Department of Civil Affairs

Local Systems
Based on ROC's Constitution , its provisions and on the Law for Local Systems, municipalities within the ROC are established under the central government. In addition, districts(chius) are set up under appropriate special municipalities; boroughs(lis) under the concept of districts and neighborhoods(lins) under boroughs.

Following the rule, Taipei is one of the municipalities in Taiwan. There are 12 districts(chius), 456 boroughs(lis) and 9,608 neighborhoods(lins) in Taipei.

Local Autonomy Composition
A municipal government and city council are set up to govern a given municipality. The Mayor and councilmen, elected by citizens of the municipality, each have four-year terms of office.

Boroughs are set up under a district. The chief of a borough, elected by citizens of the borough, has a term of office of four years.

Organization of Local Government
Based on the provisions of the Autonomy Law, the criteria for the organization of municipal is initiated by the Ministry of Interior and approved by the Executive Yuan.

Based on the criteria for the organization of local governments announced in August 1999 by the Ministry of Interior, the organization of municipal governments is as follows:

First-grade agencies have been set up under municipalities with a maximum of 29 bureaus, departments and committees when the population of a given municipality is less than 2 million. If the population should exceed 2 million the municipality may have a maximum of 32 bureaus, departments and committees. However, agencies may be organized with alternative designations depending on the particular laws or situations involved. There are 32 bureaus, departments and committees within Taipei City Government (District Offices not included).

Legislative structure at local levels
The municipal assembly shall set the regulations for their own organization. The MOI established guidelines for the organization, which then must be reported to the Executive Yuan for official recording.