Legislature passes revised law to shrink Examination Yuan

Taipei, Dec. 10 (CNA) The Legislative Yuan on Tuesday passed a law amendment that would allow for the number of Examination Yuan members to be reduced by more than half and to also cut the length of their terms.

Under the newly passed amendment to the Organic Act of the Examination Yuan, the membership of the body will shrink from 19 to between seven and nine, while their terms will be reduced from six years to four.

The current members, however, will be allowed to complete their six-year terms, the law states.

It also lays out the eligibility requirements for new members, stating that they must be either published authors in an academic or technical field, have at least 10 years work experience as a professor or senior civil servant, or be a noted author or an inventor.

The amendment also forbids members of the Examination Yuan from accepting any jobs in China during their term in office.

The Examination Yuan, one of the five branches of government, is responsible for the hiring of civil servants and evaluation of their performance and also deals with matters such as their salaries and retirement.

Those functions are handled by the Ministry of Examination, which also designs and administers tests for the selection and promotion of civil servants and special government personnel.