The Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) yesterday announced draft guidelines that outline which breaches of the Air Pollution Control Act (空氣污染防制法) would bring the maximum fine of NT$20 million (US$648,677), saying fines could be calculated according to the frequency of violations.
The maximum fine was increased from NT$1 million after amendments to the law took effect in August last year, the EPA said, adding that its guidelines outline situations that would warrant the new maximum fine.
Serious breaches include pollution emitters that do not have permits, those that fail to halt operations as ordered and those that repeatedly contravene the act after being told to improve twice within a year, it said.
Photo: CNA
Other breaches that could draw the maximum fine are factories that emit large amounts of air pollutants that seriously affect air quality, those that emit hazardous air pollutants, endangering public health, and those that emit pollutants via unlicensed outlets, the EPA said.
Authorities would be empowered to issue fines according to the frequency of violations, not just how many days a violation lasts, Department of Air Quality Protection and Noise Control Director-General Wu Sheng-chung (吳盛忠) said.
The minimum fine for a minor violation, such as burning in an open space, was reduced from NT$5,000 to NT$1,200 in a bid to make the penalty more proportionate, Wu said.
The draft regulations entail a 30-day notification period for members of the public to express their opinion, while the agency would subsequently hold public forums, Wu said.
The agency is also preparing amendments to allow it to confiscate unlawful revenue from those that contravene the rules, the EPA said.
A group of Taiwanese-American and Tibetan-American students at Harvard University on Saturday disrupted Chinese Ambassador to the US Xie Feng’s (謝鋒) speech at the school, accusing him of being responsible for numerous human rights violations. Four students — two Taiwanese Americans and two from Tibet — held up banners inside a conference hall where Xie was delivering a speech at the opening ceremony of the Harvard Kennedy School China Conference 2024. In a video clip provided by the Coalition of Students Resisting the CCP (Chinese Communist Party), Taiwanese-American Cosette Wu (吳亭樺) and Tibetan-American Tsering Yangchen are seen holding banners that together read:
UNAWARE: Many people sit for long hours every day and eat unhealthy foods, putting them at greater risk of developing one of the ‘three highs,’ an expert said More than 30 percent of adults aged 40 or older who underwent a government-funded health exam were unaware they had at least one of the “three highs” — high blood pressure, high blood lipids or high blood sugar, the Health Promotion Administration (HPA) said yesterday. Among adults aged 40 or older who said they did not have any of the “three highs” before taking the health exam, more than 30 percent were found to have at least one of them, Adult Preventive Health Examination Service data from 2022 showed. People with long-term medical conditions such as hypertension or diabetes usually do not
POLICE INVESTIGATING: A man said he quit his job as a nurse at Taipei Tzu Chi Hospital as he had been ‘disgusted’ by the behavior of his colleagues A man yesterday morning wrote online that he had witnessed nurses taking photographs and touching anesthetized patients inappropriately in Taipei Tzu Chi Hospital’s operating theaters. The man surnamed Huang (黃) wrote on the Professional Technology Temple bulletin board that during his six-month stint as a nurse at the hospital, he had seen nurses taking pictures of patients, including of their private parts, after they were anesthetized. Some nurses had also touched patients inappropriately and children were among those photographed, he said. Huang said this “disgusted” him “so much” that “he felt the need to reveal these unethical acts in the operating theater
Heat advisories were in effect for nine administrative regions yesterday afternoon as warm southwesterly winds pushed temperatures above 38°C in parts of southern Taiwan, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. As of 3:30pm yesterday, Tainan’s Yujing District (玉井) had recorded the day’s highest temperature of 39.7°C, though the measurement will not be included in Taiwan’s official heat records since Yujing is an automatic rather than manually operated weather station, the CWA said. Highs recorded in other areas were 38.7°C in Kaohsiung’s Neimen District (內門), 38.2°C in Chiayi City and 38.1°C in Pingtung’s Sandimen Township (三地門), CWA data showed. The spell of scorching