The Ministry of the Interior passed the Enforcement Rules of the Implementation Act of Substitute Services and the drafts of related regulations yesterday. The applications for the first 1,000 places of the new substitute military service program will be open in 2016.

RTI reports, alternative military service of development allows conscripts holding a master’s degree or higher to contribute themselves in the high-tech industry. According to investigation, the satisfaction rate of conscripts and enterprises is over 90 percent. In order to expand the implementation range, the Legislative Yuan has already passed the drafts of related acts, adding a new category of the new substitute military service program and allowing youths who have graduated from specialized schools to enter the job market earlier.

China Times reports, the ministry points out that with the approval of the Executive Yuan, 1,000 places will be provided in the first year of the implementing the new program with a service period of three years.

The ministry says the National Conscription Agency expects to accept the applications of conscripts born before 1993 in the first half of 2016 and can be distributed to the employers in the second half of the year.

Liberty Times reports, the conscripts can negotiate with their bosses regarding salary after they finish their first year of the service period. The salary cannot be lower than the average monthly salary of rookies in the same industry or lower than NT$ 28,000 (approximately US$ 860).

The deputy director of the National Conscription Agency particularly clarified that the salary of the conscripts will not only be a regular monthly salary of NT$ 19,500 (approximately US$ 599.49) that has been criticized by the public, but will also provide an insurance fee of NT$ 2,000 (approximately US$ 61) per month plus an average monthly bonus of NT$ 1,000 (approximately US$ 30). The actual salary per month of conscripts holding a bachelor’s degree or the associate degree of bachelor’s will be NT$ 22,700 (approximately US$ 698), conscripts with a master’s degree can receive NT$ 27,700 (approximately US$ 851) and those holding a doctor’s degree can get NT$ 32,700 (approximately US$ 1,005).

Translated by June
Edited by Olivia Yang

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