Based on a new study under consideration by the Environmental Protection Administration (EPA), smokers nationwide could soon see stiffer restrictions, including a prohibition on smoking while walking, riding a scooter or driving.
The study, conducted by the Taiwan Institute of Economic Research, advised the agency that these measures would help reduce the estimated 10 billion cigarette butts that are picked up annually nationwide.
The study proposed fines ranging from NT$1,200 to NT$6,000 under the Waste Disposal Act (廢棄物清理法). However, EPA officials said they would first consult relevant laws before pushing the proposal.
“While this is generally a good step, we would need to first check if this study could be enforced under the current Waste Disposal Act … If not, we will have to wait until the legislature passes a new law,” Environmental Health and Pollutant Management Director Wang Jiunn-Iuan (王俊淵) said.
Wang said the EPA asked for the study after watching successful programs in Japan, especially Tokyo, that targeted people who smoked while walking, cycling or driving, and added that the programs have substantially reduced the amount of cigarette butt litter.
It is estimated that a quarter of all cigarette butts are illegally littered, Wang said.
“With the passage of the [amendment to the] Tobacco Hazards Prevention Act (菸害防制法) earlier this year, most smokers now smoke outdoors ... that has increased the litter problem,” Wang said.
The amendment to the Tobacco Hazards Prevention Act passed by the legislature in January this year banned smoking in most public indoor spaces, increased fines for offenders and placed tougher conditions on the sale of cigarettes.
China has reserved offshore airspace in the Yellow Sea and East China Sea from March 27 to May 6, issuing alerts usually used to warn of military exercises, although no such exercises have been announced, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported yesterday. Reserving such a large area for 40 days without explanation is an “unusual step,” as military exercises normally only last a few days, the paper said. These alerts, known as Notice to Air Missions (Notams), “are intended to inform pilots and aviation authorities of temporary airspace hazards or restrictions,” the article said. The airspace reserved in the alert is
South Korea is planning to revise its controversial electronic arrival card, a step Taiwanese officials said prompted them to hold off on planned retaliatory measures, a South Korean media report said yesterday. A Yonhap News Agency report said that the South Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs is planning to remove the “previous departure place” and “next destination” fields from its e-arrival card system. The plan, reached after interagency consultations, is under review and aims to simplify entry procedures and align the electronic form with the paper version, a South Korean ministry official said. The fields — which appeared only on the electronic form
A bipartisan group of US senators has introduced a bill to enhance cooperation with Taiwan on drone development and to reduce reliance on supply chains linked to China. The proposed Blue Skies for Taiwan Act of 2026 was introduced by Republican US senators Ted Cruz and John Curtis, and Democratic US senators Jeff Merkley and Andy Kim. The legislation seeks to ease constraints on Taiwan-US cooperation in uncrewed aerial systems (UAS), including dependence on China-sourced components, limited access to capital and regulatory barriers under US export controls, a news release issued by Cruz on Wednesday said. The bill would establish a "Blue UAS
More than 6,000 Taiwanese students have participated in exchange programs in China over the past two years, despite the Mainland Affairs Council’s (MAC) “orange light” travel advisory, government records showed. The MAC’s publicly available registry showed that Taiwanese college and university students who went on exchange programs across the Strait numbered 3,592 and 2,966 people respectively. The National Immigration Agency data revealed that 2,296 and 2,551 Chinese students visited Taiwan for study in the same two years. A review of the Web sites of publicly-run universities and colleges showed that Taiwanese higher education institutions continued to recruit students for Chinese educational programs without
RSS