History

These Regulations are established in accordance with Paragraph 2, Article 38-1 of the Vocational Training Act.

The skills competitions under these Regulations are divided into the following categories:
1. Regional Skills Competition.
2. National Skills Competition.
3. National Skills Competition for the Physically and Mentally Challenged.
4. Skills Competition of Selecting Competitors for WorldSkills Competition (hereinafter "National Team Selection for WSC").
5. Skills Competition of Selecting Competitors for Vocational Skills Competition of International Abilympics (hereinafter " National Team Selection for IA ").
6. WorldSkills Competition (hereinafter " WSC” ).
7. Vocational skills competition of International Abilympics (hereinafter " IA”).
8. Other skills competitions organized or participated in for a specific purpose.
" WSC" referred to in Subparagraph 6 under the previous Paragraph means competition organized by WorldSkills International (hereinafter " WSI” ). “IA" referred to under Subparagraph 7 means the competition organized by the International Abilympics Federation (IAF).

The job categories in skills competitions are selected as follows:
1. Those participated included in WSC and IA.
2. Those required for national economic construction and development.
3. Those that improve the living standard of the people.
4. Those with traditional cultural values.
5. Those for which skill certifications are available.

The skills regulations regarding the job categories in skills competitions, including the tests to be included in the competitions, the materials, tools and equipment to be used and the procedures of the competitions, shall be published by the central competent authority.

The schedules of skill competitions are as follows:
1.National Skills Competition (including regional skill competitions) are held once a year.
2.National Skills Competition for the Disabled is held once every two years.
3. National Team Selection for WSC is held once every two years.
4. National Team Selection for IA is held once every four years.
5.Other skill competitions may be held from time to time for specific purposes by the central competent authority.
If any event in the above first through fourth subparagraphs is discontinued for any reason, the cancellation should be announced at least one month before the start of the year.
Before National Skills Competition takes place, a General Competition Committee (hereinafter referred to as the General Committee) shall be set up to determine the contents of the events, lay out rules for competition and handle other related affairs.
When participating in the WSC or IA, a preparatory committee shall be set up for fund-raising and various other affairs such as national team training and practicalities of the competition.
The organization and membership of the preparatory committee described in the preceding paragraph shall be promulgated by the central competent authority.

Where any job category of Regional Skills Competitions or National Skills Competition for the Physically and Mentally Challenged has less than six participants (teams), the competition of such job category shall be suspended.
If there are no more than three individuals (teams) participating in any job categories in any National Skills Competition, such job category will be changed to a demonstration. If there are less than two individuals (teams), such job categories shall be cancelled.
The number of individuals (teams) under which the job categories shall be cancelled under the previous two paragraphs may be adjusted by the central competent authority in accordance with the actual situation.

The skills competitions shall adopt the materials, tools, measurements and relevant facilities stipulated in the tests.
The competitions shall be conducted in the manner of on-site skills operations. However, if the number of participants for any job categories exceeds the capacity of the premises and equipment of the competition, a written test or skills test may be held first to select qualified candidates to participate in the competition.

The central competent authority shall designate subordinate agencies (institutions) or commission outside agencies (institutions), schools or corporate entities to handle the following:
1. Hold skills competitions.
2. Participations in WSC or IA.

The assignment of any entity to conduct any skills competition may be terminated by the central competent authority in case of any of the following:
1. Failure to verify the qualifications of participants in the skills competition under willful act or gross negligence.
2. Failure to carry out the tasks in accordance with relevant rules and failure to correct the situation within the notified deadline.
3. Collection of any fees beyond the administrative fees schedule or other undue benefit in conducting the skills competition.
4. The unit commissions the commissioned certification administration to other units without approval.
5. Material violations of these Regulations and relevant legislations.

One chief expert and two experts shall be designated for Regional Skills Competition, National Skills Competition for the Physically and Mentally Challenged and National Team Selections for WSC / IA; and one chief expert and three experts shall be designated for National Skills Competition or other skills competition organized or participated in for a specific purpose.
The Chief Expert may, according to his/her needs, recommend one to three assistant experts or technical advisors to assist in handling the competition affairs or maintaining machineries and equipment.
The number of experts, assistant experts and technical advisors mentioned in the two preceding paragraphs may be increased based on the actual needs of skills competition.

