings and remittances businesses; regulations governing such businesses shall be prescribed by the MOTC in conjunction with the MOF.
Article 11
Unless otherwise required by a court judgment, written notice from a public prosecution agency, or statutory provision, Chunghwa Post may not accept a request by a third party to suspend transactions of an account or pay any remittance therefrom.
Except as otherwise provided in another statute or required by the MOF, Chunghwa Post and its service personnel shall keep confidential all information related to the postal savings and remittances of its customers.
Article 12
Where Chunghwa Post operates postal savings and remittance business in a manner that violates any applicable law, regulation, rule, or bylaw, or otherwise impedes sound business operations, the MOF, in addition to issuing an official reprimand and ordering it to make improvement within a specified time limit, may, having regard to the seriousness of such event, impose any of the following sanctions with a notice to the MOTC :
1. Void a resolution of a statutory meeting.
2. Suspend its postal savings and remittance business in part.
3. Issue an order to discharge from office a responsible person(s) or staff member(s) for such business or suspend such person(s) from performance of their duties for a specified period of time.
4. Take any another necessary measures.
Where Chunghwa Post operates foreign exchange business in a manner that violates any act or regulation governing foreign exchange, the CBC may, having regard to the seriousness of the event, order it to suspend foreign exchange business in whole or in part for a specified time period, with a notice to the MOTC.
Article 13
The MOF may, at any time, dispatch personnel or designate an appropriate agency to, after presenting an identification document, examine the postal savings, remittances, and foreign exchange businesses, financial affairs, and other relevant affairs of Chunghwa Post, or order Chunghwa Post to faithfully submit financial reports, lists of assets, or other relevant information or reports within a specified time limit.
Chapter II Postal Savings
Article 14
When a postal savings deposit is made for the first time, the branch post office taking such deposit shall, according to the type of deposit, issue a postal savings passbook or a voucher as an evidentiary document.
Article 15
In the event that the evidentiary document or seal with which a savings account holder may make withdrawals is lost, the account holder shall report the loss to Chunghwa Post to stop payments; before the account holder has completed such procedures, Chunghwa Post shall not be held liable for any payment made out of such account where the payment is made in accordance with established procedures and Chunghwa Post has exercised its fiduciary duty of good care, even if it is a fraudulent withdrawal.
Article 16
The provisions of the Negotiable Instruments Act concerning checks shall apply mutatis mutandis to the postal giro check business of Chunghwa Post in its postal remittance and savings operations.
Article 17
If a period of five years has elapsed during which a savings account holder has not conducted any transaction or made any other other application, Chunghwa Post shall, from the date of the lapse of five years from the last transaction, stop payment of interest on such account, with a notice to the account holder.
Article 18
Postal savings capital may be used only as follows:
1. Redeposited with the CBC.
2. Redeposited with financial institutions other than the CBC.
3. Invested in government bonds, corporate bonds, financial debentures, and short-term bills and notes.
4. Invested in beneficiary certificates as well as exchange-listed and over-the counter stocks.
5. Participation in the interbank call loan market.
6. Redeposited as mid- or long-term capital with financial institutions for the purpose of government-approved major construction and private sector investment projects.
7. Used as otherwise approved by the MOTC, MOF, and CBC.
It shall be a matter for the MOTC, in consultation with the MOF and the CBC, to determine the amount limits, targets, and other transaction restrictions, and the regulations governing capital employment, with respect to the investments referred to in subparagraph 3 of the preceding paragraph.
It shall be a matter for the MOTC, in conjunction with the MOF, to determine the restrictions and regulations governing capital employment with respect to the investments referred to in subparagraph 4 of paragraph 1.
Article 19
An individual or entity may only have one passbook savings account.
Chunghwa Post shall propose a maximum deposit limit, subject to approval by the MOTC, in conjunction with the CBC and the MOF, on which interest may accrue in a passbook savings account; interest shall not accrue on any amount exceeding such limit.
The limit set forth in the preceding paragraph shall not apply to government agencies, local governing bodies, and public-interest juristic persons.
