For law enforcement agencies to access the content of communications, they need either interception warrants or access warrants approved by a court. However, in urgent situations or for specific crimes, the agencies may access the communications without a warrant as long as they obtain it within 24 hours after the surveillance under the Communications Security and Surveillance Act (Art. 11-1). According to a report from the Ministry of Justice, more than 90% of surveillance cases did not require approval from a court. It is reported that the lack of judicial review over surveillance requests has been increasingly normalised.

It is reported that government units with certain investigative powers have gone directly to state agencies and private companies to request personal data without first receiving a court order or other oversight. For example, the Ministry of Economic Affairs, between 2017 and 2018, had a 100% success rate in receiving information from the 1,112 requests it filed for personal information. Of these, 1,000 requests were to non-government agencies, including Chunghwa Telecom, Taiwan Mobile CO., and Yahoo! Taiwan Holdings Limited. Between 2015 and 2016, the Ministry of Finance submitted 350 requests with a 99.4 percent success rate. The Criminal Investigation Bureau also reportedly issued 565 requests to Facebook through this process, with a 52.9% success rate, between 2015 and 2016.

The Copyright Act, as amended in 2009 with the introduction of Arts. 90-4 to 90-12, establishes a safe harbour regime for intermediaries for copyright infringements. They largely follow the framework of the US Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). Internet service providers are divided into four categories with different conditions of eligibility of limitation on liability: connection service providers, caching service providers, information storage service providers, and search service providers.

A basic legal framework on intermediary liability beyond copyright infringement is absent in Taiwan's law and jurisprudence.

Taiwan does not mandate functional separation for operators with significant market power (SMP) in the telecom market. However, accounting separation is mandated.

Taiwan has appended the World Trade Organization (WTO) Telecom Reference Paper to its schedule of commitments.

The National Communications Commission (NCC), the executive authority responsible for the supervision and regulation of telecommunications services, is reportedly independent of the government in its decision-making processes. As an autonomous body, the NCC operates through committees, with all matters under its jurisdiction being determined by decisions reached in committee meetings.

In September 2012, the National Communications Commission issued a Restriction Order for communication business operators to transfer the personal data of subscribers to mainland China. The blanket order prohibits communications enterprises (i.e., telecom carriers and broadcasting operators) from transferring subscribers' personal data to mainland China on the grounds that the personal data protection laws in mainland China are still inadequate.

Under Art. 25 of the Patent Act (enacted in 1994), the application form must be filled out in traditional Chinese, including the description, claim(s) and drawing(s). Initially, the description, claim(s), and drawing(s) may be submitted in Arabic, English, French, German, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Russian and Spanish. A Chinese translation for the said documents must be submitted within a specified period, or the patent application shall be dismissed. In addition, according to Art. 11 of the Act, an applicant who has no domicile or business establishment in the territory of China shall designate an agent to file patent applications and handle patent-related matters on his/her behalf. Eligible agents shall be limited to patent attorneys unless otherwise provided for by laws and regulations. Furthermore, non-residents cannot make a payment of any fees directly to the Taiwan Intellectual Property Office by any means, whether it be payment by bank account transfer, credit card, or check. The payment has to be made by an appointed representative, either residing or domiciled in Taiwan, such as a patent attorney.

Taiwan is not a party to the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT). However, any applicant from a WTO member who files a patent application in Taiwan based on a PCT application may claim a right of priority if the PCT application is a legal application.

The Copyright Act provides a clear regime of copyright exceptions that follows the fair use model, which enables the lawful use of copyrighted work by others without obtaining permission. Art. 65, as amended in July 2003, lists the acts that shall be noted as the basis for the determination of fair use. In determining whether the exploitation of work complies with the reasonable scope or other conditions of fair use, all circumstances shall be taken into account, and in particular, the following facts shall be noted as the basis for determination: (i) the purposes and nature of the exploitation, including whether such exploitation is of a commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes; (ii) the nature of the work; (iii) the amount and substantiality of the portion exploited in relation to the work as a whole; (iv) effect of the exploitation on the work's current and potential market value.

It is reported that stakeholders in Taiwan continue to report notable levels of online copyright piracy through illicit streaming devices or illicit Internet Protocol Television services that unlawfully retransmit telecommunications signals and channels containing copyrighted content via dedicated web portals or third-party applications. Moreover, right holders report serious challenges with respect to the unauthorised use of textbooks and copyrighted teaching materials, particularly via on-campus digital platforms.

Taiwan has not signed the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Copyright Treaty.

Taiwan has not signed the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Performances and Phonograms Treaty.

Trade Secrets Act provides a framework for effective protection of trade secrets. According to Art. 1 of the law, trade secrets are referred to as any method, technology, process, formula, program, design, or other information that may be applied in the course of production, sales, or business operations. The information shall be protected if and only if it is commercially valuable because of its secrecy and reasonable confidentiality measures have been taken to keep it secret. In addition, according to Art. 15, the protection of trade secrets of foreign nationals is based on the principle of reciprocity. In principle, if a foreign national's home country does not deny protection to the trade secrets of Taiwan nationals, and the foreign national's trade secrets meet the requirements of Taiwan's Trade Secret Act, the foreign national will enjoy the protection of such trade secrets under Taiwan's Trade Secret Act.