The term of the chief expert for Regional Skills Competition (hereinafter the "Regional Chief Expert"), as well as the experts, assistant experts and technical advisors, shall be limited to the period of the competition.

The chief expert of National Skills Competition and National Skills Competition for the Physically and Mentally Challenged (hereinafter referred to as the “National Chief Expert”) shall have a professional background and leadership and management skills. The National Chief Expert shall also meet one of the following qualifications:
1. Having been awarded top three in WSC and employed in relevant works for at least six years.
2. Having been awarded top three in any National Skills Competition and employed in relevant works for at least eight years.
3. Obtaining technician certificate as Class A and employed in relevant works for at least eight years in a related field.
4. Obtaining technician certificate as Class B and employed in relevant works for at least ten years in a related field.
5. Having been trained for WSC and won more than 2 medals in the WSC.
6. Having been trained for National Skills Competition and won more than four times of the first three places in the National Skills Competition.
7. Having been trained for the National High School Skills Competition students and won the top three medals at least four times.
8. Having served as committee member for formulating test projects of skills competition or as a Expert for National Skills Competition for the Physically and Mentally Challenged for four or more times.
9. Graduated from college/university or above and having employed in relevant works over twelve years with excellent performance in a specific fields.
The National Chief Expert to be openly selected by the central competent authority, shall meet the aforesaid qualifications, and with the capability of communicating in English being preferred prioritized.
The National Chief Expert shall, subject to the review and approval of the central competent authority, recommend and appoint a person who meets the qualifications of the preceding first paragraph to serve as National Deputy Chief Expert.

The maximum term of the National Chief Expert shall be two years, which may be renewed upon expiry.
Any National Chief Expert’s fails to win awards of Excellence or above for two consecutive terms of WSC or IA, shall submit a review report. If the review confirms that such failure is not attributable to the National Chief Expert, the central competent authority may renew his/her term.However, if such failure continues in the subsequent competition, the central competent authority shall not renew the term upon expiry.
The term of National Deputy Chief Expert shall be the same as National Chief Expert and shall be terminated along with the National Chief Expert’s dismissal.
When the term of a National Chief Expert is renewed by the central competent authority, he/ she may, subject to the review and approval of the central competent authority, recommend and appoint a person who meets the qualifications of the preceding first paragraph to serve as National Deputy Chief Expert.

The duties of the National Chief Experts are as follows:
1. Stipulate the regulations of the skills categories and prepare the tests.
2. Recommend Regional Chief Experts, Experts, Assistant Experts and Technical Advisor and allocate tasks.
3. Assist in the leasing of competition premises, equipment and tools.
4. Review the performance of participants of all skills categories in a skills competition and prepare recommendation tables showing their strength and weakness to the central competent authority for their reference.
5. Prepare National Competitors’ training programs, training guidance, and draft reports.
6. Seek sponsors to provide training premises, materials, machinery, instructors, equipment and living subsidies for the National Competitors.
7. Attend all meetings held by the central competent authority.
8. Concurrently serve as members of technical committees of skills competitions.
9. Concurrently serve as WSC Expert or IA Expert.
10. Carry out other matters related to the competitions.
In case the National Chief Expert cannot perform his duties due to any reason, the National Deputy Chief Expert shall act on his/her behalf; or the central competent authority shall appoint a person with the qualifications of National Chief Expert to perform.

The central competent authority can relieve of their duties the National Chief Expert or person acting on his/her behalf in case of any of the following circumstances:
1. Refusing to avoid conflict of interest when their spouses, former spouses, blood relations within the top four degrees of kinship or marital relations within the top three degrees of kinship are participants in the tests for skills competition certification.
2. Having substantial facts to show that his/her duties were not performed in a fair manner.
3. Failing to effectively maintain the order of the competition during the competition period. Unsatisfactory work attitude in executing the competition work.
4. Failing to perform the competition tasks with responsible manner that results the mistake of calculating competition scores or record.
5. Losing all or part of test sheets, answer sheets (cards), work pieces or review sheets.
6. Leaking or stealing classified test questions, evaluation criteria, evaluation sheets, referential answers, test results, or classified information and materials learned or possessed through performance of their duties.
7. Provided qualification documents that are proved to be counterfeited, forged, or unreal.
8. Receiving the final verdict of more than one year of imprisonment excluding offence by negligence.
9. Other situations affecting the rights of the competition participants or damaging the national image and reputation.

