Despite today’s deadline, 8,629 factories built illegally on farmland had not been registered as of March 13, a senior Executive Yuan official said yesterday.
An amendment to the Factory Management Act (工廠管理輔導法), which took effect on March 20, 2020, stipulates that factories built on farmland prior to May 20, 2016, can register as special factories as long as they meet low-pollution criteria.
Factories had two years to register. The deadline was extended to today as it fell on a Saturday.
Photo: Hsieh Wu-hsiung, Taipei Times
If factories fail to register in time, local governments would first be told to cut off the water and electricity to those with medium to high pollution levels, as well as all newer factories, the Executive Yuan said.
Many factory owners were hesitant about registering and some were considering closing their factories because they thought the application was too difficult, it said.
Many owners of small factories were unwilling to register because their factories are attached to the factories next to them and thus lack firewalls or fire compartments, which is against regulations, said the official, who asked to remain anonymous.
Liberty Times file photo
Some Democratic Progressive Party legislators have asked that the registration period be extended, while environmental groups have demanded that the government strictly enforce the law and punish those who have not yet registered to protect the nation’s farmland.
The Executive Yuan has no plans to amend the law to allow for an extension, the official said.
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