March 2024
Luke Hung and Vincent Kuo
The Regulations Governing Declaration of Factories Handling Hazardous Substances (hereinafter “the Regulations”) is a subordinate legislation pursuant to the Factory Management Act, providing detailed provisions regarding the scope, types, control volume of hazardous substances, and the content, deadlines, methods, procedures, and other matters to be complied with in the declaration of hazardous substances. According to Article 11 of the Regulations, the person in charge shall file a declaration to the competent authorities through the online declaration system within ten days from the day the factory reaches the controlled volume in manufacturing, processing, or use of the hazardous substances.
The Ministry of Economic Affairs proposed a draft amendment to Articles 11 and 12 of the regulations on January 31, 2024. In addition to the existing “initial declaration” and “regular declaration”, a new category of “dynamic declaration” is introduced. If the amendments are made, the revised version of the Regulation will come into effect on June 1, 2024. The following provides a detailed analysis of the points the person in charge should be aware of after the amendments.
1. The Definition of “Hazardous Substances” and “Controlled Volume”
Article 2 of the Regulations defines “hazardous substances” as: (1) oxidizing solids; (2) flammable solids; (3) pyrophoric liquid, solids, and substances dangerous when wet; (4) flammable liquids; (5) self-reactive substances and organic peroxides; (6) oxidizing liquids; (7) others substances announced by the central competent authority. The substances respectively included in (1) to (6) are sequentially listed in Articles 3 to 8 of the Regulations. The “controlled volume” are specified in Schedule 1 (https://law.moj.gov.tw/LawClass/LawGetFile.ashx?FileId=0000235671&lan=C) attached to the Regulations, varying based on the type of hazardous substances.
2. Introduce New Category of Hazardous Substances Declaration: “Dynamic Declaration”
Article 11 of the Regulations stipulated two categories of declaration: “initial declaration” and “regular declaration”. With the proposed draft amendment, a new category, “dynamic declaration”, will be added. This means that in addition to initial declarations and regular declarations, if the person in charge encounters either of the following two situations, they must file a declaration through the online declaration system to the competent authorities within ten days from the occurrence of the event:
(1) The volume of hazardous substances manufactured, processed, or used in the factory exceeds the previously declared volume, and the excess portion surpasses the controlled volume.
(2) The factory introduces new types of hazardous substances in its manufacturing, processing, or utilization, and the volume thereof surpasses the controlled volume.
3. Penalties for Failing to Fulfil the Obligations to Declare
According to Article 31 of the Factory Management Act, in case of late declaration or violation of the Regulations regarding the content of declaration, the competent authorities will order the person in charge to improve, make up or file a declaration by deadline. For failure to improve, make up or file by deadline, the person in charge will be fined for NTD10,000 to NTD50,000. For not compliance, consecutive punishment may be applied.
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