The ECCT launched its 2025 Position Papers at a Premium Event lunch, which was attended by around 80 members and guests. Read the Position Papers.

At the event, ECCT Chairman Giuseppe Izzo presented an overview of the papers after which he officially handed over a copy of the chamber's annual publication to the Taiwan government, represented by National Development Council (NDC) Deputy Minister Kao Shien-Quey (副主任委員 高仙桂). The lunch was followed by a press conference, where the chairman, CEO and chairpersons of ECCT committees presented a summary of their most important issues to the media.

Through the theme "Taiwan 2050: A Shared Vision" the papers outline the goals and aspirations that are shared by the government and ECCT and offer recommendations to realise their shared vision.

This year's publication includes separate submissions from 25 of the ECCT's industry and support committees and raises 189 issues, 124 from previous years and 65 new issues.

In his presentation to the NDC deputy minister and ECCT members at the launch, Chairman Izzo acknowledged the government's efforts over the past year that has led to progress on 24% of the issues raised in the previous year's papers. He went on to give a summary of the Position Paper Overview and highlight some of the major issues facing ECCT members.

Summary of the 2025 Position Paper Overview
The governments, corporations and people of Taiwan and Europe share common values and aspirations for a safe, healthy and prosperous future. The new administration's establishment of committees to address climate change, safeguard national health, strengthen resilience and many of its objectives and goals are shared by the ECCT. Since the government and ECCT members want the same things, their common goals can serve as a foundation and motivation for cooperation that, if translated into effective action can realise a shared vision for the future. The Overview outlines visions in several areas.

Vision for net zero and energy security
Taiwan's leaders have recognised the growing threat from climate change and joined their counterparts in the international community in setting ambitious goals to reach net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. Authorities are also acutely aware of Taiwan's overreliance on imports of fossil fuels and the need to transition to cleaner energy sources and pursue other strategies to strengthen Taiwan's energy security. The government's "National Climate Change Response Committee" provides an ideal platform for cooperation between government agencies, corporations and other stakeholders to advance Taiwan's environmental protection and energy transition. The position papers of the Energy & Environment, Wind Energy and Mobility committees offer several recommendations to achieve the vision of net zero and energy security, including the following:

Both the Energy & Environment and Wind Energy committees recommend better coordination at the central government level, such as forming a ministerial task force or appointing a single entity to coordinate among different stakeholders. A single entity or office should have the authority and resources to support applicants to resolve issues in the permitting process handled by all government agencies.

Wind Energy: Despite over 300 turbines already operating offshore in 2024, there is a long way to go to reach the government's wind energy target of 13.1GW by 2030 and 40-55GW by 2050. The biggest challenge is that no Round 3 projects have achieved financial close, putting 2027-2028 grid connections at risk. The key to overcome this challenge is to ensure a financially and commercially robust investment environment. Members of the committee recommend introducing timely financial support or a government-backed renewable energy procurement platform and enhancing the existing National Credit Guarantee Mechanism (NCGM) to facilitate the financing process. This can be achieved by forming a ministerial task force to coordinate among different stakeholders, integrating relevant regulations and permits across government agencies to streamline the permitting process, accelerate reviews, and avoid delaying projects. In addition, following the government's announcement of a potential relaxation of localisation regulations for Round 3 projects, the committee continues to urge a flexible approach to localisation that will create a more sustainable market with viable projects and internationally competitive suppliers.

Mobility: Achieving net zero will require decarbonising the transportation sector. Sales of battery electric vehicles (EVs) in Taiwan currently account for less than 10% of vehicle sales, indicating that more attractive policies and incentives are needed to boost the adoption of EVs. The Mobility committee recommends the continuation or increase in tax incentives for EVs (commodity and licence taxes and a cut in the luxury tax imposed on EVs), subsidies to install charging infrastructure as well as a relaxation of regulations to encourage the construction of charging facilities.

Vision for a healthy Taiwan
The establishment by the new administration of the "Heathy Taiwan Promotion Committee" demonstrates the government's commitment to finding the best solutions to safeguard and promote the health of the general population. Taiwan's national healthcare system is regarded as one of the world's most cost-effective and efficient. However, Taiwan's overall spending on healthcare is lower than comparable developed countries as a proportion of GDP and budget constraints over the past decade have limited spending on healthcare, which has created a gap in healthcare outcomes between Taiwan and comparable counterparts. While the new administration has announced plans to spend more on healthcare, including a NT$10 billion Cancer Drug Fund (CDF), it remains to be seen which drugs will be covered by the CDF and how far the budget will go to improve cancer treatment outcomes in Taiwan.

Besides cancer treatment, while public spending on Covid-19 vaccines continues, funding for other regular vaccines has not kept pace. In addition, the drug reimbursement process remains complex and protracted and the speed of approvals for rare drugs has slowed down significantly. Improving overall health outcomes will require both an increase in spending on all aspects of healthcare and a streamlining of the approval and reimbursement process for drugs and medical devices.

