Premier Jiang Yi-huah stressed the importance of deregulation at today's Cabinet meeting, asking all ministries and agencies to "get moving" and place deregulation high on their agendas.
"Deregulation is one of the government's most crucial long-term policies," Jiang said. "Although related efforts in recent years have achieved some results, there is still much room for improvement."
The premier noted that deregulation will create a freer economy and facilitate the country's entry into the Trans-Pacific Partnership and other international organizations, helping to spur economic growth, transform the industrial structure and create more jobs.
Deregulation will be accelerated both from the top down and from the bottom up, Jiang said. For the top-down approach, he has asked Vice Premier Mao Chi-kuo to gather ministers for cross-agency meetings to set the strategic direction for economic liberalization and draft one-year plans delegating deregulation priorities and processes for each ministry.
As for the existing bottom-up channel, the premier directed the Council for Economic Planning and Development (CEPD) to gather feedback from the public, particularly chambers of commerce, through its Center for Economic Deregulation and Innovation, invite ministries and agencies to discuss this feedback and set up operating guidelines and procedures for this work. Issues that require government decision-making and cooperation should be reported to the vice premier, Minister without Portfolio Schive Chi and other ministers without portfolios so they may coordinate operations among ministries.
The CEPD should also establish a follow-up assessment mechanism and an evaluation system to reward or punish ministries for their performance in relaxing regulations.
Jiang asked the CEPD to keep track of all the deregulatory work ministries have completed and report the progress to the public every three months. "Regardless of whether an outside suggestion is feasible or not, after studying it, the CEPD must explain why it has or has not been adopted to the party that proposed it in order to demonstrate that the government is responsible and proactive."