Taiwan to amend regulations on fines for illegal waste disposal

On November 30, 2020, Taiwan’s Environmental Protection Administration announced its plan to amend the Regulations for Determination of Fines of Violations of the Waste Disposal Act, and published a draft amendment. The public comment period was open for 14 days from the announcement date. This is the second announcement of the plan to amend the regulations, with the first issued on May 7, 2020. Here are the main points of the amendment.

Increase in fines for violations by listed and over-the-counter companies

If a listed or over-the-counter (OTC) company violates the Waste Disposal Act, a fine of 10 to 20 times the normal amount can be imposed on it (Article 2 (2)).

Increase in fines for particular illegal acts

• For those who illegally dump general industrial waste on farmland or in an environmentally sensitive area, the base amount of the fine is raised to 60,000 New Taiwan dollars (approximately 2,140 USD) from 6,000 New Taiwan dollars (approximately 210 USD).
• For those who illegally dump hazardous industrial waste on farmland or in an environmentally sensitive area, the base amount of the fine is raised to 300,000 New Taiwan dollars (approximately 10,680 USD) from 60,000 New Taiwan dollars (approximately 2,140 USD).

Expansion of the dumping-prone waste list

The list of waste types prone to illegal dumping in the note section of appendices is expanded (for example, waste oil mixture and waste plastic mixture are added to the list).

The full text of the announcement (in traditional Chinese) is available at this link:

https://enews.epa.gov.tw/Page/3B3C62C78849F32F/55a88ded-8559-49dd-a7f2-9e5d66ff90fd