The Executive Yuan established the Ocean Affairs Council on April 28, 2018, in order to integrate the planning, coordination, and promotion of related marine policies and also to take charge of marine and coastal guarding and marine conservation and research. Therefore, the Ocean Affairs Council is responsible for the integrated planning, deliberation, coordination, and promotion of overall ocean policies and basic laws and regulations. After its establishment, the Council formulated the Ocean Basic Act (Draft), which integrated domestic ocean related laws, policies, and marine affair.

Establishment of the Ocean Basic Act (Draft) is the government’s declaration of its overall ocean policy and means for integrating ocean affairs. After inviting government agencies at each level as well as scholars and experts to discuss the Ocean Basic Act (Draft), the Ocean Affairs Council submitted the draft of the Ocean Basic Act to the Executive Yuan on September 12, 2018, for review. The Executive Yuan called for three cross-ministerial review meetings, which took place on November 22 of the same year, March 19, 2019, and March 27, 2019. The draft was approved during the 3648th meeting of the Executive Yuan on April 25 and was sent to the Legislative Yuan, where it passed third reading on November 1. The Law consists of 19 articles in total. It was submitted on November 20 to the President, who mandated the promulgation.