2017 National Congress on Judicial Reform • Working Group 2

A Judiciary Trusted by the Public, Impartial and Professional

Working Group 2 of the 2017 Presidential Office National Congress on Judicial Reform held a total of 8 meetings focusing on six core issues: reforming the grand justices' interpretation procedure, the allocation of judicial policy-making power, the structuring of court organization and procedures, the establishment of specialized courts, and judicial neutrality. This page compiles all meeting materials for easy reference.

8

Working Group Meetings

6

Core Issues

2017

Held in

20

Participating Members

AGENDA

Six Discussion Topics

Working Group 2 covers the following six issue areas, discussed in depth across successive meetings:

2-1 | Establishing a Human Rights-Protective, Efficient, and Transparent Grand Justices' Interpretation Procedure

Promoting a constitutional complaint system for judicial decisions, establishing a transparent grand justices' interpretation system (public case management, online announcement of petitions), enhancing the efficiency of the interpretation procedure, and making oral arguments routine.

2-2 | Allocation of Judicial Policy-Making Power (Reform of the Dual Judicial Administration System)

Evaluating the transformation of the Judicial Yuan into a purely adjudicatory organ and the unification of judicial administration to resolve the structural problems of the dual judicial administration system.

2-3 | Structuring an Efficient and Streamlined Court Organization and Procedures

Encompassing reforms to the membership and selection procedures of courts of last resort, civil and criminal appeal procedures, rationalization of litigation costs, compulsory execution procedures, administrative litigation mechanisms, and the implementation of concentrated trials, among other reforms.

2-4 | Constructing Specialized Courts / Trial Panels

Evaluating the establishment of specialized courts or trial panels for commercial, labor, tax, and other matters to enhance trial quality and efficiency for specific types of cases, and strengthening the operation of family courts.

2-5 | Severing Entanglements Between Those in Power and Adjudicative Decision-Making to Maintain Judicial Neutrality

Establishing a case-tracking system for highly politically sensitive cases and publicizing the drawing of lots to determine the judges and prosecutors assigned to try them, thereby using institutional means to exclude executive interference.

2-6 | Establishing a Judicial Policy Research Institution

Establishing an independent judicial policy research institution to provide empirical research and policy recommendations in support of long-term reform of the judicial system.

MEETING RECORDS

Past Meeting Materials

Below are the recordings, verbatim transcripts, and meeting attachments for all 8 meetings of Working Group 2, all available for direct viewing.

2017-02-20 1st Meeting

Meeting Recording Complete Meeting Materials Meeting Attachments + Short Notes

2017-03-06 2nd Meeting

Meeting Recording Complete Meeting Materials Meeting Attachments + Short Notes

2017-03-20 3rd Meeting

Meeting Recording Complete Meeting Materials Commentary + Short Notes

2017-04-10 4th Meeting

Meeting Recording Complete Meeting Materials Short Notes

2017-04-24 5th Meeting

Meeting Recording Complete Meeting Materials Short Commentary

2017-05-08 6th Meeting

Meeting Recording Complete Meeting Materials

2017-05-22 1st Additional Meeting

Meeting Recording Complete Meeting Materials

2017-06-03 2nd Additional Meeting

Meeting Recording Complete Meeting Materials

AGENDA ITEMS

Overview of Working Group Issues and Sub-Topics

The specific sub-topics for the six core issues are as follows:

No. Issue Sub-Topic Description
2-1	Establishing a Human Rights-Protective, Efficient, and Transparent Grand Justices' Interpretation Procedure

1. Establish a constitutional complaint system for judicial decisions
   
2. Establish a transparent grand justices' interpretation system: transparent and public case management, online announcement of petitions upon receipt
   
3. Enhance the efficiency of the grand justices' interpretation procedure: increase assistant staffing, amend voting thresholds, and attribute authorship to opinions
   
4. Make oral arguments routine
   

2-2

Allocation of Judicial Policy-Making Power (Reform of the Dual Judicial Administration System)

1. Transform the Judicial Yuan into a purely adjudicatory organ
2. Unify judicial administration

2-3

Constructing an Efficient and Streamlined Court Organization and Procedures

1. Reform the membership, staffing, and selection procedures for courts of last resort
2. Reform civil and criminal appeal procedures (including mandatory defense and representation systems)
3. Establish a dissenting opinion system for judgments of courts of last resort
4. Consolidate the Commission for the Disciplinary Sanctions of Public Functionants and the Supreme Administrative Court
5. Exempt judicial authorities from the Act Governing the Total Number of Personnel Headcounts of Central Government Agencies
6. Rationalize litigation costs and deter frivolous litigation
7. Reform the appeal system to prevent a sudden final judgment of conviction from an acquittal on appeal
8. Review the implementation of collegiate panel systems at all court levels
9. Invigorate trial dates and procedures, and implement concentrated trials and continuous court hearings
10. Review the principle of whether the Administrative Litigation Act stays or does not stay execution
11. Review the grounds and standards for provisional attachment
12. Review compulsory execution procedures
13. Review litigation mechanisms for administrative penalties
14. Evaluate the opportunity for interlocutory appeals in non-litigation corporate proceedings to be appealed to the Supreme Court to unify legal interpretations

