SOIL AND GROUNDWATER POLLUTION REMEDIATION FEES ANNOUNCED

07/01/2001

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The Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) has finished drafting its Rules for Col-lecting Soil and Groundwater Pollution Reme-diation Fees. From October 2001, the EPA will begin levying pollution remediation fees on manufacturers and importers of six categories of chemicals, according to the quantities they pro-duce or import. Enterprises will be required to report the relevant quantities, and pay the fees, to the competent authorities, by the end of January, April, July and October each year. The chemi-cals for which remediation fees will be payable, and the rates at which fees will be levied, are shown in the tables below:

Chargeable substances

Category	Substances	No. of items
Petroleum hydrocarbons	Fuels and oils:10 items including crude oil, gasoline, diesel oil	60
	Other petroleum derivatives:50 items including benzenes, alkanes, alkenes
Chlorinated hydrocarbons (DNAPLs)	Chlorinated alkanes, chlorinated benzenes, chlorinated alkenes	36
Non-petroleum hydrocarbons	Amines, nitrobenzenes, etc.	34
Heavy metals	Mercury, arsenic, lead, cadmium, nickel, chromium, zinc, uranium, beryllium, barium, etc., and their com-pounds	13
Pesticides	Disulfoton, carbaryl, endosulfan, parathion, etc.	20
Inorganic compounds, etc.	White phosphorus, asbestos, chlorine, cyanides, hepta-chlor epoxide	5
Total		168

Charging rates

Unit: NT$/tonne

Category	Minimum rate	Maximum rate	Average rate for chargeable substances
Petroleum hydrocarbons	21	54	23
Non-petroleum hydrocarbons	27	54	30
Chlorinated hydrocarbons (DNAPLs)	49	120	103
Heavy metals	54	107	75
Pesticides	68	99	98
Inorganic compounds, etc.	36	120	81
Overall average	21	120	56

Total fee revenues

Category	Projected revenue (NT$ million)	Percentage
Petroleum hydrocarbons	109,340	80 %
Non-petroleum hydrocarbons	22	0.02 %
Chlorinated hydrocarbons(DNAPLs)	24,170	18 %
Heavy metals	2,386	2 %
Pesticides	1	0.001 %
Inorganic compounds, etc.	1,082	1 %
Total	137,000	100 %