I.These operation directions are formulated by the Council of
  Agriculture, Executive Yuan (hereinafter referred to as the
  “COA”) or its subordinate authorities to standardize the
  subsidy provision to the public and private universities and
  colleges, research organs (institutions), groups and legal
  persons executing the programs of agricultural science and
  technology research and development, policy research and
  science and technology exchanges, accelerate the development
  and application of agricultural science and technology,
  address the industry needs and enhance the industry
  competitiveness.

II.The general agricultural science and technology subsidy
   programs specified in These operation directions (hereinafter
   referred to as the “subsidy programs”) refer to the general
   research programs subsidized by the COA or its subordinate
   authorities, which are related to their business and other
   than those industry-academy cooperation programs, science and
   technology projects and other programs carried out in
   accordance with the relevant laws and regulations.
   The funds for the subsidy programs referred in the preceding
   paragraph are covered by the relevant funds and budgets for
   agricultural science and technology research and development
   of the COA or its subordinate authorities.

III.Except for those whose subsidy objects and purposes are
    clearly listed in the legal budgets for the COA or its
    subordinate authorities and have been deliberated and passed
    by the Legislative Yuan or approved as projects, other
    subsidy programs shall be handled by way of public
    soliciting. The relevant information shall be publicized on
    the website of the COA or its subordinate authorities; and
    the selection process shall comply with the principles of
    equity, fairness and openness.

IV.Subsidy objects:
  1.Public and private universities and colleges approved to be
    established by the Ministry of Education.
  2.Public research organs (institutions).
  3.Legal persons registered and established in accordance with
    Taiwanese law to be engaged in the research and development
    of science and technology.
  4.Farmer groups and non-profit corporations established in
    accordance with law to be engaged in businesses related to
    agriculture.
  5.International organizations as well as research or training
    institutions related to agriculture.

V.Subsidy item or scope: according to the key administration or
  research points publicized at the time of program soliciting
  by the COA or its subordinate authorities.

VI.Subsidy principles:
  1.Those conforming to the subsidy items or scope and having
    passed the review and approved with the program statement
    being approved as well are entitled to full subsidies.
  2.No subsidies would be provided in one of the following
    cases:
   (1)The subsidy from the COA or its subordinate authorities
      for the same reason, activity or program has been applied
      and received already.
   (2)Other cases not entitled to subsidies as publicized.
  3.In the case of non-subsidizing as specified in the preceding
    paragraph, the COA or its subordinate authorities shall
    withdraw the subsidy and retrieve the subsidy payment
    already made.

VII.Application operation:
   1.The application for the program publically solicited on the
     website of the COA or its subordinate authorities shall be
     handled according to the contents of the program solicited,
     operation procedure (including the scoring and ranking
     method) and application documents (including the purpose,
     content, expected benefits, budget estimate sheet for
     funding, etc.). The application documents shall be sent or
     mailed to the designated location within the term of public
     soliciting. It will not be accepted if the documents are
     not complete or do not conform to the regulations. In the
     case of delivery by post, the postmark would serve as the
     proof of delivery and the overdue will not be accepted.
   2.The subsidy program’s fund budget preparation shall be
     conducted in accordance with the fund application scope and
     budget preparation benchmark of the COA’s governing
     program fund handling manual, which can be downloaded from
     the program development area on the COA’s website.
   3.The subsidy program application documents will not be
     returned after reviewed by the COA or its subordinate
     authorities.

VIII.Program review:
    1.Review method and procedure:
    (1)The manager of the subsidy program applied for shall
       prepare the subsidy program application documents, which
       shall be handled by the unit organizing the program
       soliciting. During the review, the experts and scholars
       in the relevant fields and the representatives of the COA
       or its subordinate authorities shall be invited to review
       the documents in writing or by way of meeting. The
       applying unit may be invited to make presentation if
       necessary.
    (2)There shall be at least three review committee members to
       review the subsidy program application documents; the
       number of external experts shall be not less than one
       thirds of the total; and the principle of benefit
       avoidance shall be abided by; and the relevant operation
       shall be handled in reference to the organization
       guidelines and review rules of the procurement evaluation
       committee.
    (3)The review results shall be ranked according to their
       score or sequence; and the COA or its subordinate
       authorities would the recommend the subsidy programs
       according to the ranking order, file for approval by the
       leadership or consent by the authorized personnel and
       notify the applying units.
    (4)The recommended subsidy unit can only receive the subsidy
       after revising the program’s contents based on the first
       and second review results specified in this article,
       submitting a formal program statement and getting the
       approval from the COA or its subordinate authorities.
    2.Key points of review:
    (1)Compliance of the program’s overall planning contents
       with the COA’s key administration or research points
    (2)Reviewing the appropriateness of program objectives,
       feasibility of important work items and implementation
       methods, program manager’s research performance and
       program execution ability, rationality of program fund
       and manpower and practicability of expected results
       according to the review items stipulated by the COA or
       its subordinate authorities.
    (3)In addition to examining the program manager’s research
       managing ability in selecting the subsidy object, those
       receiving more than two programs of the COA or its
       subordinate authorities at the same period (referring to
       the research periods of subsidy programs overlapping for
       more than 4 months) shall be carefully evaluated and
       considered especially.
    (4)The review table shall include the review items of the
       second review and properly allocated scores for them,
       review comments and scoring results, etc. The full score
       is 100 and only those having an average score over 70 can
       be recommend for subsidies.