In addition to increasing spending, Taiwan would benefit from more diverse participation in developing healthcare policies that takes into account the views of healthcare professionals, industry representatives, patient representatives and social welfare organisations.

Vision for talent and innovation
Taiwan is facing a shortage of both white and blue-collar workers, which both the government and ECCT wish to overcome. But overly restrictive labour laws and outmoded practices are holding back women from reaching their full potential while restrictive immigration rules and insufficient incentives are failing to attract enough foreign talent and workers. The Human Resources, Better Living, Education and Travel & Tourism committees offer the following recommendations to address these issues:

Implementing practical labour laws: Aspects of Taiwan's Labour Standards Act (LSA) and related regulations are not fit for the purposes and needs of the modern workforce. Authorities should relax rules requiring the strict recording of working hours, especially for senior employees and remote workers.

Creating a family friendly environment: The inability of many talented women to hire domestic helpers is keeping them from reaching their potential or out of professional work altogether. Authorities in Taiwan should lower the legal thresholds to allow residents of Taiwan to hire foreign domestic workers. And, while Taiwan has made progress in offering more generous leave allowances for young parents, these should be increased further in line with the best practices in Europe. In addition, employees should be granted the right to apply to work remotely or part time while they are raising young children. To address the lack of childcare options, the government should provide more subsidies or tax incentives to childcare centre operators and to enterprises to provide and maintain childcare spaces and facilities in their workplaces for the children of their employees. In addition to recommendations from the HR committee, the ECCT's Family Friendly Alliance is actively working with corporations, government agencies and NGOs to create family friendly workplaces and promote a family friendly environment in Taiwan.

Fair treatment of foreign nationals: The Better Living committee notes that Taiwan is growing into one of the most robust democracies in Asia, with strong civil rights protections. Unfortunately that progress is often lacking for legal foreign residents working and living in Taiwan. Foreign residents often encounter needless inconvenience when banking, conducting online business, and other everyday chores. Then when they retire, they are not guaranteed access to senior discounts enjoyed by Taiwanese, even for foreign residents who have lived and worked here and paid taxes for decades. Meanwhile, as Taiwan faces a declining population, the requirements and procedures to apply for dual citizenship are overly stringent.

Attracting and retaining foreign talent: The standards listed in the qualifications for special foreign professionals are too strict and unreasonable while the application process for visas, long-term and short-term work permits, and immigration for foreign nationals is difficult. To address this, authorities should lower the qualifications for special foreign professionals, streamline the visa and work permit application process, grant three-year work permits to all qualified foreign professionals as a standard, introduce a short-term business visa for foreign professionals or allow visitors to engage in short-term work under current visitor visa rules. Taiwan is also facing a shortage of blue-collar workers, particularly in the travel and tourism industry, which is also suffering from a lack of personnel in management. Rules should be relaxed to allow companies in the service industry to hire foreign workers to meet their needs.

Advancing bilingualism: The government and ECCT share the goal of improving bilingualism in Taiwan. Authorities have undertaken measures to improve bilingual proficiency in government but more could be done. In particular, the government should adopt a more systematic approach that integrates bilingualism by design into all of the government's platforms, websites, announcements and documentation. In addition, enhanced language training programmes should be implemented for government officials and the private sector and the curriculum in schools should be overhauled to prioritise communication skills, with less emphasis on grammar and translation exercises.

Vision for a resilient society
The establishment of the "National Whole-of-Society Resilience Committee" demonstrates the new administration's recognition that Taiwan needs to do more to build a resilient society. In addition to addressing energy, healthcare and defence issues, the following recommendations are aimed at boosting Taiwan's resilience:

Building financial resilience: A robust society needs to be financially secure. The Asset Management committee notes that global investment markets in 2024 have been driven by the AI boom and interest rate cut expectations, boosting equity and fixed income markets. Taiwan's stock market is benefitting from the AI theme, with ETFs gaining popularity among retail investors. The asset management industry must innovate beyond ETFs, but strong demand presents opportunities. Taiwan's asset management market is undergoing structural change and should be focusing on sustainable growth, regulatory liberalisation, and resource integration to achieve the goal of developing Taiwan into an Asian asset management centre. Moreover, in order to provide financial security in retirement, the committee recommends the creation of a Taiwan Individual Savings Account (TISA) system to encourage people to engage in retirement planning through investments early in life, direct funds towards more stable, long-term investments, and strengthen Taiwan's capital markets.