The central competent authority shall carry out a selection of qualified experts for any job category of any skills competition in any of the following cases:
1. New job category.
2. Job categories of which the number of qualified experts is insufficient after the evaluation.
3. Other job categories that are required to be included.

Any person with any of the following qualifications may be recommended by his/her organization or may self-recommend to be selected as a qualified expert of a skill competitions:
1. Having participated and won Excellence or above prize in WSC or IA as well as having employed in relevant works performed relevant work for three or more years.
2. Having participated and won Excellence prize in WSC or IA, as well as having graduated from college or above or with equivalent educational credentials and having been hired by the central competent authority to serve as assistant expert for the relevant skills category three times or more.
3. Having a high school/vocational school diploma or higher and having at least eight years of experience in handling related competitions or works.
4. Having taught or trained in any Department related to a competition job category for at least three years and having conducted competition work for more than two years.
5. Having graduated from college or above or with equivalent educational credentials, as well as having been obtained technician certificate as Class B or above relating to the competition skill job categories and having performed relevant work for at least two years.
6. Having served as a member for preparation or supervision of formulating test projects of skill competitions for relevant competition skill job categories.
7. Having accepted employment from central competent authorities and the Ministry of Education to serve as expert for the relevant skills category.
The central competent authority shall openly select the persons assigned by the units referred to in the preceding paragraph or self-recommended.
The qualifications of expert prescribed in item 1 for job categories with special conditions may be specially approved by the central competent authority.
Those selected as qualified experts shall participate in the full training programs organized by the central competent authority. The central competent authority will issue a certificate of qualification after the participants have passed the tests and shall include them in the talent database of experts.

Regional Chief Experts and experts shall be selected by the central competent authority from the talent database of experts.

Any expert with any of the following circumstances shall recuse from scoring during competition period:
1. The expert works in the same agency (organization) or business entity or has a teacher-student relationship with any participant to the competition.
2. Their spouses, ex-spouses, blood relatives within the top four degrees of kinship, or marital relatives within the top three degrees of kinship are taking the field tests.
3. With concrete evidence proves that they are likely to be partial when executing their duties.
Any expert subject to recusal under the previous paragraphs who fails to do so shall be ordered to recuse by the Chief Expert. The score given by such expert shall not be taken into consideration.

Experts shall exercise their duties in accordance with principles of fairness, equality, transparency and professionalism and shall act in compliance with the guidelines for experts, competition rules, and resolutions concluded by relevant competition meetings.
The guidelines for experts specified in the previous paragraph shall be published by the central competent authority.

The qualifications of any expert who violates the guidelines for experts, competition rules or resolutions of relevant competition meetings shall be suspended for two years.

The central competent authority shall publish the job categories, the ages and qualifications of participating competitors, as well as registration and competition related matters in the general regulations for skills competitions.

Competitors registering for skills competitions shall be citizens of the Republic of China, and the nominating organization which recommend the registration shall not be changed after registration.
The nominating organizations mentioned in the previous paragraph include agencies, schools, ancillary divisions with status of juridical persons, organizations, corporations, and vocational training agencies (organizations).
Each nominating organization shall recommend no more than three individuals (teams) for each job category. The number of recommendations may be adjusted by the central competent authority based on the actual situation.
If the competitor graduate, leave a job or reinforce trainings during participation in any National Skills Competition or National Team Selection, the schools, employers or training organizations may file applications to be added as co-nominating organization without being restricted by the preceding first paragraph and the previous paragraph.

When teams are composed to participate in any job categories in any Regional Skills Competition, no change shall be made to the list of team members. However, if any member cannot participate in the competition due to natural disaster, unexpected event or other material reason, the nominating organization may recommend another qualified competitor to participate in the competition thirty days before the start of the competition, subject to the consent of the responsible organization.

Any competitor who has won any top-three prize in any National Skills Competition or National Skills Competition for the Physically and Mentally Challenged shall not participate in the same job category. The same shall be applicable to any participation as a team member.
Any competitor who has participated in any WSC on behalf of the Republic of China shall not participate in any skills competition under any job category. The restriction of the above paragraph shall apply to any participation as a team member.

