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(…) The government procurement regime also contains secondary policy goals, such as to encourage the procurement of environment-friendly green products; to support indigenous suppliers; and to give priority to the goods and services produced and provided by people with disabilities.

Table 3.21 Price-stabilization measures
Commodities: Mid-stream:
Reducing transportation costs, and strictly investigating cartels

Measures: - subsidizing oil used by farmers and fishermen: exempted from the 5% Business Tax; 50% of the above-baseline price of gasoline and diesel is subsidized
- conducting cost-price analysis on commodities that are important in people's daily life, to deter businesses from raising prices unreasonably
- strengthening investigation of mid-stream cartels or illegal hoarding

Chinese Taipei committed to fully apply the TRIPS Agreement by the date of its accession to the WTO; the authorities consider that they have fully implemented the Agreement. At the WTO, it participates in the work of the Council on TRIPS, including on issues such as the establishment of a multilateral system of notification and registration of geographical indications (GIs) for wines and spirits, GI extension, and the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). TIPO also participates in APEC/IPEG meetings, and exchanges experiences with other attending APEC members. Chinese Taipei is not a Member of WIPO, or a signatory to any WIPO convention.

In addition, TIPO (The MOEA - Ministry of Economic Affairs' Intellectual Property Office) adopted an Accelerated Examination Programme (AEP) under which applicants may request an accelerated procedure provided that one of the following conditions is met: (i) the application's foreign counterpart has been granted under substantive examination by a foreign patent office; (ii) while the patent has not been granted, the application's foreign counterpart has received an OA (office action) from the EPO, JPO or USPTO during the substantive examination; and (iii) the application is essential to the commercial exploitation of the invention. In January 2014, another condition was added: the technical field involves energy conservation, new energy or new energy vehicles or the invention involves carbon emission reduction or saves natural resources. The purpose is to support investment in R&D and development of green technology. In total, more than 5,000 requests for the AEP were received from 2009 to 2013, with an average pendency to obtain a final decision of 141 days.

According to the COA (Council of Agriculture), the policy objectives are: safeguarding food security, creating an ecological environment, improving farmers' welfare, constructing a culture system that replenishes agricultural resources, and ensuring agriculture's sustainable development. The COA intends to develop scientific agriculture and promote agricultural exports, so as to build agriculture as one part of the global value chain and green industry.

Agricultural products (including processed products) marketed as "organic" must be certified by a certification body accredited by the COA (Council of Agriculture). The certificate is product specific, and valid for three years, renewable. Imported organic agricultural products must be reviewed by the authority before being placed on the market. Foreign certificates of organic agricultural products are accepted for the review process if issued by a certification body accredited by the exporting country and approved by Chinese Taipei. Ingredients of organic agricultural products must come from not less than 95% of organic raw materials, and must be clearly labelled. Imported inputs of organic materials must be labelled with their country of origin, even after they have been substantially transformed within Chinese Taipei.

With the aim of developing a competitive, market-oriented agriculture, the COA (Council of Agriculture) implemented a "Quality Agriculture Development Programme (2009-12)" to promote value added in agriculture. Detailed measures included:

 healthful agriculture: provided training programmes to help farmers to adopt and implement good agricultural practice (GAP) and to participate in the certification of Traceable Agriculture Product (TAP), and Certified Agricultural Standards (CAS) products;

(…); and

 LOHAS (lifestyle of health and sustainability) agriculture: developed agri-tourism and eco-friendly products to create a sustainable environment for rural communities and agriculture-oriented tourism.

Support notified under the Green Box reached a peak in 2009 (NT$44 billion), mainly reflecting an increase in payments for relief from natural disasters (up from NT$3.7 billion in 2008 to NT$11 billion in 2009), and an increase in general services (Chart 4.1). General services have been increasing, to a large extent because of increased expenditures on infrastructure services. Expenditures on environmental programmes remained relatively stable during the review period, and the dominant component - land conservation subsidy - decreased slightly.

Under the "land conservation programme", payments have been given to farmers for maintaining farmland in environmentally good condition by growing green manure crops or setting it aside. According to the authorities, to comply with the WTO Agreements, the amount of payment is lower than the extra costs or loss of income. Under the programme, the COA provided assistance for a total area of 221,679 hectares in 2008, 213,697 hectares in 2009, and 206,467 hectares in 2010.

The set-aside programme encourages farmers to set their marginal land aside with an ecologically sound purpose. Most of the set-aside land was marginal land with low productivity. According to the authorities, it is difficult to lease this kind of land to other farmers and thus it has limited effect on the price (or rent) of farm land. The authorities consider that the set-aside programme contributed to resource conservation and soil productivity restoration.