Appealing a Taiwan Criminal Judgment: Twenty Days, and the Cases That End at the Second Instance

Does every criminal case in Taiwan get three rounds in court? No. For injury under Criminal Code Article 277, paragraph 1, and for theft, extortion or breach of trust, the second-instance judgment normally ends the case. Article 376 of the Code of Criminal Procedure bars a third round, with one exception.

The deadline is twenty days. Periods fixed in days skip the first day, so counting starts the day after service (Art. 349, Art. 65, Civil Code Art. 120, para. 2), and an appeal filed after pronouncement but before service is also valid. A third-instance appeal runs on the same twenty days.

The notice of appeal goes to the court that gave the judgment, with a copy for each opposing party (Art. 350); the clerk then promptly serves those copies (Art. 352). Under Art. 351, a defendant held in a prison (監獄) or detention center (看守所) who gives the notice to the facility's head within the period is treated as having appealed in time. A waiver or withdrawal of appeal must be in writing, or oral on a trial date (Art. 358).

An appeal from an ordinary first-instance judgment of a district court goes to the High Court, and the notice must state specific reasons. If it does not, the appellant must file a reasons brief with the original court within twenty days after the appeal period ends. Miss that too, and the original court must first set a period for correction (Art. 361). The original court dismisses, by a ruling (裁定), an appeal that fails a legal formality, is not permitted by law, or comes after the right to appeal was lost; a curable formality defect gets a correction period first (Art. 362). If the reasons are still missing, the second-instance court dismisses the appeal by judgment. Where the defect is curable and the original court never ordered correction, the presiding judge must set a period first (Art. 367).

Summary judgments (簡易判決) take another road. The appeal goes to a collegiate bench of the district court as the second instance, and Article 361 is excluded (Art. 455-1). Paragraph 2 of that article bars any appeal from a sentence imposed on a prosecutor's request under Art. 451-1, built on the sentence the defendant offered to accept.

Can the complainant appeal? Not directly. The right belongs to the parties: the public prosecutor, a private prosecutor and the defendant (Art. 3, Art. 344). A complainant or victim who disagrees with a lower court's judgment may ask the prosecutor to appeal, and must give reasons. Prosecutors may also appeal for the defendant's benefit. Non-prosecution decisions follow a separate reconsideration procedure.

Third-instance appeals are narrower. The only permitted ground is that the judgment violates the law (Art. 377). Article 376 then shuts the door, apart from its proviso, on nine groups of offenses: those whose heaviest penalty is imprisonment of three years or less, detention (拘役) or a fine only; injury under Criminal Code Art. 277, paragraph 1; theft (Arts. 320 and 321); embezzlement under Arts. 335 and 336, paragraph 2; fraud under Arts. 339 and 341; breach of trust (Art. 342); extortion (Art. 346); receiving stolen property (Art. 349, paragraph 1); and, under the Narcotics Hazard Prevention Act, using Category 1 narcotics or possessing 20 grams or more, pure net weight, of Category 2 narcotics. Aggravated fraud under Criminal Code Art. 339-4 is not listed.

That proviso works like this. If the second instance sets aside a first-instance judgment of acquittal, exemption from prosecution (免訴), dismissal of the prosecution (不受理) or jurisdictional error (管轄錯誤) and enters a conviction, the defendant, or a person who may appeal for the defendant's benefit, may appeal. If the third instance then sets that judgment aside and remands the case to the original court (發回) or transfers it to another second-instance court (發交), the next judgment cannot be appealed to the third instance (Art. 376, para. 2).

A third-instance notice must also state reasons. If it does not, a reasons brief may be filed with the original court within twenty days after filing, and if none arrives the court need not order one (Art. 382).

Living abroad adds days. Anyone whose residence or office is outside the court's locality has the travel period left out of the count (Art. 66). Article 3 of the courts' travel-period standard sets that period for residents abroad: 37 days for Asia; 44 for Europe, North America, South America and Oceania; 72 for Africa and Antarctica (as of October 2026). No court decision applying those figures to an appeal period was found. Plan around the twenty days.

A non-confidential outline can be sent to Hovering International Law Firm at wei@hoveringlaw.com.tw. Include the date the judgment reached you and how it was delivered.

Official sources

• Code of Criminal Procedure (刑事訴訟法), Laws and Regulations Database of the Ministry of Justice: Articles 3, 65, 66, 344, 349, 350, 351, 352, 358, 361, 362, 367, 376, 377, 382, 451-1, 455-1
• Criminal Code of the Republic of China (中華民國刑法), Articles 277 and 339-4
• Civil Code (民法), Article 120: computing periods
• 法院訴訟當事人在途期間標準, Article 3 (Standards for Travel Periods of Parties to Court Proceedings; title rendered from the Chinese, last amended June 29, 2018): travel periods for residents abroad
• Code of Criminal Procedure, amendment history: Article 376 was last amended on June 21, 2023, and Articles 349 and 382 on January 15, 2020. The most recent amendment, promulgated May 13, 2026, concerns Article 101-1 only and none of the articles cited here

Checked: October 12, 2026

This article is general information based on Taiwan statutes checked on October 12, 2026. It is not legal advice on any individual case.