IX.Contract signing:
  1.The recommended subsidy unit can only proceed to the
    contract signing for operation after correcting the program
    content in accordance with the review results, submitting a
    formal program statement and getting the approval from the
    COA or its subordinate authorities.
  2.The relevant contract shall be signed by using the model
    contract for the COA’s subsidized science and technology
    programs in principle; and the contract provisions may be
    modified through consultation by the two parties should it
    be needed actually.

X.Program control and effectiveness evaluation:
 1.The alteration, supervision, evaluation and others of subsidy
   program shall be conducted in accordance with the
   development, evaluation and supervision operation
   instructions and regulations of the COA’s agricultural
   science and technology program.
 2.The program effectiveness evaluation results are listed as
   the reference for determining whether to continue the subsidy
   provision or the subsidy limit increase or decrease in the
   future.

XI.Fund management:
  1.After the research fund is approved, the fund appropriation
    shall be made in installments in principle and the fund
    appropriation method shall be as agreed under the contract.
  2.The fund expenditure, verification and settlement, random
    inspection and property management shall be conducted
    according to the COA’s governing program fund handling
    manual.
  3.The subsidized unit shall inspect the proof and make the
    appropriation in accordance with the provisions within the
    time limit notified by the COA or its subordinate
    authorities; submit the accounting report within the time
    limit; and make proof inspection, verification and
    settlement according to the provisions.

XII.Research and development results and intellectual property
    rights: these shall be handled according to the COA’s
    science and technology research and development result
    attribution and application measures.
  

XIII.Other matters needing attention:
    1.In the case of subsidy program involved in experiments
      related to genetic recombination, the approval documents
      of biological experiment safety committee shall be
      attached; in the case of involvement in gene transfer
      field experiments, the approval documents of governing
      authority shall be attached; in the case of involvement in
      animal experiments, the approval documents of experimental
      animal care and use committee or group shall be attached;
      in the case of involvement in the infectious biological
      material experiments above Level 2 stipulated by the
      Ministry of Health and Welfare, the approval documents of
      relevant units shall be attached; and in the case of
      involvement in the experiments using the endemic
      biological species in Taiwan as the test materials, the
      approval by governing authority is required and the
      relevant proof documents obtained legally shall be
      provided. In the event that the approval documents cannot
      be submitted by the time of application, the application
      proof documents shall be submitted prior to the submission
      of the formal program statement and the contract can only
      be signed after the approval documents are obtained.
    2.After the subsidy program is approved, in the case that
      the program manager needs to implement the program in a
      new working organ (institution) due to his/her service
      organ (institution) change, the original working organ
      (institution) shall provide a copy of the new work organ
      (institution) engagement letter and a consent letter to
      the COA or its subordinate authorities; after the consent
      is obtained, the COA or its subordinate authorities would
      terminate the contractual relationship with the original
      working organ (institution) and sign a new contract with
      the new working organ (institution) and then the subsidy
      program can be transferred to be implemented continuously
      by the new working organ (institution). In the case that
      the instrument equipment purchased during the program
      manager working in the original working organ
      (institution) in implementing the subsidy program needs to
      be transferred to the new working organ (institution) used
      to implement the subsidy program of the COA or its
      subordinate authorities continuously, it shall be handled
      in the same way.
    3.In the event that the program manager fails to submit the
      closing report as required, the COA or its subordinate 
      authorities would not approve any subsidies to the program
      within 1 to 5 years.
    4.The subsidized unit shall comply with the regulations of
      the Science and Technology Research and Development
      Procurement Supervision and Administration Measures while
      conducting procurement.
    5.In the case of the subsidy object being an agriculture
      related international organization not established in
      Taiwan, its application operation, program review,
      contract signing, project control, effectiveness
      evaluation and fund management shall be handled according
      to the stipulations under the contract or memorandum
      signed with the COA or its subordinate authorities.
    6.The matters not covered in these operation directions
      should be executed in accordance with the subsidy program
      contract of the COA or its subordinate authorities and
      other relevant regulations.