Taiwan – Health and social care

Appendix 1: Concrete actions taken by Taiwan to fulfill the state obligation to protect

• Promotion of international consensus and cooperation (page 28-29)

‘[…] Taiwan believes that trade contributes to sustainable development. […] In line with this, Taiwan has included CSR, environmental, and worker rights clauses, as well as “general exceptions,” in many of its trade and investment agreements, such as the following:

[…] Inclusion of “investment/environment/labor” clauses: Host states shall not attract investment by relaxing health, safety, or environmental protections, or by lowering labor standards. At present, Taiwan has several free trade agreements (FTAs) with such clauses, including Article 10.15 of the Taiwan-Guatemala FTA, Article 10.11 of the Taiwan-Nicaragua FTA, Article 10.16 of the Taiwan-El Salvador-Honduras FTA, Article 24 of the Taiwan -Japan BIA, and Article 12.16 of the Taiwan-New Zealand FTA.

“General exception” clauses: These clauses focus on the following twin 29 themes: 1) investment agreement specifications shall not be interpreted as prohibiting host states from adopting necessary measures based on public interests, such as protecting human health, and 2) such measures should not cause arbitrary or unreasonable discrimination against investors. Such “general exception” clauses are included in Article 16 of the Taiwan-St. Vincent BIA, Article 16 of the Taiwan-Philippines BIA, and Article 31 of the Taiwan-India BIA.’

• Other legislative action and measures (page 29)

‘Article 25 of the “Tobacco and Alcohol Administration Act” stipulates that the nicotine and tar levels of tobacco products must not exceed the maximum limit set by the “Tobacco Hazards Prevention Act” in order to protect the right to health. Article 27 provides that the operations of tobacco and alcohol manufacturers must meet good hygiene standards and relevant factory standards to prevent infringement of the right to health.’