Taiwan Fines 100-Yen Shop Biz Daiso for Illegal Imports

May 24, 2018

Taiwan- The Taiwanese government has fined a local unit of Japanese 100-yen shop operator Daiso Industries Co. 41.64 million new Taiwan dollars, or about 150 million yen, for illegal imports, it was learned Wednesday.

Taiwan also invalidated the company's status as a registered importer as a measure that will stay in place for two years.

The punitive measures were enforced Friday.

According to Taiwanese media and Daiso, the company was prohibited from importing goods into Taiwan for a half year from September 2015.

Daiso took the penalty because it imported food products from five Japanese prefectures including Fukushima hit by the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami, despite a ban by the Taiwanese government. Daiso also sold the products in Taiwan with false labels to disguise their production areas.

Last month, it emerged that Daiso imported products using doctored documents, during the half-year penalty period. This led the Taiwanese Ministry of Economic Affairs to investigate Daiso.

Daiso had 59 outlets in Taiwan as of the end of April.

The company is considering how to deal with the situation an official said. Jiji Press