TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — The Ministry of Transportation is proposing that vehicle owners lose their license plates for two years in drunk driving cases — even if they were not the ones driving at the time, reports said Wednesday.

The move follows a February court ruling in favor of a vehicle owner whose son was caught driving under the influence. The Supreme Administrative Court ruled that for license plates to be revoked, the drunk driver must also be the vehicle’s registered owner, CNA reported.

A two-year plate revocation period was introduced in March 2022 as part of a crackdown on drunk driving. However, the court's decision revealed a legal gap between driver and owner liability, undermining the measure’s intended deterrent effect.

The Highway Bureau said lawmakers had not foreseen this conflict when amending traffic laws. The ministry now plans to revise the regulations to ensure that license plates can be revoked for two years — regardless of whether the drunk driver owns the vehicle.

The bureau said the necessary third reading of the proposed legislative amendment and updates to the Uniform Punishment Standards is expected to take three to six months.