2-4

Constructing Specialized Courts / Trial Panels

1. Establish specialized courts/trial panels to hear related cases, such as commercial, labor, and tax cases
2. Evaluate the formulation of special litigation procedures for labor litigation to enhance litigation efficiency
3. Evaluate increasing the staffing of family law judges and investigators, and strengthen performance evaluation standards for family law judges
4. Review the operations of administrative courts
5. Administrative courts should directly order the original disposition authority to issue the administrative disposition requested by the plaintiff

2-5

Severing Entanglements Between Those in Power and Adjudicative Decisions to Maintain Judicial Neutrality

1. Subject all highly sensitive political judicial cases to mandatory tracking and handling (including cases involving inter-party disputes, the President, Vice President, Premier, party chairpersons, or vice-chairpersons)
2. For tracked highly politically sensitive cases, determine the presiding judge by public lot-drawing to prevent intervention by those in power
3. For tracked highly politically sensitive cases, prosecutors in charge of investigation shall also be determined by public lot-drawing, excluding the application of the principle of prosecutorial unity

2-6

Establishing a Judicial Policy Research Institution

Establish an independent judicial policy research institution to provide empirical research and policy recommendations in support of long-term reform of the judicial system.

PARTICIPANTS

List of Participating Members

Convener

• Lin Tzu-yi Director, Institute of European and American Studies / Institute of Law, Academia Sinica

Preparatory Committee Members

• Ho Fei-peng Chief Executive Officer, Cite Publishing Group
• Hsu Tzong-li President of the Judicial Yuan
• Liu Lian-yu Chairman, Taiwan Futures Exchange

Working Group Members

• Chin-Shou Wang Professor, Department of Political Science and Graduate Institute of Political Economy, National Cheng Kung University
• Wang Wen-ling Supervisor, Transparency International Taiwan
• Steven Shih Standing Director, Chinese Management Association
• Wu Chung-li Research Fellow, Institute of Political Science, Academia Sinica
• Fan Li-ta Writer
• Chen Chun-hung Associate Professor, Department of Political Science, Soochow University
• Son Yu-lian Secretary-General, Taiwan Labour Front
• Huang Yi-bee Executive Director, Covenants Watch
• Cheng Li-chen Full-Time Professor, Department of Social Work, National Taiwan University
• Cheng Yu-shan President of the Supreme Court
• Chang Sheng-hsin Judge, Taichung High Administrative Court
• Wu Hsun-lung Prosecutor, Taiwan Penghu District Prosecutors Office
• Tsai Pi-yu Director, Judges Academy, Ministry of Justice
• Lin Chih-chung Managing Director, Asahi & Partners Attorneys-at-Law
• Chang Chu-fang President, Taipei Bar Association
• Lin Ming-hsin Professor, College of Law, National Taiwan University
• Lee Chien-liang Research Fellow and Deputy Director, Institute of Law, Academia Sinica

RELATED LINKS

Further Reading and Related Pages

• Speech Word Count Statistics for Working Group 2 of the Judicial Reform National Congress (2017-03-28)
• Constitutional Review of Judicial Decisions is Coming! (2017-03-25)
• Establishing Proper Supporting Measures to Build a Solid Pyramid Litigation Structure (Press Conference, 2017-04-25)
• Chin-Shou Wang: Supreme Court Reform Enhances Democratic Legitimacy (2017-04-27)
• Attorney Self-Regulation, That Difficult? National Congress on Judicial Reform: 7 Recommendations to Strengthen Attorney Reform (Press Conference, 2017-05-16)
• Working Group 1: Protecting Crime Victims and Vulnerable Groups
• Working Group 3: An Efficient Judiciary with Corresponding Rights and Responsibilities
• Working Group 4: A Participatory, Transparent, and Accessible Judiciary
• Working Group 5: A Judiciary Maintaining Social Security
• 2017 Judicial Reform Resolutions: Monitoring and Implementation

Follow the Progress of Judicial Reform

Judicial reform is not a task that can be completed in a single meeting; it requires continuous civil society monitoring and advocacy. Please join us in supporting the actions of the Judicial Reform Foundation.

Support Judicial Reform View Resolution Implementation Tracking

Last Edited: 2026-04-27