Sources of candidates participating in National Skills Competition are as follows:
1. The responsible organization of each region participating in the regional skills competition of the current year will recommend the top five competitors in each job category. If the number of participants is less than ten individuals (teams), the number of recommendations will be 1/2 of the registered candidates. For any job categories where all candidates are grouped under one single region, if there are more than ten individuals (teams), no restriction will be imposed on the numbers, and the candidates will be accepted based on qualifications. However, candidates who fail to meet the qualification requirements will not be included in the ranking and will not be recommended.
2. The Ministry of Education will recommend the top three winners of the relevant job categories from the National High School Skills Competition of the previous year. However, if two or more job categories correspond to one single job category in the National Skills Competition, two recommendations may be made for each job category if there are two job categories. If there are three job categories, one recommendation may be made for each of the job categories.
The number of recommendations under the previous paragraph may be adjusted by the central competent authority based on the actual situation.

Any competitor for WSC who has won any top-three prize in any National Skills Competition and whose age does not exceed the limit for participating in WSI and who has not yet represented the Republic of China to participate in any WSC may register to participate in the National Team Selection for WSC for such job category.
Any competitor for Abilympics who has won any top-three prize in any National Skills Competition for the Physically and Mentally Challenged during the past three years and who has never represented the Republic of China to participate in the same job category in the IA may register to participate in the National Team Selection for IA.

Any competitor selected and approved by the central competent authority to participate in any WSC or IA shall participate in a training and simulation program before participating.
The central competent authority may decide to replace or withdraw from the National competitors for WSC or IA mentioned in the previous paragraph who have withdrawn from the competition or suffer any of the following events:
1. Failure to achieve the goal of training due to physical health condition.
2. Failure to comply with the training plan or failure to follow instructions of the training team.
3. Failure to pass simulation test.
4. Absence during training period without justification exceeding 1/ 10 of the total number of hours or taking leave for more than 1/ 5 of the total number of hours.
5. Subject to decision of investigation, prosecution or detention due to violation of law.
6. Dispute between the competitor and the training team due to external interference.
7. Other special situations.
In case any official National Competitor specified in the previous paragraph cannot participate in the competition, such member shall be replaced by the backup member. If the backup member of the national team cannot participate in the competition either, the replacement can be the person who won third place in the National Team Selection. However, if the above-stated condition occurs within three months before the start of the WSC or IA, no replacement for the competition will be made.
If the competition is participated in through a team under the previous paragraph and if any team member cannot participate in the competition, the central competent authority will select one person from the backup team of such category to participate. If two or more persons cannot participate in the competition, the backup team for such job categories will replace the initial team.

Competitors shall present the competition notice and identification document with photo, such as the national identification card, passport or driver's license, at the specified time to complete registration procedure with the organizer of the competition. Any delayed presentation will lead to disqualification. Except if such delay is caused by special reason that has been approved by the organizer in advance.
If the competitor mentioned in the previous paragraph is a team composed of two persons or more, the registration shall be completed by a full team.

Competitors shall familiarize themselves with the premises, machinery and equipment at the specified time. Any competitor who fails to enter the premises within fifteen minutes from the specified time shall be deemed to have waived the right to familiarize themselves with the premises, machinery and equipment, as well as the right to voice any objection.
Competitors shall familiarize themselves with the machinery and equipment based on the number of competition posts. Any doubt about any machinery or equipment, tool or material provided by the organizer shall be immediately brought to the attention of the Chief Expert and the experts (hereinafter the "Experts"). The Experts shall handle the matter immediately. Once the competitor confirms the handling of the situation and signs his/her name, no further objection may be voiced thereafter.

When entering into the premises of competition, the competitor shall present his/her badge, identification document and self-prepared tools to the Experts for inspection.
The competitor shall not bring into the competition premises any material, equipment, tools, accessory, plans, mobile phones, beepers, wearable device or other equipment and facility with functions of information transmission, sensing, photographing and recording. Except if the Chief Expert grants approval.

On the day (session) of the competition, any competitor who fails to enter into the competition premises within fifteen minutes from the specified time shall be disqualified for the competition of the current day (session). However, the competitors shall still be allowed to participate in the subsequent competition sessions in accordance with the rules.

