Yes, web scraping is legal in Taiwan when conducted within the bounds of intellectual property, privacy, and fair competition laws. The Personal Data Protection Act (PDPA) and Copyright Act primarily govern its legality, with enforcement by the Personal Data Protection Commission (PDPC) and Taiwan Intellectual Property Office (TIPO). Recent 2026 amendments to the PDPA tighten restrictions on automated data collection, requiring explicit consent for scraping personal data.
Key Regulations for Web Scraping in Taiwan
- Personal Data Protection Act (PDPA): Prohibits scraping personal data without consent, with fines up to NT$5 million for violations. Automated collection of identifiable information triggers strict compliance under the 2026 amendments.
- Copyright Act: Unauthorized scraping of copyrighted content (e.g., paywalled data, proprietary databases) constitutes infringement, punishable by civil and criminal penalties, including imprisonment up to 3 years.
- Fair Competition Act: Scraping for commercial advantage without authorization may violate trade secret protections or anti-unfair competition provisions, monitored by the Fair Trade Commission (FTC).
Scraping publicly available, non-personal data (e.g., product listings without user identifiers) generally avoids legal risk, but terms of service violations or circumvention of technical barriers (e.g., CAPTCHAs) can lead to liability. The PDPC’s 2025 enforcement guidelines emphasize transparency in data collection methods, particularly for AI training datasets. Always audit scraped data against PDPA exemptions (e.g., journalistic or research purposes) and obtain legal counsel for sector-specific compliance.