Recording job interviews in Taiwan: the participant exception, the PDPA notice rule and private-information limits

In Taiwan, a recruiter who takes part in a call may record it without committing a wiretap offense: Article 29 of the Communication Security and Surveillance Act exempts a party to the communication whose purpose is not illegal. The recording is still personal data under the Personal Data Protection Act (PDPA), so Article 8 requires you to tell the candidate, when you collect it, who you are, why you are recording, what you keep, how long and where it is used, who receives it and what their rights are; health data and criminal records need a stronger basis such as written consent (Article 6). The PDPA reaches recruiters abroad who collect data of Taiwanese nationals (Article 51). Tell the candidate, ask, and keep the recording briefly. This is the position as of November 2026.

This page adds Taiwan to our country series alongside Hong Kong, Japan and South Korea. It is for recruiters, agency consultants and hiring managers who interview candidates located in Taiwan by video or phone, including from the US. Taiwan has its own laws, separate from those of mainland China and Hong Kong.

Taiwan's rules at a glance

Is it legal to record a job interview in Taiwan?

Yes, if you are on the call and act openly. Article 24 of the Communication Security and Surveillance Act punishes "illegally monitoring other people's communications" with up to five years in prison, but Article 29 says surveillance is not punishable where "the person conducting the surveillance is one of the parties in communication, or has obtained consent from one of the parties in communication, and the conduct is not for illegal purpose." For calls, Taiwan therefore works like a one-party consent jurisdiction.

The Criminal Code covers the rest. Article 315-1 punishes anyone who "uses audio recording, photographic, visual-taping, or electromagnetic means without reason to record other's non-public activities, speeches, talks," with up to three years in prison, short-term imprisonment, or a fine of up to NT$300,000. The risk is a colleague or a tool capturing someone else's conversation, not a recruiter recording their own interview. The participant exception settles the criminal question only; the data protection duties below apply either way.

What must you tell the candidate?

The PDPA treats a recording or transcript as personal data, and Article 2 lists "collection" as "the act of collecting personal data in any way." Article 8 requires a non-government agency (any company or individual) collecting directly from the person to "expressly inform" them of:

• the name of the agency;
• the purpose of the collection;
• the categories of personal data collected;
• "the time period, territory, recipients, and methods of which the personal data is used";
• the person's rights under Article 3 (to review, copy, correct, stop processing and erase) and how to exercise them; and
• how their rights and interests are affected if they decline to provide the data.

Notice can be waived only in narrow cases, for example where the person "has already known the content of the notification." Collection also needs a specific purpose and one of the bases in Article 19, such as "a contractual or quasi-contractual relationship" with proper security measures, or consent. Article 7 defines consent as agreement given after the person has been informed, and presumes it where the person, once informed, does not object and "affirmatively provides" the data. The same article puts "the burden of proof regarding the fact that the data subject has given the consent" on you. A spoken yes at the start of the call, after a written notice in the invitation, gives you both.

Which questions and data are off limits?

Article 6 of the PDPA forbids collecting data on "medical records, healthcare, genetics, sex life, physical examination and criminal records" except on listed bases, including a statutory obligation or the person's written consent, and even written consent does not work beyond the necessary scope or if not freely given. Article 5 adds that all processing must "not exceed the necessary scope of specific purposes."

Taiwan's employment law narrows interviews further. Article 5 of the Employment Service Act bars discrimination against applicants on grounds including race, class, language, thought, religion, political party, place of origin, gender, gender orientation, age, marital status, appearance, disability, astrological sign, blood type and former union membership. Its second paragraph bars an employer, against the applicant's will, from "requiring private information not needed for employment" (our translation). The Enforcement Rules, Article 1-1, list that private information as physiological data (genetic, drug, medical and HIV tests, intelligence tests, fingerprints), psychological data (psychological, honesty and polygraph tests) and personal-life data (credit records, criminal records, pregnancy plans, background checks), and allow requests only within the scope needed for a specific purpose. Article 67 sets a fine of NT$60,000 to NT$300,000. Keep the question guide job-related, and leave health or family asides out of notes and scorecards.

Does the PDPA reach a recruiter in the US?

