Taiwan amends regulations on air pollution control fees 
Taiwan’s Environmental Protection Administration on March 24 issued amendments to the Air Pollution Control Fee Collection Regulations. Article 16 of Taiwan’s Air Pollution Control Act stipulates the collection of air pollution control fees calculated by a prescribed method from owners of stationary and mobile pollution sources. Rates of air pollution control fees for stationary pollution sources have been set under Article 17 of the act and published by the administration; for example, when a pollution source located in a Class II control area emits volatile organic compounds (VOCs) during a second quarter, 25 New Taiwan dollars ($0.87)/kg is charged.
In the amended regulations, exemption criteria have been revised; for instance, owners of pollution sources emitting 10 kg or less of VOCs quarterly are now not required to pay fees. The amendments have also introduced a provision that allows the collection of air pollution control fees that owners of pollution sources failed to pay up to five years ago.
Changes to exemption criteria
Fee exemption criteria have been revised such that air pollution control fees are not charged if
- the total quarterly emissions of each air pollutant from a stationary pollution source are below the level of the lowest emission class set out in the appendix to the public notice on the rates of air pollution control fees for stationary pollution sources, or
- the total quarterly emissions of sulfur oxides, those of nitrogen oxides, those of VOCs or those of particulate pollutants of a stationary pollution source are 10 kg or less.
According to the Environmental Protection Administration, another 2,000-plus entities are exempted from the fees under the amended regulations.
New provision to prevent the fabrication of continuous monitoring data
To prevent the fabrication of continuous monitoring data, a system has been introduced that allows the Environmental Protection Administration to examine raw monitoring data possessed by owners of pollution sources violating the regulations. Air pollution control fees will be recalculated based on the examination’s results.
New provision on unpaid fee collection
Unpaid air pollution control fees may be collected for the calculated amounts of air pollutants emitted up to five years before the quarter in which the Environmental Protection Administration orders the submission of the relevant documents from an owner of a pollution source in an inspection.
The full text of the amended regulations and the public notice on the rates of air pollution control fees for stationary pollution sources (both in traditional Chinese) is available via the links below:
https://oaout.epa.gov.tw/law/LawContent.aspx?id=FL015371
https://oaout.epa.gov.tw/law/LawContent.aspx?id=GL005189
