Electronic Commerce
Taiwan's approach to e-commerce and related issues is still evolving. A law protecting personal on-line data has been approved. In late October 2001, the Legislative Yuan passed the Electronic Signature Law, which adopts the principles of the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) Model Law on Electronic commerce and recognizes the legal validity of electronic contracts, records, and signatures. Still under discussion is a proposal to assess duties for software sold and downloaded over the Internet. If implemented, such a policy would appear to run counter to the WTO Declaration, adopted by Ministers at Doha in Novermber 2001, that WTO Members would matintain their current practice of not imposing customs duties on electronic transmissions.
Source: 2003 Taiwan Commercial Guide published by the U.S. & Foreign Commercial Service and U.S. Department of State
Domestic and Internatoinal E-commerce Market:
According to the Market Intelligence Center of the Institute for Information Industry, the local electronic information service in 2002 is expected to reach NT$16.5 billion (US$516 million at US$ 1: NT$32), and e-commerce business-to-business services are set to chalk up another NT$8.66 billion (US$271 million).
The statistics recently released by the Market Intelligence Center of the Institute for Information Industry indicated that the local market for B2B on-line services was only NT$1 billion (US$30.3 million) in 1999, but predicted that the industry will grow at an annual compound growth rate of 80.1% in the coming years due to booming demand.
Foreign companies mainly provide Internet software for supply chai management and on-line purchasing package to users in Taiwan; while domestic companies mostly supply the software for distribution management systems and related supporting sustems. The two sectors are predicted to enjoy an annual compund growth rate of 67% and 75%.
So far, domestic companies in the field includ Asia e-Business Corp., Information Technology Total Service, UBEXCO, Sunnet, River Comic Studio, and Trade-Van.
B2B E-Commerce:
The taiwan governement has developed a five-year plan to promote B2B e-commerce among private business, focusing on establishing 200 in-line business networks connecting more than 50,000 firms by the year 2004.
Although Internet usage brings a lot of benefits, at the end of 1999 actual application of the B2B e-commerce in Taiwan centerd only on large enterprises, especially Information Technology (IT) sector. Most small and mid-size enterprises have been unable to develop their own B2B e-commerce systems because of high start-up cost and shortage of relevant resources.
The Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) is examining ways to help local manufacturers establish their own B2B e-commerce systems, drafting measures to attract e-commerce certification institutes, ICPs, TSPs, and TAPs to this island.
Besides the government's offering incentives, companies are still facing problems and uncertainties such as network security, coordination with upstream and downstream firms, Internet bandwidth and technical support. Marketing over the Internet is certainly the trend, but its complexity is also challenging. Compared with traditional methods, however, B2B e-commerce represents a more powerful instrument for the companies to advertise and display their goods. That's one of the reasons companies are actively participating in this new system.
Today B2B e-commerce is not only a slogan of Taiwan business. Demand is real, the question is not only why or when,but how to make it happen.
--- Adapted from Taiwan International Trade ---
E-market Places:
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