Taiwan Tobacco and Liquor Company Monopoly Bureau

In January 1901 it merged the existing Taiwan pharmaceutical office, Taiwan salt bureau and Taiwan camphor bureau to form the Monopoly Bureau of the Office of the Governor-General of Taiwan. The Governor-General's Office added cigarettes in 1905 and alcohol in 1922, matches and weights and measures in 1942, and petroleum in 1943. Before Taiwan's retrocession there were thus eight monopoly goods: cigarettes, alcohol, opium, salt, camphor, matches, petroleum, and weights and measures. The Tobacco and Liquor Monopoly Bureau (菸酒公賣局) handled the production, transport and sale of tobacco and alcohol to meet public demand, and enforced the monopoly laws. Its agencies, distribution units and licensed retailers were spread across Taiwan, and all profits from the monopoly were paid to the national treasury, giving it both an economic and a fiscal role. The monopoly profits it paid to the treasury long held a pivotal place in national tax revenue. Under the provisional act on adjusting the functions, business and organisation of the Taiwan Provincial Government, the Taiwan Provincial Tobacco and Liquor Monopoly Bureau came under the central government's Ministry of Finance on 1 July 1999, continuing its administrative work and its production and sale of tobacco and alcohol. To respond to internationalisation and liberalisation, the government moved to abolish the tobacco and alcohol monopoly and open up production, promulgating the Tobacco and Liquor Administration Act and the Tobacco and Liquor Tax Act, which took effect on 1 January 2002, ending the monopoly system and bringing tobacco and alcohol under the tax system. The act governing 臺灣菸酒股份有限公司 was passed by the Legislative Yuan on 25 April 2002 and promulgated by the President on 15 May 2002, and on 1 July 2002 the Monopoly Bureau became 臺灣菸酒股份有限公司.

Translated and shortened by DealTaipei from Taiwan's national tourism database. Sources are on the terms page.