In 2017,a total of 45,136 complaints had been received from members of the public regarding smoky vehicles (i.e. vehicles that generate excessive amounts of visible exhaust emissions). The owners of these vehicles were successfully notified in 14,041 cases (representing a notification rate of 31.11%), and inspection was performed in 9,539 cases (representing an inspection rate of 78.11%). These results were supported by expansion of the functionality of the reporting system (with a total of six new functions added), which led to a significant improvement in the overall quality of case handling. In addition, as there is a direct correlation between the smoky vehicle evaluation standards used by environmental protection departments when reviewing cases of this type and the amount of rewards issued, in 2017 sampling was performed on 517 cases in different counties and cities; the sampling results showed that environmental protection departments in individual counties and cities had adopted broadly consistent standards, but that there was still some room for improvement. The report therefore included some suggestions for ways in which improvements could be made in the future; the main recommendations were as follows: it was suggested that local government environmental protection agencies should continue to provide guidance regarding the standards applying to photographs that are submitted as evidence, and the techniques for taking acceptable photographs, and should explain the operational procedures used by the environmental protection agencies when handling this type of case, so that members of the public can develop a better understanding of the details of smoky vehicle reporting cases and of how reports can be improved, which in turn will help to enhance the overall quality of reporting and lead to more effective pollution management. As part of the implementation of this plan, the “2017 Prize Draw to Encourage Members of the Public to Report Highly-polluting Vehicles” activity was held on December 14, 2017, with total prize money exceeding NT$1 million. In addition, in order to ensure adequate lateral and vertical communication, an operational coordination meeting was held on May 24, 2017 and a review meeting was held on November 13, 2017, providing an opportunity for operational staff at different local government environmental protection agencies to engage in an exchange of views regarding this work category. The plan also involved continued maintenance of the “Mobile Sources of Air Pollution Information Management System,” using an e-enablement approach to establish review methods and key review items for projects outsourced by the Environmental Protection Administration (EPA), and implementing collation, statistical compilation and statistical analysis with respect to the databases established under the various projects relating to mobile sources of air pollution. In 2017, assistance has been provided for the establishment of a website that will provide members of the public with guidance regarding the increased subsidies available for pollution reduction activities, so that the public can be kept abreast of the latest information released by the EPA regarding subsidies; this website has also had a total of three items added that present statistics regarding the mobile pollution source control results that have been achieved through the use of subsidies. As regards decision-making support and analysis indicators, the percentage of reported two-stroke motorcycles that were subsequently scrapped over the period 2015–2017 was calculated to be 55.04%; the related statistical results were reported to the EPA and other environmental protection agencies for their reference when reviewing the current state of operational implementation or when implementing decision-making in the future. The 2017 plan also incorporated vehicle registration inquiry system maintenance operations. Over the plan implementation period, all system functions were improved, and on August 1, 2017 assistance was provided in linking the system to the Directorate General of Highways diesel vehicle registration database; batch query function was also made available for the use of environmental protection agencies.

High-polluting vehicles, reporting, mobile pollution source, database integration