To further enhance the safety control of chemicals at source and extend the control of the regulation to the other chemical substances, Executive Yuan approved the amendment of the “Toxic Chemical Substances Control Act (TCSA)” on November 9, 2017. Since 2017 the name of the regulation has been changed to “Toxic and Concerned Chemical Substances Control Act” which enables the inclusion of Concerned Chemicals and the concept of control management. The enforce power of the competent authorities and the management based on the levels of risk prevention and control were expected to strengthen if the amendment comes into force. In accordance with the provisions empowered, the project intended to draw up the specific subsidiary legislations for Concerned Chemicals. Based on the definition given by the Act, the project referred to the international regulations and their scope, which have the similar legislative intention and practices as the purpose in the TSCA Amendment, and then proposed the revision of “Environmental Protection Administration Executive Yuan: Principles for Screening and Identification of Toxic Chemical Substances” for ensuring the consistent and objective criteria for the identification of Concerned Chemicals. Instead of preparing the new legislation, it will help to assess whether the substance should identify as a toxic chemical substance or a Concerned Chemical in parallel. Given the similarity of management between Toxic Chemical Substances and Concerned Chemicals regarding their mandates and provisions, the project chose to propose the revised versions instead of developing the new ones. Using the existing management framework, the industries and local authorities could fast adapt the regulations and minimize its impact. In the project three amendments had been drafted. They include “Regulations for the Labeling and Safety Data Sheets of Toxic Chemical Substances”, “Regulations for Permit, Registration and Approval of Toxic Chemical Substances” and “Regulations for Operational Records and Pollution Release Reporting of the Toxic Chemical Substances”. Pursuant to the Amendment of TSCA, substances appointed as Concerned Chemical should comply with the requirement of labeling and Safety Data Sheets. In addition, the operators must apply for approval from authorized local government in advance and keep the operating records if the amount of specific use exceeds the official thresholds.   According to the fourth paragraph of Article 66 of the drafted amendment, the project had formulated “Regulation for Accounting and Estimation of Illegal Benefit against to Toxic and Concerned Chemical Substances Control Act”. The violations would be deemed to be serious or subjected to higher fines that were listed in the clause. The recovery illegal benefit should be the maximum that can be calculated from the published official table. Pursuant to Article 73 of the drafted amendment, the citizen writing petition form for public lawsuit was also formulated to fulfill the goal to establish a healthy channel for protecting the environment. To refine the legislative proposals, the project has convened 7 expert meetings and adopted their related suggestions. During the project period, two executors also made a study trip to European Chemicals Agency, competent authorities in Finland and Sweden, and Chemical Industry Federation of Finland. All management schemes and specific practices were fully investigated. It is always worthwhile to take reference from the successful experience and to facilitate policy consideration from different thinking.

Toxic Chemical Substances、Concerned-Chemicals、Chemical Management