New amendments to Business Registration Law (hereinafter called the Law) became effective on April 13, 2009 to simplify the registration procedures and implement severance of business management and registration.

According to §23 of the Law, a county or municipal office must complete handling of a business registration within 7 days once the two previously related regulations (Directions to issue a Business Registration Card and Regulations of Business Registration) are formally repealed on April 11, 2009. No certificate of registration will be issued anymore.

In comparison with the previous registration procedure; which required approvals from different government departments, such as a fire bureau and public health bureau; the new system only requires that a profit-making enterprise apply for business registration with a county or municipal office and the NTA (National Tax Administration) before beginning operations. This new step further simplifies bureaucratic procedure required for launching a new venture.

Another significant change in business administration is the abolishment of the requirement of the minimum capital of a new company. On April 14, 2009, the Legislative Yuan passed an amendment to the Company Act. The new law abolishes previous requirement of a minimum capital of NT$250000 for a limited company and a minimum capital of NT$500000 for a company limited by shares. Hopefully, lowering the threshold of establishing a new company may furnish stronger incentive to start a venture by those lack significant financial resources.