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Taiwan May Approve Amendments of TCSCA in Late July

An agreement has finally been reached upon the articles previously remaining up in the air for further assessment after the first reading of Taiwan TCSCA among the Legislative Party Caucuses on 25 June. It is expected to pass the second and third reading during the upcoming Special Session to be held by the Legislative Yuan in late July.

A chain of chemical accidents occurred in Taiwan and the passage of Taiwan OSHA raised high concern in the public, which urges to expedite the legislative process of TCSCA amendments. The first reading of TCSCA was passed by the Social Welfare and Environmental Affairs Committee on 30 May, leaving 6 Articles controversial. It has been assumed that the review work of TCSCA would be postponed to the next regular session until September. However, the negotiation among the Legislative Party Caucuses on 25 Jun leads to an uplifting consensus on the amendments to Article 3, 7, 35 and 41, and two supplementary resolutions, which are ready for the second reading. The TCSCA amendments are very likely to be passed after the second reading and the third reading in the special session in late July. The amendments adopted on 25 June are as below,

Article 7-1: Enterprises should apply for registration 90 days prior to the manufacture or import of new chemical substances. Based on the data submission, EPA will determine the new chemical substances registered as candidates of Class 1, Class 2, Class 3 or Class 4 toxic chemical substances prior to entering Taiwan’s market. Some supplementary requirements will be imposed by the EPA to ban or restrict the handling of such kind of new chemical substances, such as the amount and uses, etc. When the candidate toxic chemical substances are publicly announced as Class 1, Class 2, Class 3 or Class 4 toxic chemical substances, they will be handled as toxic chemical substances which require permit, registration documents or approval from the EPA.

Article 35-1: Manufacturers or importers of the new chemical substance without registration will face a fine ranging from NT$200,000 to NT$2,000,000. For those violating the supplementary requirements settled for candidate toxic chemical substances, they will face a fine between NT$100,000 to NT$5 00,000.

Article 41: The disclosure of the registration information is required for public reference. Data confidentiality can be granted for national defense or for some CBI concern. However, the confidential information can still be published if the EPA regards it as necessary.

Supplementary Resolution One: For the management of nanomaterial in Taiwan, it is fiercely debated among legislators. Not to delay the passage of TCSCA, this resolution authorizes the EPA to specify this issue in the follow-up measures for registration under TCSCA.

Supplementary Resolution Two: The Legislative Yuan put forward the requirements for the management of articles containing potentially toxic chemical substances except for those having been announced to the public, which currently consist of 302 toxic chemical substances in total. This issue will be further discussed later.

When the amendments of TCSCA got approved by the Legislative Yuan, the registration scheme for new chemical substances and the priority substances designated by the EPA will be established, and stricter requirements will be imposed on the handling of Class 4 toxic chemical substances. All enterprises concerned should be well-prepared in advance. 

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