Representative Jenny Bloomfield of the Australian Office in Taiwan, together with Deputy Representative Michael Googan, on 21 October 2022, called on NCC Chairperson Yaw-Shyang Chen who was accompanied with Commissioner Lih-Yun Lin, Commissioner Wei-Ching Wang, Commissioner Yi-Hui Wang, and related colleagues. Both sides held extensive exchanges on news media bargaining policies and development of digital platforms.

First of all, Chairperson Chen gave a brief introduction of NCC, which also mentioned the recent organizational restructuring of the government. After the establishment of the Ministry of Digital Affairs on 27 August this year, NCC adjusted its duties in accordance with its Organization Act to strengthen the regulations on communications.


Chairperson Chen emphasized that Australia was the first country in the world to pass the News Media and Digital Platforms Mandatory Bargaining Code (Media Bargaining Code), requiring global digital platforms to pay for news publishing. He also noted that many countries were therefore concerned about the progress of both digital platforms and Australian media industries and that NCC hoped to learn from Australia’s experience as a reference when formulating policy in Taiwan.

Representative Bloomfield responded that the Australian Media Bargaining Code had been implemented for more than a year, and the Australian Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (ACCC) was in the process of conducting a review. She also noted that although there were no concrete results yet, the result of the negotiation and cooperation between the digital platform and the Australian media industry have solved the problem through negotiation and market mechanisms, and achieved the positive results without government intervention.


Finally, Chairperson Chen said that after the global epidemic has eased, he hopes that NCC and the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) can hold more face-to-face exchanges and mutual visits so as to promote the development of the communications service industry for both sides.