Premier Mao Chi-kuo today instructed Cabinet ministers to help safeguard consumer rights by stabilizing milk powder prices and raising limits on the quantity of personal-use medication brought by travelers into Taiwan.
After a briefing by the National Development Council on rising milk powder prices, Premier Mao directed the Ministry of Finance (MOF) to monitor prices and volume of imported milk powder products. He also tasked the Ministry of Health and Welfare (MOHW) and the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) with coordinating importers to stabilize prices and applying measures favorable to consumers.
To ensure milk powder prices reasonably reflect costs, the premier asked the MOHW, MOEA and MOF to guide milk powder vendors in adopting electronic invoices by the end of March—a move that is expected to make price information more transparent.
Following the MOHW's report on personal medication people can bring into the country, Premier Mao urged the MOHW and MOF to quickly lift restrictions on the quantity allowed but also to carefully balance traveler convenience and market order. The measure is intended to alleviate travelers' concerns over punishments for bringing excessive amounts of medicine from abroad. He asked the MOHW to amend related regulations swiftly as well as to enhance communication with the public.
The MOHW said it is working with the MOF to revise the table of maximum allowable personal-use pharmaceuticals, moving more toward eliminating the "positive list" approach and relaxing caps on the amount of drugs allowed.