Case News
The TCC delivers its Judgment 112-Hsien-Pan-17 (2023)
TAIPEI, November 16, 2023. The Taiwan Constitutional Court (TCC) delivered its Judgment of the "Case on the Freedom of Speech for Doctors to Advertise for Medical Care" on November 3, 2023.
Principal Facts, Issues, and Procedure of the Case
Article 84 of the Medical Care Act (MCA) stipulates that "[n]on-medical care institutions shall not make advertisements for medical care." This provision was introduced to protect the health of citizens from the harmful effects of inappropriate advertising. Medical institutions are allowed to advertise under the MCA, but individual doctors are not, so that the regulatory authority may avoid facing supervisory challenges. Violators may be subject to a fine of no less than NT$50,000 but no more than NT$250,000 under Article 104 of the MCA.
The petitioner is a judge who was hearing a case in which the plaintiff had been fined 50,000 NTD by the Department of Health of the Taipei City Government for advertising medical care services. The petitioner believes that Article 84 of the MCA violates freedom of speech, the freedom of occupation, and equality under the Constitution.
Judgment 112-Hsien-Pan-17 (2023) was announced on November 3, 2023. Justice Tai-Lang LU wrote this Judgment. Justice Chih-Hsiung HSU (joined by Justice Ming-Yan SHIEH and Justice Hui-Chin YANG), Justice Sheng-Lin JAN, Justice Jau-Yuan HWANG, and Justice Tzung-Jen TSAI each filed a concurring opinion.
Decision of the Court
The TCC declared Article 84 of the MCA unconstitutional, ruling that it has infringed the people's freedom of speech. The TCC applied intermediate scrutiny and pointed out that although the disputed provision is of important government interest (in this case, protecting the people from the harm of inappropriate medical care advertisements), the mean (allowing only medical institutions to advertise) is not substantially related to said interest.
Notes:
- Full texts of the Judgment and Opinions are available on the TCC website here (Traditional Chinese). An English summary of this Judgment will be available later on the TCC English website.
- The TCC's Case News is prepared by the Department of Clerks for the Constitutional Court (Judicial Yuan) for information only and does not bind the Court.
- In case of any conflict of meaning between the Traditional Chinese version and the translated English version, the Traditional Chinese version shall prevail.