The Bureau of Labor Insurance has also called on business enterprises to apply for the IC cards and use the online system through the BLI Web site. The old ID cards may be used until their expiration date. In accordance with e-government and for convenience, the BLI established the Labor Insurance Internet Applications Promotion Team in July 1999 to build a Web site for online applications and inquiries for workers' and farmers' insurance. It started receiving online applications for farmers' insurance on May 16, 2000, and online applications for labor insurance on May 20 of the same year.
The Bureau was the first government organization in Taiwan offering convenient services through the Internet with a management center issuing certified documents. On November 14, 2001, the Executive Yuan announced the implementation of the Electronic Signatures Law and issued a letter legalizing online processes after the Law's implementation on April 1, 2002 and gave the same legal backing for all items of online applications for workers' and farmers' insurance.
The BLI then boosted measures to promote such online applications, including its usage of the online certification system offered by the Government Certification Administration. The Bureau also said that online applications should be completed according to the procedures set by the GCA in order to ensure the protection of individuals and enterprises who participate in the labor insurance system. In the process of transmission, data that enters the online application system are encrypted, preventing their disclosure to those who have no right to know them. Moreover, disputes over application data will be reviewed by a public trusted abitrator. Only in this way can online data security be ensured.
The BLI also said that the online system is a way for insured companies to apply for insurance coverage, withdrawals, or salary adjustments beyond written applications. This system saves insured companies the trip to the post office and mailing expenses. Online applications received in the morning are processed that same day and the whole process is completed within three days.
Insured companies can check online the changes made and need not make a telephone call to the Bureau. The online system also has a function that enables correction of mistakes made in filling out the written form. Insured companies can also search for the insurance coverage period of their insured employees and other detailed information. Insured employees with certified identification can also use this online system to check their own data.
According to data from the BLI, by August 2003, over 11,000 insured companies had already used this system. That month, the number of data revisions made online had reached 199,000 cases, 27 percent of the total 741,000 data revisions received by the Bureau. A survey conducted on the level of satisfaction with the online system showed that out of 1,248 questionnaires returned, 79.1 percent expressed a high level of satisfaction, 16 percent considered the service was average, and only 5 percent felt dissatisfied.
Quelle: eTaiwan News, 31.12.2003
