To effectively control the environmental hazards of toxic substances, the Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) is revising the "Toxic Chemical Substances Management Act," which will be submitted to the Executive Yuan for review before the end of the year. The EPA explained that the purpose of this revision is to promote source management of toxic chemicals and incorporate EU REACH practices, requiring companies to proactively register existing and new chemical substances on the EPA's platform. The responsibility for safety testing and proof will then fall to the manufacturers.
Since 2007, the EU has implemented REACH (EU New Chemicals Policy). All products exported to EU countries that contain chemical substances must be registered. If the substance is a highly hazardous substance as defined by the EU, the manufacturer must also conduct a safety assessment and obtain EU confirmation before it can be imported.
The REACH guidelines emphasize warnings, and the responsibility for safety testing and proof has shifted from the "competent authorities" to the "manufacturers" in order to address the fact that hundreds of new chemical substances are added every year. If the government were to manage these substances, there would inevitably be oversights, making it difficult to ensure public health.
Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) Director Shen Shih-hung pointed out that the EPA has revised the "Toxic Chemical Substances Management Act" to introduce the EU's REACH regulations. In the future, chemical substances will be divided into two types of controls: existing chemical substances and new chemical substances.
The Environmental Protection Administration's Toxic Chemicals Control Division explained that by the end of December last year, the Council of Labor Affairs had screened a list of more than 60,000 "existing chemical substances" in Taiwan. Once the amendment to the Toxic Chemicals Management Act is passed for the third reading, the Environmental Protection Administration will immediately establish a chemical substance registration platform. As long as manufacturers produce or import a certain amount of existing or new chemical substances, they will need to apply to the central competent authority to register the operation status, material characteristics, exposure, and hazard assessment of the chemical substances, and declare the production or import volume annually before they can use them.
Once manufacturers register their chemical substances on the Environmental Protection Administration's (EPA) platform, the EPA will invite scholars to screen out the toxic chemicals that must be regulated and classify them into categories 1 to 4 of toxic chemicals for stricter control.
The Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) stated that if manufacturers refuse to register, the EPA will impose fines ranging from NT$100,000 to NT$500,000 in accordance with the Toxic Substances Control Act, and will require them to make improvements within a specified period. Fines may be imposed repeatedly for each offense. If a manufacturer makes a false declaration, the case may be transferred to the judicial authorities in accordance with the Toxic Substances Control Act.
The Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) points out that all manufacturers and importers should now clearly identify the chemical substances "used in their processes" or "contained in imported products" and confirm whether they are already on the existing list of 60,000 chemical substances screened by the Council of Labor Affairs. If not, after the implementation of the amendment to the Toxic Chemicals Control Act, manufacturers will be given the opportunity to register retroactively. However, after the deadline for retroactive registration, the chemical substance will be treated as a "new chemical" and regulated accordingly.
Source: Commercial Times (October 5, 2011)
