Ten Days After a Taiwan Prosecutor Declines to Charge: Reconsideration, Then a Court Motion

Ten days. That is the first deadline a complainant faces after a Taiwan prosecutor decides not to indict. The day the written decision arrives is not counted, and a last day that falls on a Sunday, a memorial day or another rest day moves to the next day (Code of Criminal Procedure Art. 65; Civil Code Art. 120 and Art. 122; statutes as of October 2026).

Those ten days are for reconsideration (再議). The complainant files a written statement of reasons through the prosecutor who made the decision, addressed to the chief prosecutor of the directly superior prosecutors office or to the Prosecutor General. A lawyer is not required. Art. 256 requires the certified copy served on the complainant to state the period and the addressee, and it applies to a deferred prosecution (緩起訴) as well as a non-prosecution.

Who cannot use it? Someone who only reported the offense is served with the decision (Art. 255) but cannot seek reconsideration. Neither can a complainant who agreed beforehand to a discretionary non-prosecution (Art. 253) or to a deferred prosecution (Art. 253-1). When nobody is left who can apply, the third paragraph of Art. 256 makes the prosecutor send two kinds of decision up for reconsideration anyway: a non-prosecution for insufficient suspicion in a case punishable by death, life imprisonment or a minimum term of three years or more, and a deferred prosecution.

The paper reaches the original prosecutor first. Under Art. 257, a prosecutor who finds the request well founded must revoke the decision and either continue investigating or indict. One who finds it groundless must send the file and exhibits to the superior office at once. A late request is dismissed.

At the superior office, a groundless request is dismissed too. A well-founded one goes one of two ways under Art. 258. If the investigation is incomplete, the head of the superior office may reinvestigate personally, assign another prosecutor, or order the original office to continue. If it is complete, the original office is ordered to indict. An order to indict is not a conviction.

If the request is dismissed, a second ten days begins the day after that decision is received. Now a lawyer is a must. Within that period the complainant may ask the competent court of first instance for leave to bring a private prosecution (自訴), and the motion is made by retaining a lawyer who files a statement of reasons (Art. 258-1). The lawyer may inspect the investigation file and exhibits, and may transcribe, reproduce or photograph them. Matters covered by the secrecy of another investigation, or otherwise confidential by law, may be restricted or prohibited.

Not everyone can file. A person already barred by law from prosecuting privately cannot make the motion (Art. 258-1, second paragraph). Two of the usual bars do not apply to it: the rule against privately prosecuting a spouse or lineal ascendant (Art. 321) and the rule against doing so once a prosecutor has begun investigating the same case (Art. 323).

A panel of judges decides (Art. 258-3). It dismisses a motion that is inadmissible or groundless, and that dismissal cannot be appealed. A grant sets a period, and the defendant may appeal that grant. The private prosecution has to be filed inside that period, through a lawyer (Art. 319). Miss it and the case cannot be privately prosecuted again (Art. 258-4).

Living abroad adds days. Art. 66 leaves travel time out of the count for a person whose residence or office is outside the court's locality. For people living abroad, the two travel-period standards give 37 days for Asia, 44 for Europe, the Americas and Oceania, and 72 for Africa and Antarctica (Art. 3 of the prosecution-stage standard and of the court-stage standard). A complainant living in the United States is in the 44-day row. Whether those days still apply when a delivery agent in Taiwan receives the decision, or a Taiwan lawyer files the paper, was not confirmed. Plan around ten days.

The official English text has not caught up. As of October 2026, the English translation of the Code on the Ministry of Justice's Laws and Regulations Database still calls the court step "setting the case for trial" (交付審判). That was the procedure before the amendment promulgated on June 21, 2023, when a grant deemed the case already indicted (former Art. 258-3). Now the complainant, with a lawyer, brings the prosecution.

When a decision counts as received is a separate question, taken up in the column on the reconsideration deadline. A non-confidential outline, with the date the decision arrived, can be sent to Hovering International Law Firm at wei@hoveringlaw.com.tw.

Official sources

• Code of Criminal Procedure (刑事訴訟法), Laws and Regulations Database of the Ministry of Justice: Articles 65, 66, 253, 253-1, 255, 256, 257, 258, 258-1, 258-3, 258-4, 319, 321, 323
• Civil Code (民法), Articles 120 and 122: counting of periods
• 檢察機關訴訟當事人在途期間標準, Art. 3 and 法院訴訟當事人在途期間標準, Art. 3: travel periods for people living abroad
• Code of Criminal Procedure, amendment history: Articles 258-1 to 258-4 amended June 21, 2023; Articles 257 and 258 on December 27, 2023; Article 256 on January 15, 2020. The most recent amendment, promulgated May 13, 2026, concerns Article 101-1 only
• Code of Criminal Procedure, text as amended May 3, 2023: former Articles 258-1 and 258-3 (聲請交付審判)
• Code of Criminal Procedure, English translation on the same database: amended date shown as January 15, 2020; Articles 258-1 to 258-4 still in the pre-2023 wording

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.