The pattern
This isn't one traveler's story — it's the sequence described throughout this site, traced step by step. For the statutes behind each step, see the Legal Analysis page.
A typical rental car — the vehicle itself is rarely the issue
A tourist arrives in Taiwan within the statutory short-stay window and rents a car — often something like a compact hatchback — presenting only a valid home-country license, exactly what the rental agency's own rules allow.
Stopped at a routine traffic check and cited for driving without an International Driving Permit. Plates confiscated at the scene under the automatic Article 21 procedure.
An International Driving Permit is usually obtained immediately afterward — along with a first real look at how the reciprocity rules and the IDP requirement were never reconciled with each other.
A written statement to the Motor Vehicles Office — citing good-faith reliance on reciprocity information and prompt corrective action — is the typical next step. Article 21 leaves the office little statutory room to act on it.
Only in hindsight does the statutory gap described throughout this site become clear — including that the standard "unfamiliarity" relief doctrine doesn't reach this fact pattern either. The full legal breakdown is on the Legal Analysis page.