The Soil and Groundwater Remediation Act （hereinafter referred to as SGRA） was promulgated and enacted on February 2, 2000. Despite a big scale revision on February 3, 2010, the Act still has encountered various disputes and awkwardness in its practice. Furthermore, due to the increasing environmental consciousness in public, the President Office has effectuated reaching consensus on several environmental law topics through National Conference on Judicial Reform Matters. The Act of 2010 version has enacted for more than 11 years, therefore the main purposes set in this Project are to draw up a proposal to resolve the problems in implementing SGRA ¸ conduct a review on the present laws and regulations and provide suggestion on the complete set of revision, provide specialized legal consultation services in the enforcement of SGRA, and to assist competent authorities of all levels in dealing with legal ambiguities arising from the Act in practice. In this Project the team has accomplished main working results as follows:
1. Enlarging the scope of claim recovery and strengthening the preservstion of claims and drafting the amendment to SGRA by focusing on the continuing revision of the Articles 12(13), 43 ＆ 45. Thus, the competent authority may entrust professional entities to conduct the oversight operation. In addition to the prepaid fees, the authorities may also claim for the estimated or to be paid pertinent remediation fees in SGRA. In addition to the forbiddance of property transfer registration, the competent authorities may also apply with the court for the provisional seizure of PRP’s assets without providing security bond.
2. In coping with the loose regulations on the exemption of interested parties in contaminated lands, which causes the retarded situation in the improvement of contaminated lands, we have researched and drafted the amendment to “The Guidelines for determining the interested parties’ due diligence as good administrator of the polluted land” and “The Fine Determination Criteria of SGRA” in order to increase the requirements on the management of lands and to revise the calculation method of the fine amount so that the amount may be elevated substantially .
3. Reviewing 10 drafts of administrative disposition ＆ related documents(including providing legal analysis on sites and suggesting on the fallowing required corrections in the pollution investigation and the control of the sites), and providing 34 legal opinions concerning the various legal questions presented by competent authorities of all levels ;.
4. Attending 2 meetings related to polluted sites (the petition case of Zhongli Industrial Zone in Taoyuan, the emergency response to the Kaohsiung ethylene incident and the investigation of polluters) ; Providing opinions to the first-stage soil pollution law revision meeting in the EPA, the professional consultation meeting of Groundwater Pollution Source Management Strategy Promotion Program(Phase 2), the Discussion Meeting on the Draft Amendment to the SGRA and Claim Preservation System.
5. Drafting 1 report on fee recovery plan relating to polluted site, so as to facilitate the proceeding of claim affairs.
6. Collecting and analyzing cases about massive polluted sites of the following countries: United States of America, Japan and Netherlands, EU Thematic Strategy for soil protection, and US ＆ UK’s pertinent legislations; comparing with SGRA and providing specific proposals to the amendment of SGRA.
7. Maintaining and updating the versions of SGRA and related regulations compilation on mobile device, so as to enable the users to search the latest and most comprehensive SGRA regulations at any time.
8. Holding 4 conferences on explaining “The Guidelines for determining the interested parties’ due diligence as good administrator of the polluted land” and related SGRA regulations, so as to enable the general public and pertinent government agencies to understand and comply with relevant laws and regulations.
9. Holding “Training courses for the fee recovery of FUND and the precautionary procedures of its recovery” once per year during the implementation period of the project, the participants of which are environmental protection personnel at all levels of competent authorities.
10. Assisting the promotion of fee recovery plan in accordance with the implementation status of fee supporting from the Soil and Groundwater Pollution Remediation Fund and the time sequence of the EPB’s scheduled fee recovery operations; scrutinizing the cases that the FUND had disbursed supporting fees from 2016 to 2019; drafting report on fee recovery plan and providing legal opinions in this connection; and effecting professional legal assistance as per the needs of local environmental protection bureaus.
