Newsletter
DRAFT AMENDMENTS TO SOIL AND GROUNDWATER POLLUTION REMEDIATION ACT
The Environmental Protection Administration has prepared draft amendments to the Soil and Groundwater Pollution Remediation Act, which are now under consideration by the Legislative Yuan. The main focus of the existing Act is on remediation work. The proposed amendments would emphasize prevention of soil and groundwater pollution. The main points of the draft amendments are as follows:
‧A discharger of pollutants that cause pollution by accumulation must share responsibility for the work of site survey and remediation. No-fault liability for remediation will apply to polluters regardless of whether or not a polluter has complied with the relevant environmental protectionlaws and regulations.
‧An interested party of polluted land that has not fulfilled the duty of care of a good administrator will be liable jointly and severally with the polluter and with other parties potentially responsible for the pollution, to reimburse expenditures made by the environmental authorities under various provisions of the Act.
‧New provisions are to be introduced to authorize periodic monitoring of soil and groundwater in areas at high potential risk of pollution (such as industrial zones and science-based industrial parks) as a preventive measure.
‧A technician certification system is to be introduced to assure quality of enforcement efforts.
‧New provisions are to be introduced to deal with soil or groundwater pollution caused by natural environmental background factors. Sites where pollutants present in the natural environment have accumulated due to water action, dispersal, deposition, or irrigation are excluded from being designated as controlled sites. However, the local environmental authority should notify test results to the regulatory authorities for relevant industries and convene consultation meetings with those authorities, and, if necessary, may apply response measures under Article 15 of the Act. If there is a need for remediation of a site that is polluted due to natural environmental factors, and remediation is feasible, the local environmental authority should formulate a remediation plan, submit the plan for approval, and implement the plan.
‧New provisions are to be added to bar the disposal of polluted land. The environmental authorities should instruct the land registration authority for the area where a controlled site or remediation site is located to register a prohibition on disposal of the land concerned.
‧The existing health risk assessment mechanism is to be strengthened. New provisions are to be added whereby remediation targets for a polluted site may be set according to the results of the health risk assessment, in order to reduce the cost and speed up the remediation.
‧The fee base for remediation fees is to be expanded. Fees will be levied not only in respect of chemical substances, but also of other substances likely to cause pollution.
‧To ensure that expenditures made by the environmental authorities may be recovered as soon as possible, new provisions are to be introduced whereby registered property of a polluter or other relevant responsible entity may not be transferred or otherwise encumbered.
‧The current provisions requiring payments into the remediation fund prior to the implementation of a development plan for polluted land are to be repealed, in order to increase willingness to develop such land.