Seminar | Thirty Years of Judicial Reform: A New Reform Blueprint and Future Outlook

When the Judicial Reform Foundation was established in 1995, recognizing that Taiwan's judicial issues were complex and interconnected, the late former Chairperson and Attorney Chen Chuan-yue initiated the formation of the "Judicial Reform Blueprint Drafting Committee" the following year, in 1996. The goal was to establish a comprehensive reform plan as a benchmark for long-term efforts. In early 2009, marking the tenth anniversary of the proposal of the "Judicial Reform Blueprint," there was an effort to develop a new-generation blueprint that would review the reform proposals of the previous decade and put forward more forward-looking recommendations for Taiwan's judiciary. However, due to the enormous scale of the undertaking, only part of the project was completed, and related work continued in 2013. Later, with the convening of the Presidential Office's National Congress on Judicial Reform in 2017, these ideas were separately presented to the public.

Following President Tsai Ing-wen's departure from office, implementation of the resolutions adopted at the National Congress on Judicial Reform also came to a temporary close. To continue advancing judicial reform, the Foundation has taken stock of reform goals that remain unrealized, reviewed its past judicial reform advocacy, and organized emerging issues to develop the "Second-Generation Judicial Reform Blueprint," hoping to encourage further contributions and build consensus on judicial reform among professional communities and the general public.

This seminar features three sessions themed around "The Formation of Judicial Policy and Institutional Reform," "Criminal Procedure," and "Civil Procedure." We invite scholars, professionals, and relevant agencies to discuss these three themes, aiming to inspire further thinking about judicial system reform, safeguard the rights and interests of the people, and create a judicial environment that commands greater public trust.

Online Registration

Date & Time

Saturday, May 9, 2026, 8:30-17:30

Venue

International Conference Hall, 1st Floor, Lince Hall, College of Law, National
Taiwan University
No. 1, Sec. 4, Roosevelt Rd., Da'an Dist., Taipei City (National Taiwan University 2nd General Gate, at the intersection of Hsinhai Rd. and Fuxing S. Rd.)

Agenda

*To promote environmental sustainability, paper conference handbooks will not be distributed; an electronic handbook will be sent in advance.

