Annotated Republic of China Laws/Coast Guard Act/Article 5

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Central Regulation Standard Act Republic of China (Taiwan) Law Article 5

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First promulgated on 2000-01-26

Article 5

While performing the duties specified in the preceding Paragraph, the personnel of the Coast Guard may exercise the following powers:

1. Conduct security checks to travelers, vessels, vehicles, any other transportation or carried goods arriving at, or departing from, trading ports, on suspicion of their violation of the security law, when such suspicion is justified.

2. Inspect inbound or outbound vessels, maritime transportation or carried persons/goods at the Waters, the Coast, estuaries or non-trading ports, or any of these in the territorial waters, on suspicion of their violation of the law, when such suspicion is justified.

3. Order vessels sailing at the Waters to show their identification documents, navigation records or any other navigation-related data, on suspicion of their violation of the law, when such suspicion is justified.

4. Order vessels or any other maritime transportation instruments sailing at the Waters to stop sailing or backing home, on the basis of their appearance, flags, navigation modes, carried personnel or any other abnormal behavior, on suspicion of their violation of the law, when such suspicion is justified. In the event of disobedience, the personnel of the Coast Guard may enforce their commands by force. Nonetheless, the purpose of the use of force shall be nothing more than preventing a vessel or the maritime transportation from proceeding with its voyage.

5. Pursuit, board, inspect and/or expel, and even arrest, detain or have a lien upon, if necessary, a vessel or any other maritime transportation sailing at the Waters, when it jeopardizes the interests, the order or the navigational safety, of the Waters of the Republic of China.

The personnel of the Coast Guard may, in an emergency, request neighboring vessels and the vessels’ personnel to lend their support to the Coast Guard’s exercise of the aforesaid powers.

Promulgated amendment on 2019-04-10

Article 5

While performing the duties specified in the preceding Paragraph, the personnel of the Coast Guard may exercise the following powers without challenging the extent of absolute necessity:

1. Conduct security checks to travelers, vessels, vehicles, any other transportation or carried goods arriving at, or departing from, trading ports, on suspicion of their violation of the security law, when such suspicion is justified.

2. Inspect inbound or outbound vessels, maritime transportation or carried persons/goods at the Waters, the Coast, estuaries or non-trading ports, or any of these in the territorial waters, on suspicion of their violation of the law, when such suspicion is justified.

3. Order vessels sailing at the Waters to show their identification documents, navigation records or any other navigation-related data, on suspicion of their violation of the law, when such suspicion is justified.

4. Order vessels or any other maritime transportation instruments sailing at the Waters to stop sailing or backing home, on the basis of their appearance, flags, navigation modes, carried personnel or any other abnormal behavior, on suspicion of their violation of the law, when such suspicion is justified. In the event of disobedience, the personnel of the Coast Guard may enforce their commands by force. Nonetheless, the purpose of the use of force shall be nothing more than preventing a vessel or the maritime transportation from proceeding with its voyage.

5. Pursuit, board, inspect and/or expel, and even arrest, detain or have a lien upon, if necessary, a vessel or any other maritime transportation sailing at the Waters, when it jeopardizes the interests, the order or the navigational safety, of the Waters of the Republic of China.

The personnel of the Coast Guard may, in an emergency, request neighboring vessels and the vessels’ personnel to lend their support to the Coast Guard’s exercise of the aforesaid powers.