The strict requirements for appeal were laid out in Article 20 of the HIV Infection Control and Patient Rights Protection Act. As summarized by the "Taipei Times", "foreign nationals who were infected by spouses who are Taiwanese nationals, or who were infected while receiving medical care in Taiwan, and who have relatives within two degrees of kinship who have household registration and current residency in Taiwan may ask those relatives to prepare a written petition — only once — within six months of their deportation." Petitions appear to have been infrequently approved. Even in cases where both spouses tested positive for HIV/AIDS, petitions could fail if the couple was unable to prove that it was the Taiwanese spouse who infected the foreign spouse. In 2004, the secretary-general of the Persons With HIV/AIDS Rights Advocacy Association of Taiwan reported that the association had "filed applications on behalf of 24 couples to prevent a spouse's deportation. All 24 applications were turned down."