Taiwan EPA to Revise Toxic Chemical Substances Control Act Enforcement Rules

On Apr 17^th, 2019, Taiwan EPA issued a proposed revision to the Toxic Chemical Substances Control Act Enforcement Rules[1](hereafter referred to as the Enforcement Rules). It is now subject to a period of public consultation lasting 60 days.

The new Toxic and Chemical Substances of Concern Control Act [2] (hereafter referred to as the Act), previously known as the Toxic Chemical Substance Control Act (TCSCA), was implemented in Jan 2019. The Enforcement Rules was firstly published in 1989 and has been updated six times since then. It functions as one of the most important supporting documents to the Act. The proposed changes of name and some articles in this Enforcement Rules were formulated to align with the updates in the Act.

Compared to the current version, major changes are proposed as below:

1. Rename as Toxic and Chemical Substances of Concern Control Act Enforcement Rules

2. Define the “suspension of handling” as the interruption in manufacture, import, sale, use, or storage and delete the time period of “for at least two years” (Article 7)

3. Define the “mail orders, online shopping” as the transaction made via radios, television broadcasts, telephones, facsimiles, catalogs, newspapers, magazines, the Internet, flyers, or any other similar channels, through which consumer does not have opportunity to review the goods (Article 8)

4. Specify the situations where the EPA needs to take necessary measures relating to emergency control (Article 11)

5. Add a provision that the EPA will entrust on-site verification tasks to relevant institutes or groups (Article 12)

6. Add a provision that for inter-regional illegal activities the EPA will issue the offender a punishment citation and send a copy of the citation to the local authority with jurisdiction over the place where the illegal activities occurred (Article 18)

7. Add a provision that firefighting units shall be notified of the diagrams of the entire handling site and the interior layout of the site with regard to toxic chemical substances and chemical substances of concern, in written and electronic format (Article 19)

The Enforcement Rules is proposed to be implemented on Jan 16th, 2020.