Taiwan Consults on Amendments to Toxic Chemical Transportation Management Regulation

Taiwan’s transportation management regulation for regulated toxic substances and chemicals of concern is under revision Taiwan EPA would align the regulation with the new TCCSCA, previously known as Taiwan TCSCA. Major changes focus on transport manifest, real-time tracking system on transportation vehicles, etc.

Taiwan's Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) is consulting on changes to its transportation management regulation for regulated toxic substances and chemicals of concern (EPA notice^[1]). The consultation will close on Nov 24th, with the changes scheduled to take effect on Jan 16th, 2020.

The regulation was stipulated according to Article 40 of the Toxic and Concerned Chemical Substances Control Act (TCCSCA^[2]). To be in line with TCCSCA, the scope of this Regulation as proposed will stretch to cover both toxic substances and chemicals of concern. Taiwan EPA has declared 340 toxic chemicals subject to control. The number has increased every year. As planned the list of chemicals of concern will be published by the end of this year.

In a major change, the draft revisions integrate the transport manifest application requirements for different domestic transportation means (by sea, land or air) based on net weight of Class 1 to Class 3 toxic substances and chemicals of concern. An ordinary transport manifest is required if the substance exceeds the following thresholds, otherwise, only a simplified transport manifest is required.

(1) Gas: Fifty kilograms;
(2) Liquid: One hundred kilograms;
(3) Solid: Two hundred kilograms.

The owners of toxic substances and chemicals of concern are obliged to notify the authority of the transport manifest, including notification date and causes, substances owner/carrier/recipient information, transportation information and emergency response information. The simplified transport manifest does not need to include emergency response information. As proposed, exemptions from transport manifest requirements would apply to domestic transportation of Class 1 and 2 toxic substances and chemicals of concern in volumes not exceeding 5kg (liquid or solid).

Other major proposed changes are:

Installing real-time tracking system on vehicles transporting substances subject to ordinary transport manifest
Stipulating situations where the transportation vehicles previously approved by the authority will be disqualified
Adding a requirement that the transport manifest shall be cancelled by the 10th day of next month if no transportation occurs

Growing industrial development has brought the need for the use of a wide range of toxic substances and chemicals of concern in Taiwan. The occurrence of several high-profile chemical accidents has triggered the revision of the TCSCA and the introduction of the new TCCSCA, which was finalized in January of 2019. To aid in the implementation of new TCCSCA on Jan 16^th, 2020, supporting regulations and rules are currently being developed. Recent updates (CL news^[3]) have been reported by ChemLinked.