During the competition period, a competitor shall wear his/her badge and arm band showing the number of the skills category. The competitor shall also wear the uniforms and safety protection tools in accordance with the rules of the competition premises before entering into the premise to participate in the competition.

The start and end of the competition time shall be controlled by the Experts in accordance with the rules of the tests. No competitor shall be allowed to move the time forwards or backwards.

During the competition, the competitor shall comply with the relevant rules and follow the rules explained by the Experts and technical advisors for the job categories. If the competitor has any question, or discovers any missing page or has any other doubt about any announcement, description or test announced by the Experts, it should be raised immediately for the Experts to handle and record. No objection shall be voiced afterwards.

No one is allowed to make any videos or photographs during the competition, unless otherwise publicly announced by the organizer or approved by the Chief Expert.

The competitor shall exercise due care for safety during the operation of machinery and equipment. Any breakdown of machinery or equipment due to negligent operation shall be resolved by the competitor himself/herself and no additional time will be granted.
Those who deliberately damage the equipment or facilities of the competition premises shall be liable for compensation.

If the competitor needs to leave the competition premises for any reason during the competition, it shall be subject to the consent of the Chief Expert and the competitor shall be accompanied by a dedicated person. The time of absence shall not exceed fifteen minutes, or twenty minutes for the disabled.
The duration of the competitor's absence mentioned in the previous paragraph shall be included in the time of competition. If a competitor exceeds the time period provided specified in the previous paragraph, the competitor shall be disqualified for the competition of the current day (session), unless it is not attributable to the personal conduct of the competitor.

After the completion of each session of competition, no competitor shall be allowed to access the competition post of other competitors or re-enter the competition premises without the consent of the Chief Expert.
If competition needs to be continued after a break time or the following day, the competition tests, self-prepared tools, works or relevant information of the competitors shall be processed in accordance with the instructions of the Experts.

In case of the occurrence of typhoon, earthquake, air attack, flood, fire, power outage, equipment breakdown or other significant event during the competition that renders it impossible to carry out the competition, the situation shall be handled in accordance with the instructions of the organizer.

Any competitor committing any of the following acts who fails to make correction after being warned shall be subject to an immediate meeting to be convened by the Chief Expert and the following decision will be informed to the competitor on site after a resolution to impose the sanction of deducting 5% from the total score:
1. Talking to or contacting any other competitors, staff, viewers or instructors without the consent of the Experts during the competition.
2. Bringing mobile phone, beeper, wearable devices or other equipment and facility with functions of information transmission, sensing, photographing and recording.
3. Violation of Article 34.
4. Violation of Article 39.
5. Violation of other competition rules.

Any competitor committing any of the following acts shall be disqualified and shall not be allowed to continue to participate. The total scores of the competition shall be zero:
1. Having an impostor examinee.
2. Transmitting information or message related to competition which significantly affects the results of the competition.
3. Assisting or asking others to do the assignment.
4. Exchanging work pieces or diagrams with others.
5. Bringing any part, model, semi-finished product or finished product that is prepared in advance, or any material, equipment, tool, accessory or plan that is not included in the list of competitors’ self-prepared tools without the consent of the Chief Expert, or accepting any such items provided by any other person.
6. Cheating by the use of electronic communications device or other manners.
7. Disturbing the order of the competition premises which affects the proceeding of the competition.
8. Failing to operate in compliance with safety instructions or guidelines so as to cause damage to competitor himself/herself or other person(s).
9. Intentionally damage the machinery, equipment or facility on the competition premises.
10. Violating the provisions prescribed in Article 29.
If any competitor is discovered to have committed any of the events under the previous paragraph after the competition, the total score of such competition shall also be zero.

If the competitor deems that there is any dispute during competition, it shall be immediately raised with the Experts for handling. Any dispute raised after the completion of the competition will not be accepted.

If the competitor has any objection to the results of competition, the competitor himself/herself shall file an objection in writing, specifying the title of the job category, name, date of birth, gender, ID number, domicile and issue with the organizer within three hours upon publication of the results. Any delayed submission after the specified time will not be accepted.

To handle disputes during the competition period, objections to results raised by competitors after the competition and any mistake by the Experts, the central competent authority or the organizer may convene a meeting of the Technical Dispute Committee .

