Abstract
As the third sector, the role of non-profit organizations has never been more important in this knowledge-based society. Since economic malaise has been a long-time issue in Taiwan, the public is now putting a high value on whether the benefits of utilizing governmental resources justify the costs; thus calling for a stronger control of those government-funded non-profit organizations. Some of the appeals, possibly affected by the media, are focusing on the means, that is, simply applying constraints or limitations to regulate such organizations. Unfortunately, most of them fail to recognize that the end is to enhance public welfare by means of reviewing whether or not the current laws are good enough to ensure the quality and effectiveness of government regulation, also known as “regulatory reform”. Regulatory reform is a systemic process involving a mixture of de-regulation and re-regulation to improve the quality and effectiveness of regulations. As the largest non-profit research organization in Taiwan, Industrial Technology Research Institute (“ITRI”) will be playing a key role in the regulatory reform for non-profit research organizations. In this article, we will take ITRI for example, with a thorough study on the core concepts and standards of regulatory reform, to view whether or not the current regulations and the upcoming Non-profit Organization Act (still under legislative process) is good enough to effectively regulate ITRI and other non-profit research organizations in Taiwan, and, if not, to propose possible amendments as well as alternative solutions. This article aims to evoke attentions from the administrative and legislative authorities of the incongruity of current regulatory means for non-profit research organizations in Taiwan and call for a comprehensive regulatory reform.