Ensuring food security: According to Taiwan's Ministry of Agriculture's (MOA) 2024 Food Supply & Utilization Annual Report, Taiwan's food self-sufficiency rate in 2023 dropped to 30.3%, the lowest figure in 18 years. To address this issue, authorities should devise ways to increase local food production and storage facilities to maintain sufficient supplies and address long-standing issues that affect Taiwan's food imports. For example, local authorities have not adopted World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH) principles for the importation of fresh meat while imports of processed food from EU member states is restricted because Taiwan's standards, procedures and testing methods for food imports are inconsistent with internationally agreed norms. Following the best international practices for food safety and sanitation to allow the importation of all types of food products would benefit food business operators and consumers and improve Taiwan's food security.

Increasing internationalisation: While Taiwan has gradually shifted towards adopting international standards and best practices for more than two decades, ECCT committees in several industries report instances where Taiwan's laws and regulations are still not aligned while there are numerous instances of a lack of transparency and consistency in government policies and procedures. All of these could be addressed by adopting the relevant international standards and best practices, conducting regulatory impact assessments (RIAs) and holding consultations with stakeholders during the drafting process of regulations and by always following standard implementation procedures, including allowing sufficient time for feedback from stakeholders and grace periods for compliance. Doing so would smoothen the process to import all types of products and thereby improve Taiwan's trade relations, give consumers in Taiwan more choices and ultimately help strengthen the resilience of businesses that rely on imports.

Implementing digitalisation: The establishment of the Ministry of Digital Affairs (MODA) in 2023 demonstrates the government's commitment to advancing digitalisation in both the government and private sector. However, the practices of some government agencies have not yet been adjusted accordingly. To address these issues, the MODA should assist other government agencies in the process to update the relevant regulations, streamline and digitise their administrative and documentation procedures.

Additional recommendations
As a supplement to their position papers, in addition to the committees already mentioned above, the following ECCT committees have emphasised the following points:

Banking: Taiwan's economy is projected to grow 3.9% in 2024 and 3.26% in 2025, driven by tech exports. The banking industry will benefit from higher GDP growth, steady profitability, strong asset quality, and ample liquidity. Loan growth, particularly in corporate lending, is expected to rise, and US rate cuts may boost foreign currency loans. Banks remain well-capitalized with prudent risk management and solid retail deposit bases. Future trends like AI disruption and ESG adoption will shape regulations and customer behaviour, presenting both challenges and opportunities. Amid Taiwan's growing wealth management market, loosening regulations could help financial institutions become the top choice for clients' wealth management needs.

Insurance: In recent years, Taiwan's life insurance market has declined due to the Covid-19 pandemic, strict regulations, and rising interest rates. In the post-pandemic era, stabilised interest rates and AI advancements will drive a gradual recovery. The industry can introduce innovative products for ageing populations to satisfy their retirement planning needs. Digital transformation and AI will improve customer service and online applications. However, challenges from new accounting standards (IFRS 17) and capital requirements (ICS 2.0) require focus on risk mitigation and capital enhancement.

Intellectual Property Rights: The committee's 2025 paper repeats several issues from the previous year's paper because of the lack of progress. Given the importance of good IPR policies to a technologically centred jurisdiction like Taiwan's, the committee hopes to work together in a positive way to help ensure mutual understanding on these important issues. The trademark, copyright, trade-secret and patent issues raised in this year's position paper are important opportunities for Taiwan to provide important clarity and gains for both European and Taiwanese rights holders.

Supply Chain: Taiwan's strategic location in North Asia positions it as a vital logistics hub. To enhance supply chain efficiency and attract investments, several key improvements are proposed, namely: 1) Expanding the operating hours of Taiwan's Customs Administration and container depots to 24/7 to reduce bottlenecks and costs; 2) Aligning lift on lift off charges with international standards by having shippers and consignees settle these costs directly with depot operators, which would streamline operations and 3) Enhancing the warehousing market by adopting international certifications and modernizing infrastructure, which would solidify Taiwan's appeal as a regional distribution centre. These measures could significantly boost Taiwan's competitiveness in global trade.

Telecom Media and Content: To support digital and net zero transformation, the committee recommends amending the Electricity Act or related renewable energy regulations so that telecom companies which adopt energy conservation and carbon reduction measures, such as obtaining relevant domestic and foreign carbon reduction certifications, developing or using energy-saving technologies (such as advanced base stations, energy management systems, smart buildings/machine rooms/offices, energy storage, etc.) or use green/renewable energy, and recycle/reuse scrapped equipment can enjoy half-price discounts on electricity or electricity subsidies for recycling and reusing scrapped equipment.

Conclusion
The Overview concludes that Taiwan has endured a global pandemic, overcome supply chain disruptions and multiple other challenges to become one of the world's richest and most dynamic economies. Members of the ECCT share many of the values and aspirations of the government and people of Taiwan. Following the recommendations in the position papers would help to advance progress on mutual goals related to energy security, talent, innovation and realise a shared vision for a healthy, resilient and prosperous Taiwan.