Time	Activity & Description	Speaker
08:30-09:00	Registration
09:00-09:10	Opening Remarks: The Second-Generation Judicial Reform Blueprint	Huang Hsu-tien / Chairman, Judicial Reform Foundation
09:10-10:10	Prospects for Judicial Reform －Guest Remarks－ Description: Guest speakers are kindly requested to speak on the theme of "Prospects for Judicial Reform," specifically discussing their imagination and goals for the future of judicial reform, with no restrictions on theme and direction.	09:10-09:20 Lo Ping-cheng / Chairman, Taiwan Association for Innocent
		09:20-09:30 Chien Chien-Jung / Chairman, Judicial Glimmer Foundation
		Li Ling-ling / President, Taiwan Bar Association
		09:40-09:50 Wang Huang-yu / Dean, College of Law, National Taiwan University
		09:50-10:00 Sun Nai-yi / Convener, Law Discipline, National Science and Technology Council
		10:00-10:10 Hsieh Yu-wei / Executive Director, Taiwan Criminal Law Association
10:10-10:20	Break / Session Transition
10:20-12:00	Session 1: The Formulation Process of Judicial Policy and Institutional Reform — With a Discussion on Judicial Overwork and Remedial Solutions Description: It has been over a decade since the Judicial Yuan amended its Organic Act in 2015, and more than five years since the previous reform of the judges evaluation system. Faced with top-down, continuous demands for reform, it is necessary to examine the efficiency of judicial administration and personnel systems from multiple perspectives, including public expectations of the judiciary, feedback from frontline judicial personnel, and judicial overwork. Although the Judicial Yuan is a single-headed agency, the promotion of judicial policies is still deliberated and proposed by various departments and bureaus after consulting experts and scholars. To enhance the representativeness and diversity of decision-making functions in judicial administration, the Foundation believes that the advisory committees—composed of various departments and bureaus under the Judicial Yuan and involved in policy evaluation and deliberation—should further strengthen communication with society and professional communities through information transparency and expanded representation. At the same time, a judicial policy research institution should be established, including professionals with statistical and management analysis capabilities, to provide the Judicial Yuan with more comprehensive research and empirical statistical foundations during the policy analysis and formulation process. This reform issue is all the more critical given the current reality where frontline judicial personnel have long suffered from overwork, which in turn leads to continuously prolonged trial durations. The advancement of judicial policies naturally cannot be separated from personnel management. To expand the representativeness and diversity of personnel administration, the Foundation also advocates for increasing the proportion of frontline representatives and external scholar representatives in the Judicial Yuan's Personnel Review Committee. This session takes "The Formulation Process of Judicial Policy and Institutional Reform" as its theme, focusing on court-related reform initiatives, though its scope is not limited to Judicial Yuan-related reforms and advancements or the reform blueprint proposed by the Foundation. Through the exchange of official, academic, and civil perspectives, we look forward to jointly pondering "how to advance judicial reform."	Moderator & Speaker Huang Hsu-tien / Chairman, Judicial Reform Foundation Presenters Wang Hsiao-tan / Distinguished Professor, College of Law, National Chengchi University Wang Chin-shou / Professor, Department of Political Science, National Cheng Kung University Discussants Chen Hui-hsin / Retired Professor, College of Law, National Chengchi University Hsu Ching-fang / Associate Professor, Department of Public Administration, National Chi Nan University
12:00-13:00	Lunch Break Lunch will be provided by the organizer; please indicate any dietary restrictions on the registration form
13:00-15:00	Session 2: Reform and Reconstruction of the Criminal Procedure System Description: In 1997, the Foundation proposed a nongovernmental version of the amendment to the Code of Criminal Procedure, with three major focal points related to the wrongful death penalty case of Su Chien-ho and his two co-defendants. At the 1999 National Judicial Reform Conference, the Foundation put forward reform directions such as the voluntariness of defendant confessions, the strict proof rule, prosecutors attending trials throughout the proceedings, strengthening the adversarial system, and reinforcing the defendant's right to defense and counsel. Some of these concepts also formed the basic framework for shifting the Code of Criminal Procedure from an "inquisitorial system" to a "modified adversarial system" in 2003. Since that amendment, the Code has been amended more than thirty times, and the lay assessor system has additionally been implemented. However, the reform directions aimed at consolidating factual trials—such as "fully adopting the non-transfer of case files and evidence system" and "introducing expert witnesses"—have not been promoted in recent years. Furthermore, there is still room for improvement in areas such as the detention system, the defendant's right to legal counsel, and the protection of human rights in investigative proceedings. Under the theme of "Reform and Reconstruction of the Criminal Procedure System," this session invites scholars to review past research achievements, organize and take stock of the unfinished business of our country's criminal procedure system reforms, and point out new directions for future reform paths.	Moderator Lin Chun-hung / Standing Director, Judicial Reform Foundation Presenters Hung Shih-hsuan / Assistant Professor, School of Continuing Education, National Taiwan University Chin Meng-hua / Director, Institute of Technology Law, National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University Discussants Huang Ting-hsuan / Associate Professor, Department of Law, Soochow University Su Kai-ping / Associate Professor, College of Law, National Taiwan University
15:00-15:30	Tea Break
15:30-17:45	Session 3: Consolidation of Factual Trials in Civil Procedure and Directions for Reform Description: In contrast to the continuous amendments in the criminal procedure system, reforms in our country's civil adjudication field have moved toward continuous professional specialization. The enactment of the Adjudication Act for Domestic Relations Cases, the Commercial Case Adjudication Act, the Intellectual Property Case Adjudication Act, and the Labor Incident Act marks this exact trajectory. However, this cannot replace the intrinsic need for amendments to the Code of Civil Procedure itself. The Foundation believes that issues such as evidence investigation, witness examination, appraisal, obstruction of proof, and the implementation of collegiate panels for first-instance trials in major cases are not without room for review in terms of legal systems. At the same time, the consolidation of factual trials in civil litigation is an indispensable foundation for further promoting the "pyramidalization of the litigation structure" in the future. Under the theme of "Consolidation of Factual Trials in Civil Procedure and Directions for Reform," this session invites scholars to review past research achievements, organize and take stock of the unfinished business of our country's civil procedure system reforms, and point out new directions for future reform paths.	Moderator Huang Ming-chan / Supervisor, Judicial Reform Foundation Presenters Liu Yu-chung / Associate Professor, School of Law, Soochow University Hsu Ying-sung / Assistant Professor, Department of Financial and Economic Law, National University of Kaohsiung Discussants Chang Wen-yu / Professor, Department of Law, National Taipei University Chiang Shih-ming / Professor, College of Law, National Chengchi University Hsieh Liang-chun / Managing Attorney, Kuan Ho Law Firm

Event Contact

Attorney Lu Cheng-yen, Deputy Executive Director, Judicial Reform Foundation
elvin@jrf.org.tw
(02)25231178 #37

Organizer

Judicial Reform Foundation