Discussing the Judicial Yuan's Neglect of Policy Impact Assessments

Inaugurated with much fanfare last July, the Commercial Court has operated in such a manner that only twenty rulings and not a single judgment from its first- and second-instance commercial divisions can be found on the judgment search system. Compared to the average caseload of 1,500 to 1,600 cases per judge annually, the Commercial Court—sitting idle with virtually no cases—has resulted in a massive waste of manpower. This demonstrates that the Judicial Yuan's prior assessment of the policy when it vigorously promoted the establishment of the Commercial Court was evidently inaccurate.

Last Friday (the 22nd), the Judicial Yuan announced a draft amendment regarding the "amounts prescribed in Paragraph 2, Article 2 of the Commercial Case Adjudication Act," which is expected to drastically lower the applicable threshold from a subject matter of litigation exceeding NT$100 million or a company capital exceeding NT$500 million, down to a subject matter of litigation exceeding NT$30 million or a company capital exceeding NT$100 million. The objective is to expand the scope of commercial litigation cases under the jurisdiction of the Commercial Court. The problem is that the Commercial Court operates under a two-tier, two-instance system; cases brought under its jurisdiction will lose one tier of adjudication. Coupled with numerous innovative trial procedures, this will have a significant impact on the litigation rights of business professionals. In this regard, we have not seen the Judicial Yuan publish any policy impact assessment. Data and analysis regarding exactly how many cases and companies will be brought under this jurisdiction are completely lacking. Today, the Judicial Yuan has only given society seven days to submit comments, rendering the announcement of the draft a mere formality devoid of any sincere intent to communicate.

Neglecting the importance of policy impact assessments is a prevalent issue within the Judicial Yuan today. For example, regarding the draft amendment to the Code of Civil Procedure currently undergoing cross-party consultation in the Legislative Yuan to restrict the scope of appeal to the second instance, legislators have questioned precisely how many cases will be affected, yet the Judicial Yuan has consistently failed to produce data or explain why no implementation preparation period was planned for the amendment draft. The Judicial Yuan's capability to assess policy impacts is in urgent need of improvement.

The current predicament of the Commercial Court illustrates that reforms cannot simply copy foreign legislative models; they must be tailored to domestic socio-economic conditions. Furthermore, inadequate policy promotion following legislation has left even the legal profession unfamiliar with how to operate it, let alone the business community, which naturally dares not easily venture into trying it.

When gravely ill, one must avoid turning desperately to any quack remedy. To solve problems, the Judicial Yuan should humble itself, sincerely listen to opinions from all sides, and diligently conduct policy impact assessments in order to formulate the most optimal plan for advancing its policies.