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An unemployed middle-aged person or an unemployed elderly person who meets the following requirements and submits the relevant documents and information may apply to the financial institution for disbursement of the business start-up loan after the central competent authority approves his or her loan application:
1. He or she has been registered as the responsible person of the business with supporting facts that he or she has actually operated the said business;
2. He or she doesnot serve asthe responsible personof any other business;
3. He or she has participated in business start-up seminars sponsored by the government for at least 18 hours in the past three years;
4. The business has been established and registered for less than five years;
5. The number of employees of the business which he or she operates does not exceed five persons; and
6. The loan will be used only for purchasing or leasing plant, business premise, machine, equipment orused as working capital.
The term “business” asmentioned in Subparagraphs 1, 4 and 5 of the preceding Paragraphrefers to a business that meets any one of the following conditions:
1. A business that has completed company registration, business registration, or limited partnership registration as required by law.
2. A childcare center, kindergarten, after-school care/service center for children, orshort-term class registered for supplementary schoolingthat has completed relevant registration as requiredby law.
3. A small-sized business that is exempted from registration as per Article 5 of the Business Registration Act and has completed taxation registration as required by law.
If the unemployed person referred to in Paragraph 1startsa business with aperson who is younger than 29 years old, the unemployed person shall submit the written business plan for the business operated actually by them jointly when applying to the financial institution for disbursement of the approved loan.
The joint entrepreneur may not be the unemployed person’s spouse, relative by blood within the third degree, spouse of the relative by blood within the second degree or relative by blood within the second degree of the unemployed person’s spouse or the spouse of the said relative.

The interest rate for the business start-up loan shall be the two-year fixed term deposit floating rate of Chunghwa Post Co., Ltd. plus 0.575%annualrate.

The maximum business start-up loan amountwith interest subsidizationshall be determined in accordance with the following rules:
1. The amount is Two Million New Taiwan Dollars (NT$2,000,000) for a business belonging to the categories listed in Subparagraph 1 or 2, Paragraph 2 of Article 10.
2. The amount is Five Hundred Thousand New Taiwan Dollars (NT$500,000)for a business belonging to the category listed in Subparagraph 3, Paragraph 2 of Article 10.
The interest on the loan for the first two years will be fully subsidized by the central competent authority.
If the borrower meets the requirements set forth in Paragraph 3of Article 10, the central competent authority will fully subsidize the interest on the loan for the first three years. From the fourth year onwards, when the annual interest rate exceeds 1.5%, the excess interest amount will be subsidized by the central competent authority. However, when the annual interest rate is 1.5% or lower, the borrower shall pay the interest in full.
The period of interest subsidization in the preceding paragraph shall not exceed seven years.

If the business operated bythe borrower has any of the following circumstances,the central competent authorityshalldiscontinue the interest subsidyas of the day that the circumstance arises. If the subsidy has already been paid,the lending financial institution shall notify the borroweron behalf of the central competent authority to repay the overpaid interest subsidy, and subsequently return the subsidy to the central competent authority.
1. The business has beensuspended orclosed.
2. The responsible person haschanged.
In the case that the business operated by the borrower has been suspended during the interest subsidization period, if the principaland interest of the loan have been paid as required and the business resumption has been subsequently registered, the lending institution may apply to the central competent authority to continue interest subsidization from the date of business resumption until the expiration of the originally scheduledsubsidization period.
If the borrower has failed to pay the principal and interest thereonfor six months, the interest subsidywill be discontinued as of the first day of the overdue months. If the subsidy has already been paid,the lending financial institution shall notify the borroweron behalf of the central competent authority to repay the overpaid interest subsidy, and subsequently and return the subsidy to the central competent authority.
In case of the circumstance prescribed in the preceding Paragraph,if the borrower has paid the overdue principal and interest onthe loan in full,and hasresumed making payments on a regular basis,the central competent authoritymay continue the subsidization,butthe subsidization period cannot exceedthe originally scheduledperiod.
If the borrower repaysthe principal and interest thereonbefore they have been in arrears for six monthsand resumesmakingpayments on a regular basis,he or she can be deemed a normal borrower and be granted the interest subsidy.

A person may not receive the business start-up loan set forth herein if the person has received similar interest aid for business start-up loan or subsides granted by the government for the same business start-up plan.