The National Communications Commission (NCC) is currently in a vacancy period without a member. The Executive Yuan announced the latest list of member nominations on July 24, but the Legislative Yuan has not yet approved it. The Legislative Yuan Committee today invited the NCC to give a business report. However, at the beginning of the meeting, legislators from the blue and white parties raised procedural issues about whether the NCC chief secretary has the legal qualifications to represent the person. They pointed out that agents without legal basis for authorization should not come on stage. They should wait until the Legislative Yuan approves the committee members and then review it with legal basis.
The NCC previously had three remaining members, but their terms expired on July 31. The Executive Yuan announced the latest nomination list on July 24. The list of members has yet to be reviewed by the Legislative Yuan. The NCC has entered a window period without members since August 1. The Executive Yuan appointed Chief Secretary Wen Junyu as the representative of the NCC agency on August 13, giving priority to handling matters involving people's daily life and major public welfare matters as soon as possible, such as the import approval of telecommunications controlled radio frequency equipment, the renewal of ship and aircraft licenses, etc.
After consultations, Kuomintang convener Qiu Ruohua said that the central government's general budget regarding the budget freeze of the Ministry of Digital Development will be handled first. If legislators have questions about NCC business, the chief secretary who is familiar with the business will be asked to come to the stage to answer.
Chen Qinglong, the general convenor of the People's Party caucus, said that according to Article 5 of the Organic Law, the representative of the agency is the chairman. If the chairman is vacant, the deputy chairman will serve. If the chairman or deputy chairman is vacant, any member will be designated as the representative of the agency. Currently, NCC is faced with no member who can represent the NCC. Questioning the representativeness of the chief secretary is legally doubtful.
In addition, he said that Article 9 of the Organic Law also states that when it comes to budgets and important rights and obligations, decisions and reviews must be made by NCC members. However, the chief secretary is not an NCC member and does not have any decision-making power. Since the Executive Yuan is not in a hurry to coordinate the consent rights of NCC people with the Legislative Yuan, the Legislative Yuan is based on the spirit of constitutional order and independent agencies and does not have to pay for the Executive Yuan's laziness.
Kuomintang legislator Hong Mengkai also pointed out that the NCC Organic Law does not have any legal basis, and the chief secretary appointed by the Executive Yuan can act as an independent agency to perform the duties of an independent agency; the Legislative Yuan will then review the NCC members if there is a legal basis.
Li Kunze, a legislator of the Democratic Progressive Party, also pointed out that the NCC is not only related to the order of radio and television, but also to the overall development of related information security and telecommunications industries. It is not only related to enterprises but also to people's lives. Therefore, legislators from both the ruling and opposition parties must think carefully when reviewing relevant budgets. Furthermore, "you cannot block personnel with your left hand and budget with your right. This is not the way to go." The chief secretary is the most familiar with government affairs promotion and budget preparation, so the chief secretary should be allowed to explain.
NCC Chief Secretary Wen Junyu also stated that the Executive Yuan appointed him as the agency representative on August 13 to maintain basic administrative operations. In the past, even if the budget has not yet been reviewed, the budget implemented in the previous year can still be implemented. However, if it is a newly proposed plan, it must wait until the budget review is approved before it can be implemented. Controlling the import of radio frequency equipment is currently decided by the authorized unit, but according to Article 9, Paragraph 2 of the Organic Law, 10 of the items must be implemented through committee resolution. In addition, plans, legal amendments, changes in operating plans and major sanctions also need to be implemented by committee resolution.