The decision made by the Technical Dispute Committee shall be delivered to the applicant in writing by the central competent authority or the organizer.

The central competent authority may provide rewards to competitors, National Chief Experts, training instructors, business organizations, schools, associations and relevant agencies that have participated in the skills competitions with good performances or special contributions.

The reward methods of the organizer of Regional Skills Competitions, National Skills Competition or National Skills Competition for the Physically and Mentally Challenged or for special purposes shall be as follows:
1. Top three: award medals, certificate of merit and scholarship. For any job category under National Skills Competition that is a demonstration, half of the scholarship will be awarded.
2. Fourth or fifth place and Mention will be awarded a certificate of merit.
Any competitor who fails to participate in the award and closing ceremony without justification will lose the right to the scholarship specified in the previous paragraphs.

The central competent authority will award scholarships and certificates of merit to the top three national competitors and Excellent-awarded national competitors in WSC or IA.

The central competent authority will award certificates of merit and scholarships to the top three competitors, the national chiefs refer of excellence-awarded competitors of job categories, the main former training instructors of the competitor before the competitor was selected as a member of the a national team competitors, and the training instructors who provided reinforcement training to the member of the national competitors team.

The scholarships under the previous three articles will be awarded as follows:
1. For each of the top three competitors in regional skill competitions:
(1)First place of a job category: NT$10,000.
(2)Second place of a job category: NT$5,000.
(3)Third place of a job category: NT$3,000.
2. For each of the top three competitors in National Skills Competition or National Skills Competition for the Disabled:
(1)First place of a job category: NT$80,000.
(2)Second place of a job category: NT$60,000.
(3)Third place of a job category: NT$40,000.
3.For each winning competitor in WSC or IA:
(1)First place of a job category: NT$1,000,000.
(2)Second place of a job category: NT$500,000.
(3)Third place of a job category: NT$300,000.
(4)Competitior with Excellence of a job category: NT$50,000.
4. When a competitor of a certain job category wins a prize in WSC or IA, the corresponding National Chief Expert, the main former training instructors of the competitor before the competitor is selected as a member of the national team and the training instructors who provided reinforcement training to member of the national team:
(1)First place of a job category: NT$200,000.
(2)Second place of a job category: NT$100,000.
(3)Third place of a job category: NT$60,000.
(4)Competitor with Excellence of a job category: NT$20,000.
5.In specially-designated skill competitions, each competitor may receive:
(1)First place of a job category: NT$80,000.
(2)Second place of a job category: NT$60,000.
(3)Third place of a job category: NT$40,000.

The scholarships in Subparagraph 4 of the previous article are allocated in accordance with the following ratios:
1. 25% of the scholarship will be awarded to the National Chief Expert.
2. 25% of the scholarship will be awarded to the main former training instructors of the current competitors for WSC or IA before the competitor is selected as a member of the national team. If there are two or more such instructors, the scholarship will be allocated equally.
3. 50% of the scholarship will be awarded to the training instructors who provided reinforcement training to the member for the National Competitors.
If there are two or more instructors mentioned in Subparagraph 3 of the previous paragraph, the percentage will be allocated in accordance with the period of training participated in under the schedule of reinforced training. The same shall be applicable if the National Chief Expert also participates in the training work.

If any competitor in any skills competition has any of the following conditions, the central competent authority shall issue a certificate of merit to the nominating organization and the training instructors:
1. Top five award winners, Mention, officials or backup National Competitors in skills competitions held by the central competent authority.
2.Wining a award of Excellent or above prize in WSC or IA.

The central competent authority will issue rewards to organizations or individuals that sponsor skills competitions by means of providing funds, materials, equipment, trainings, job opportunities for the National Competitors.

The central competent authority may, depending on the funding and budget planning situations, subsidize vocational labor unions such as industry associations and employer-employee organizations that organize skills competitions.
The subsidies and rewards mentioned in the previous paragraph shall be published by the central competent authority.

Regulations related to the award to the National Chief Expert stipulated in Article 47, Article 50 to Article 52 shall apply to those who function in acting capacity.

The central competent authority shall determine the formats of diplomas and certificates prescribed in the Regulations.

These Regulations are implemented on 1 September 2012.
The amendments of this Directive will be implemented on the promulgation date.