May 04, 2016
No. 111
The Arrangement between the Justice Authorities of Taiwan and the Authorities of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland on the Transfer of Sentenced Persons went into effect May 3 with its having been co-signed that day by the competent authority of the United Kingdom in London. The accord had previously been co-signed by the competent authority of the Republic of China in Taipei on April 15.
The agreement, inked in accordance with the ROC Transfer of Sentenced Persons Act that took effect in 2013, is the second of its kind to be signed with a European nation, the first having been the Arrangement between the Taipei Representative Office in the Federal Republic of Germany and the German Institute in Taipei on the Transfer of Sentenced Persons and Cooperation in the Enforcement of Penal Sentences.
The aim of the said agreement is to allow for citizens of each signatory country who are imprisoned in the other signatory country to be, of their own volition, repatriated to serve out the remainder of their sentence. The accord was signed on the basis of equality, reciprocity, and each signatory’s regulations governing the signing of such agreements. The accord will mitigate problems that affect correctional efforts such as language barriers, cultural differences, and difficulties in having family and friends pay prison visits. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs will continue to coordinate closely with the Ministry of Justice to promote judicial cooperation with other countries such that willing fellow citizen prisoners serving time in other countries may be repatriated to serve out the remainder of their sentences in the Republic of China (Taiwan). (E)