| 英文摘要 |
To uphold the precautionary principle and secure funding for the expanded management of chemical substances, the " Toxic and Concerned Chemical Substances Control Act" (hereafter referred to as the Act) was amended on January 16, 2019. This amendment introduced the purpose, scope, and usage for collecting fees related to chemical substance operations and established a fund (amended Articles 47 and 48). Additionally, it stipulated that a Fund Management Committee (hereafter referred to as the Committee) be created to oversee the management and utilization of the fund (amended Article 49). In a prior phase of the project (2022), the Chemicals Administration (CHA) within the Ministry of Environment conducted an analysis and assessment of the overall and individual economic impact on domestic operators, as well as a primary chemical substance list, based on the proposed fee rates for the fund.
Considering the significant changes in global supply chains and chemical operations due to the COVID-19 pandemic, this phase of the project evaluates the post-pandemic impacts on the overall industry and individual operators of chemical substances as a reference for future policy implementation. The project outcomes are summarized as follows:
1. Price Fluctuation Assessment
o Concentrated Revenue Collection: The top 20 chemical substances by revenue are all in oligopolistic markets (with operation volumes highly concentrated among 2–4 operators) or even monopolistic markets (with operation volumes dominated by a single operator). These market conditions also create favorable factors for cost pass-through pricing.
o Fee Increase Significantly Lower than Market Price Volatility: For substances like benzene, vinyl chloride, 1,2-dichloroethane, isopropylbenzene, MTBE, ethylene oxide, 1,3-butadiene, acrylonitrile, vinyl acetate, formaldehyde, phthalic anhydride, and epichlorohydrin, the fee increase is about 0.01% to 0.50% (assuming full cost pass-through), much lower than recent market price fluctuations—annual average price fluctuations of 17%-75% over the past decade (2014-2023) and 3%-82% over the past three years (2021-2023).
2. Fee Impact Assessment
o Revenue Impact Assessment: The fee schemes currently in place impact the revenue of the top 20 fee-paying companies by less than 1%, though this may not fully capture the cost burden effect of environmental fees on these companies.
o Deterioration in Business Performance: The primary fee-payers have generally seen a decline in operating performance over the past three years and are also significant contributors to carbon fees, suggesting that the additional chemical operations fee may impact their finances further.
3. Consumer Price Index (CPI) Impact
o Limited Impact on CPI: All fee items for chemical substance operations pertain to industrial raw materials or intermediate goods, impacting the Producer Price Index (PPI) directly rather than the CPI.
o Minimal Effect on Consumer Goods Prices: As these substances are primarily used domestically or self-produced by manufacturers, the impact on CPI-relevant consumer goods is minimal, estimated at less than the market price effect for the top 20 fee items (0.01%-0.5%).
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