The Taiwan Monthly

Feb. 2019

ESG

Amendments to the “Rules Governing the CSR Report” by the Taiwan Stock Exchange, strengthening international connections

The TWSE, in conjunction with the new Corporate Governance Roadmap, has announced the amendments to the “Taiwan Stock Exchange Corporation Rules Governing the Preparation and Filing of Corporate Social Responsibility Reports by TWSE Listed Companies.” This provides guidelines on report preparation to enterprises that meet practical needs and be in line with international disclosure trends in order to help enterprises focus on sustainable development and fulfilling corporate social responsibility. The revised Rules shall be implemented from the date of the announcement.

 

According to the TWSE, the main focus of this amendment is to replace the Global Reporting Initiatives (GRI) G4 Sustainability Reporting Guidelines with the GRI Standards. In addition, specific disclosure requirements for food industry, chemical industry, and financial industry are modified in corresponding to the GRI Topic-specific Standards to have the contents of the non-financial information disclosure aligned with international standards.

 

In addition, in view of the continuing concern about the reasonableness of the salary of employees in the Taiwan employment market, the TWSE requires companies to disclose the average and median salary data of full-time employees who are not in a management position based on the international remuneration reporting requirements and the feasibility of practical operations; however, the median data can be reported in 2020 when compiling the 2019 CSR report.

 

In order to enhance the availability and timeliness of CSR reporting, the TWSE refers to the non-financial information disclosure development status of neighboring countries in Asia. This is to adjust the deferred filing deadline from December 31 to September 30 for any company which files the CSR report for the first time or has a CPA firm issued assurance of the CSR report to effectively assist the stakeholders in obtaining non-financial information in time.

 

For further inquiries, please contact Mr. Kao at 1219@twse.com.tw .