To remediate the soil and groundwater pollution in Taiwan, the Environmental Protection Administration has begun the collection of the soil and groundwater pollution remediation fee from the manufacturers and importers of officially announced substances in accordance with the amounts manufactured and imported by such enterprises in November of 2001. The remediation fund is used in the soil and groundwater investigations and remediation projects, providing undeniable benefits to environmental protection. Since the officially announced chemical substances are mainly organic substances, the remediation fund is mainly collected from the petrochemical industry. Therefore, the industry continued to reflect that the fee sources should be more fair and reasonable. In response with the industries’ demand and to reflect the current statures of illegal dumping sites, a new version of the collection regulations was implemented in July of 2011. Other than the originally regulated substances, steel, coal, copper, nickel, and industrial wastes from 13 industries were added to the regulated substances. The number of fee-payers has increased from 1,200 to 5,000. After the revision, an average of 920 million NT dollars of remediation fee is collected each year. A total of 11.3 billion NT dollars of remediation fee had been collected since November of 2001. The execution results are as follows:
(I) A total of 16,585 cases were audited for completeness, whereas 9, 789 cases were audited manually for correctness. There are 66 cases of refund application for insurance purchases and pollution prevention projects in 2015 were filed this year. Among them, about 135 million NT dollars was refunded.
(II)There are 300 cases of on-site auditing were completed, which include 115 correct declaration cases and 185 incorrect cases required for follow-up declaration to recover the unpaid fees. This year emphasis was placed on the tutoring for electronic filing. 21companies who were still filing the remediation fees through mails were visited. 59 sites of refund application for pollution prevention projects in 2015 were visited.
(III)Completed the research for the mechanism of the refund application for insurance purchases and pollution prevention projects, whose content is aimed at a review on the existing project implementation issues, revised plans to put forward the countermeasures and supporting measures, based on practical experience in audit work. It is expected to elevate the soil and groundwater pollution prevention in Taiwan.
(IV)There are 4 consultation hotlines were set up to maintain smooth communication channels. 7 advocacy briefings were held this year, a total of 1,720 people attended, showing little difference from 2015 (with 1,619 attendance). Few questions were raised during these briefings as the fee payers have been quite familiar with the fee collection regulations.
