History

These Regulations are determined pursuant to Article 56, Paragraph 4 of the Labor Standards Act.

The Ministry of Labor shall preside as the competent authority of the Fund.

The competent authority, in conjunction with the Ministry of Finance, shall commission the Bank of Taiwan to manage the revenues, expenditures, safeguard, and utilization of the Fund, where the safeguard and utilization of the Fund may be commissioned to another financial institution.
The Bank of Taiwan may commission another financial institution to manage the revenues and expenditures, and safeguard of the Fund; such a commissioning contract shall be sent to the competent authority for future reference.

The Fund's income sources are as follows:
1.The labor retirement reserve funds allocated by all business entities in compliance with Article 56, Paragraph 1 of the Labor Standards Act.
2.Fines collected pursuant to Article 50, Paragraph 1 of the Labor Pension Act.
3.The money accrued from interest or through investment by the Fund.
4. Other monies allocated with government approval.

The scope of expenditures from the Fund shall be limited to the payment of the labor pensions and severance payments given to labor upon the termination of business entities pursuant to Article 8 of the Regulations for the Allocation and Management of the Labor Retirement Reserve Funds.

The scope of Fund utilization shall be as follows:
1. Deposit in domestic or foreign financial institutions.
2. Loan to government agencies in various levels or state-owned enterprises for undertaking economic construction or capital expenditure with compensation or repayable by budgeting on a year-by-year basis.
3. Investment in domestic or foreign listed, over-the-counter, or private placement equity securities.
4. Investment in domestic or foreign debt securities.
5. Investment in publicly or privately placing beneficiary certificates issued by domestic securities investment trust funds, futures trust fund, mutual trust funds or collective trust products.
6. Investment in beneficiary certificates, fund shares or investment unit securities issued or managed by foreign fund management institutions.
7. Investment in domestic or foreign real estate and its securitization products.
8. Investment in domestic or foreign spot commodities.
9. Engaging in domestic or foreign financial derivatives transactions.
10. Engaging in securities lending.
11. Other utilization items beneficial to the return of the Fund approved by the competent authority.
If the scope of utilization of the preceding paragraph involves the foreign exchange deposit and overseas investment, the ratio may not exceed fifty percent of the Fund's net asset value.
If the scope of utilization of the first paragraph involves the Mainland China area, Hong Kong, or Macao, such items shall comply with the laws and regulations of the financial competent authority and other relevant agencies.

The Fund's investment in foreign currency deposits shall be implemented in accordance with the following regulations:
1. Deposits may be in banks that are located in the Republic of China or overseas branch institutions of domestic banks.
2. The bank shall rank among the top three hundred of all the banks in the world in terms of assets or capital, or have credit rating at a certain level by an internationally prestigious rating agency or a rating agency approved by the financial competent authorities.
3. The amount of foreign currency deposits in one single domestic or foreign financial institution shall not exceed one percent of the Fund's net value. However, demand deposits in the Fund's custodian bank and the overseas discretionary investment account shall not be included the calculation of the foregoing amount.

The following investment ratio restrictions shall be upheld when the Fund invests in foreign securities:
1. The total capital of purchasing any single foreign stock, bond, exchange-traded fund, or offshore fund shall not exceed one percent of the Fund's net value at the time of the investment.
2. The total amount of investment in any foreign stock or bond shall not exceed ten percent of the total amount of issuance of that stock or bond.
3. The total investment in any exchange-traded fund or offshore fund shall not exceed ten percent of the value of beneficiary certificates issued by that fund.
4. In the case of investment in depositary receipts, the investment ratio should be calculated by adding the amount of shares represented by such depositary receipts to the amount of invested shares of the company issuing such depositary receipts. When calculating the maximum investment ratio, the requirements of subparagraph 1 and 2 shall be observed.

For engaging in financial derivatives transactions, it shall trade via a financial institution approved by the competent financial, securities, or futures authorities of the foreign countries, and the following requirements shall be observed:
1. Apart from principal guaranteed products, derivatives trading shall in principle not increase the Fund's financial leverage.
2. In view need to hedge NT dollar and foreign currency exchange rates when making foreign investments, the Fund may engage in foreign exchange derivatives transactions within the amount limits and scope of tools prescribed by the Central Bank of the Republic of China (Taiwan) in relevant regulations.
3. Engaging in non-foreign exchange derivatives transactions may be conducted within the scope of trading contracts floated, published, or listed by the competent authority of the country, exchanges, or over-the-counter markets.
The Bureau of Labor Funds shall determine limits, counterparties, and risk management measures when the Fund engages in derivatives transactions and shall request the approval of the competent authority.

With regard to utilization of the Fund, the minimum earnings in the annual distributions on the final financial statement shall not be less than the earnings attainable from the amounts accrued from two-year time deposits with the interest rates offered by local banks.
When the gain from Fund utilization minus the final valued unrealized gains from investment and after making up accumulated shortfalls for the previous two years exceeds earnings calculated using the two-year time deposits interest rate offered by local banks, one half of the surplus shall be fully distributed within three months after the issuance of annual final financial statement; however, the distribution shall be restricted to the unsettled reverse accounts of the Fund at the time of distribution. All income from Fund investment remaining after distribution shall be stated as accumulated surplus.
If total realized gains within the stated accumulated surplus exceeds six percent of the net value of the Fund at the end of December of that year, it shall be fully distributed within three months after the issuance of the annual final financial statement.
With regard to the utilization income in Paragraph 2, the final valued unrealized price fall losses from investment in stocks and beneficiary certificates shall be subtracted, and the minimum earnings from the Fund utilization then calculated. If the foregoing minimum earnings are less than earnings calculated using the two-year time deposits interest rate offered by local banks, the deficit shall be covered by the accumulated surplus. If the surplus is inadequate to cover the deficit, it can be covered by the surplus of the next year. However, the duration for this type of coverage is only limited to two years. In case that the deficit is still inadequate to cover the surplus, Treasury Funds can be used to cover the deficits after the approval of the competent authority.

The Bank of Taiwan shall execute all duties pertinent to the revenues and expenditures of the Fund in accordance with the stipulated procedures, and shall report the state of Fund revenue, expenditure, and utilization to the competent authority for examination on a monthly basis.

The Fund's revenue and expenditure budgets and final financial statements shall be in accordance with relevant laws and regulations.
In order to handle matters concerning accounting of the Fund, an accounting system shall be established.

These Regulations shall take effect on the date of promulgation.