A bill to expand the disclosure of lower court rulings in criminal cases passed The National Assembly's Legislation and Judiciary Committee.
The committee held a full meeting on the 10th and put to a vote the amendment to the Criminal Procedure Act containing this content, passing it with 11 votes in favor, six against and one abstention.
The amendment passed that day centers on allowing the reading and copying of rulings in criminal cases that have not yet been finalized. The bill also stipulates that, unless a case is subject to restrictions on reading or copying, strings and numbers recorded in rulings may function as search terms under Supreme Court rules. Once the amendment takes effect, it will be possible to enter words to read rulings within the scope made public in the court ruling search system.
Currently, rulings are disclosed mainly for cases finalized by the Supreme Court. As for lower court rulings, only limited access is allowed under very restrictive conditions.
The amendment is scheduled to be introduced at a plenary session on the 11th. However, the People Power Party decided to filibuster the bill, an attempt to legally obstruct proceedings through unlimited debate. The party said it opposes the ruling party's judicial reform package.
Meanwhile, the committee also approved an amendment to the Criminal Act to abolish the so-called "relative exemption for property crimes among family members" (親族相盜例), which exempts punishment for such offenses. An amendment to the Criminal Procedure Act allowing prosecutors to request the preservation of electronic information also passed.
In addition, the committee handled an amendment to the Act on Equal Employment for Both Sexes and Support for Work-Family Reconciliation that allows one use per year of parental leave for up to two weeks on a weekly basis in cases such as daycare or school closures, vacations, or a child's illness. It also handled an amendment to the Framework Act on International Development Cooperation that mandates periodic inspections of international development cooperation projects.