Basic Law

The basic law relating to air pollution control in Taiwan in general is the Air Pollution Control Act. This law is under the jurisdiction of the Environmental Protection Administration, and its objectives are as follows.

Air Pollution Control Act

[Objectives] The Act is enacted to control air pollution, maintain the living environment and public health，and enhance the quality of life.
The Act stipulates regulations for each administration area, requirements of emission standards for stationary and mobile pollution sources and the payment of air pollution control fees (surcharge system).

 

Basic Law System

Emission standards for facility production activities

The declaration of emission standards and emission quantities are stipulated in Articles 20 and 21 of the Air Pollution Control Act as the following.

[Air Pollution Control Act Article 20,21]

Article 20

Public and private premises with stationary pollution sources that emit air pollutants shall comply with emission standards.
The central competent authority in consultation with relevant agencies shall determine the emission standards in the preceding paragraph based on specially designated industry categories, facilities, pollutant items or areas. Special municipality, county and city competent authorities may draft more stringent individual emission standards due to special needs and submit these standards to the central competent authority for approval in consultation with relevant agencies.
The emission standards in Paragraph 1 shall include hazardous air pollutants, and the emission standards shall be determined based on the result of health risk evaluation and feasibility of control technology.
The central competent authority shall officially announce types of the hazardous air pollutants mentioned in the preceding paragraph and the operation of health risk evaluation.

Article 21

Those public and private premises possessing stationary pollution sources designated and officially announced by the central competent authority shall report the quarterly air pollutant emissions of their stationary pollution sources for the previous quarter to the competent authority of the special municipality, county or city by the end of January, April, July and October each year.
The central competent authority shall determine regulations for the calculation, records, reporting content, procedures and methods, checking, and other binding matters for the quarterly air pollutant emission quantities of stationary pollution sources in the preceding paragraph.

In addition, Article 24 of Air Pollution Control states that “in public and private places, if there is a fixed pollution source designated and announced by the central authority, an air pollution control plan shall be submitted prior to installation or modification. After submitting the plan, an installation permit shall be applied for, and based on the contents of the permit, the installation or modification shall be carried out.

Air pollution control fees  (Surcharge System)

Regarding air pollution control fee, the Air Pollution Control Act provides regulations in Article 16 as follows.

[Air Pollution Control Act   Article 16]

Competent authorities at all levels may collect air pollution control fees from stationary and mobile pollution sources that emit air pollutants. The targets of air pollution control fees are as follows.

Stationary pollution sources

Fees shall be collected from the owners of the pollution source based on the types and quantity of air pollutants emitted. Fees shall be collected from the actual user or manager if the owner of the source is not the user or manager. Fees shall be collected from the construction project owner if the pollution source is a construction project. For substances designated and officially announced by the central competent authority, fees may be collected from the vendor or importer based on the sales volume of the substance.

Mobile pollution sources

Fees shall be collected from the vendor or user based on the types and quantity of air pollutants emitted, or from the vendor or importer based on the type, composition and quantity of fuel.

In addition, the Article 17 of Air Pollution Control Act states that the air pollution control fees in the preceding article (Article 16) shall be collected by the central competent authority, with the exception of air pollution control fees for construction projects, which shall be collected by special municipality, county or city competent authorities. The central competent authority in consultation with relevant agencies shall determine the fee rates based on current air quality conditions, pollution sources, pollutants, fuel type and pollution control costs.

Related laws and regulations include Air Pollution Control Fee Collection Regulations and Stationary Pollution Source Fee Rates for Air Pollution Control etc.