Yes, for Taiwanese nationals. Article 51 says the PDPA "also applies to the government and the non-government agencies outside the territory of the Republic of China (R.O.C) when they collect, process or use the personal data of R.O.C. nationals." Your own state's law also governs your side of the call; see two-party consent states.

Taiwan has no adequacy test for transfers. Under Article 21 as in force, the central government authority for the industry may restrict a cross-border transfer where major national interests are involved, a treaty requires it, the receiving country "lacks proper regulations" and the person's rights may be harmed, or the transfer circumvents the Act. Name the country where a US-hosted tool stores the data in the Article 8 notice ("territory" and "recipients").

Can candidates get the recording, and how long can you keep it?

Article 10 requires you, on request, to answer an inquiry, allow review or "provide the data subject with a copy," with narrow exceptions such as harm to the vital interests of others. Article 13 gives you fifteen days to decide, extendable once by up to fifteen days with written notice of the reason, and Article 14 lets you charge a fee covering necessary costs. Our candidate data access requests guide has a workflow.

On retention, Article 11 says that "when the specific purpose of data collection no longer exists, or upon expiration of the relevant time period," you must erase the data or stop processing it, on your own initiative or on request, unless it is necessary for your business duties or the person has agreed in writing. State a period in the notice, tie it to the hiring decision, and delete audio first.

What changed in 2025, and who enforces the PDPA?

On November 11, 2025, Taiwan promulgated amendments that, among other things, make a Personal Data Protection Commission the competent authority, require breach reports to it and add security duties for companies. The database's legislative history says their enforcement date is to be set by the Executive Yuan and, as of November 2026, lists the last enforcement date as not yet set; a Preparatory Office of the Commission is listed as the responsible agency. The articles that matter most for interviews (Articles 3, 5 to 11, 13, 19 and 51) were not changed by those amendments.

Under the text in force, industry regulators and local governments enforce. They may fine a company NT$50,000 to NT$500,000 for collecting sensitive data or other data without a basis (Articles 6 and 19), and order it to correct a missing notice or a late answer to an access request, with fines of NT$20,000 to NT$200,000 each time it fails to (Article 48). Article 41 adds up to five years in prison for unlawful processing done to gain or to harm that causes damage.

Can you use AI note takers or transcription?

Yes, on the same footing. Article 4 says anyone commissioned to collect or process personal data for you "shall be deemed to be acting on behalf of the commissioning agency," so the vendor's handling is your responsibility. Name the tool and where it stores data in the notice, confirm the vendor does not reuse recordings for its own purposes, and delete on schedule. Interview Signal, for example, captures audio on the interviewer's own computer with no bot joining the call, shows a read-aloud consent line with a one-click pause, and does not retain audio after transcription; the transcript is still personal data under the rules above.

A consent line for interviews with candidates in Taiwan

開始面試前，想先徵求您的同意：為了準確記錄您的回答，我想
[錄下這次通話／使用軟體將對話轉成文字]。[錄音檔／逐字稿]只會用於
這次招募，僅提供給[客戶／負責招募的主管]，由[服務供應商，所在國家]
保存，並在作出決定後[期間]內刪除。您同意嗎？您可以拒絕，也可以
隨時請我停止錄音，這不會影響我們對您應徵的評估。

(Before we start the interview, I'd like to ask for your consent: so
that I capture your answers accurately, I'd like to [record this call
/ use software to turn our conversation into text]. The [recording /
transcript] is used only for this recruitment, shared only with [the
client / the hiring manager], stored by [vendor, country] and deleted
within [period] after the decision. Do you agree? You can say no, or
ask me to stop recording at any time; it will not affect how your
application is assessed.)

Put the full Article 8 information, including the candidate's rights and how to exercise them, in the invitation. More wording is in the interview recording consent script.

Checklist before you record interviews in Taiwan

• Only calls you take part in are recorded; nothing covert.
• Article 8 notice in the invitation: purpose, data, period, territory, recipients (including any client), rights.
• Consent confirmed at the start of the call and kept as proof.
• No questions on health, pregnancy plans, criminal records or other private information the job does not need.
• Requests to review or copy decided within fifteen days.
• Recordings erased when the hiring purpose ends; vendor terms on file.

Interviewing elsewhere in East Asia? Compare Hong Kong, Japan and South Korea.