Article 20
Interest accrued on passbook savings shall be exempted from all taxes.
Chapter III Postal Remittances
Article 21
Domestic remittances and international remittances shall respectively be divided by demand draft transfers and telegraphic transfers. Either postal money orders or postal gift coupons shall be used as evidence for postal remittances other than telegraphic transfers.
Chunghwa Post shall determine, subject to ratification by the MOTC, the particulars to be stated on a postal money order or postal gift coupon.
Article 22
The right of a payee to redeem a postal money order shall be extinguished by prescription if not exercised within three years beginning from the date of issuance.
Article 23
Where a postal money order has not been redeemed during the period set forth in the preceding Article, Chunghwa Post shall notify the remitter to retrieve the funds, and the remitter may not ask for a refund of the remittance fee.
Article 24
Where a postal money order is lost or damaged, the remitter or the payee may apply to register the loss or return the damaged money order, and receive a refund; the original money order will thereupon become null and void.
Chunghwa Post shall reject an application made under the preceding paragraph if the postal money order has already been redeemed or a refund has already been collected under the preceding paragraph.
Article 25
International remittances shall be processed in accordance with this Act in addition to the Postal Payment Services Agreement and its relevant regulations as adopted by the Universal Postal Union or any bilateral postal payment services agreements entered into between the Republic of China and foreign countries.
Chapter IV Penal Provisions
Article 26
Chunghwa Post shall be subject to an administrative fine of not less NT$300,000 and not more than NT$1,500,000 under any of the following circumstances:
1. Failure to set the interest for postal savings at a per annum rate or disclose such interest rate at its premises, as required by Article 9.
2. Failure to establish an internal control or audit system under Article 10.
3. Violation of Article 11, paragraph 1, by unduly accepting a third party's request to suspend transactions of an account or pay a remittance therefrom, or Article 11, paragraph 2, by disclosing information related to the postal savings or remittances of a customer.
4. It uses the postal savings capital in a manner that fails to comply with any restriction or regulation governing capital employment prescribed under the authority of Article 18.
5. It operates the postal savings and remittances businesses in a manner that fails to comply with the supervisory regulations prescribed under the authority of Article 30.
6. It operates foreign exchange business without the permission of the CBC.
Article 27
Chunghwa Post shall be subject to an administrative fine of not less NT$500,000 and not more than NT$2,500,000 where any of the following circumstances occurs when the MOF, under Article 13, dispatches personnel or designates an appropriate agency to examine its businesses, financial affairs, or other relevant matter, or orders it to faithfully submit financial reports, list of assets, or other relevant information or reports within a specified time limit:
1. It evades, impedes, or refuses such examination.
2. It conceals, damages, or destroys account books or documents related to its business or financial status.
3.It refuses to answer without justification or purposefully provides false information when an examiner enquires about matters related to its duties.
4. It fails to meet a deadline for submitting a financial report, list of assets, or other related information or reports, or makes a fraudulent or incomplete submission, or fails to pay an audit fee within a prescribed time limit.
Article 28
Where a fine is imposed on Chunghwa Post under the preceding two articles, it may claim damages from the persons with responsibility therefor.
Article 29
Administrative fines under this Act shall be imposed by the MOF, except for the penalty under Article 26, subparagraph 6, which shall be imposed by the CBC.
The MOTC shall be duly notified of any fines imposed by the MOF and the CBC under the preceding paragraph.
Where any administrative fine imposed under this Act is not paid within the designated time limit, the matter shall be duly referred for compulsory execution.
Chapter V Supplementary Provisions
Article 30
With respect to the postal savings and remittances businesses of Chunghwa Post, it shall be a matter for the MOTC to prescribe, in conjunction with the MOF, the supervisory regulations governing permissions for new business lines, disclosure of financial statements, definition of responsible persons and the required qualifications therefor, the establishment, relocation, and closure of branch post offices, and other relevant matters, and, additionally in conjunction with the CBC, those in relation to foreign exchange operations.
Article 31
This Act shall enter into force from a date to be set by an order of the Executive Yuan.