History of Permit Management Promotion

Taiwan has been implementing air quality management since the 1990s, for example, introducing air quality zone management, implementing counties and cities air pollution prevention plans, and promoting various administrative control measures, simultaneously supplemented by economic incentives to reduce pollution in public and private premises. To achieve the management strategy of the prevention of newly established sources and the continuous improvement of established sources, preventive management system was built up, including regulating the installation of stationary sources, verifying stationary sources before operation which facilitates the follow-up management. The draft amendment to the Air Pollution Control Act in 1987 introduced the Permit System from the United States which had been adopted for many years and had considerable control effects. The system required public and private premises to honestly report pollution status before installation and operation. The installation and operation will be permitted after verification and certification. In addition, the relevant equipment and records must be operated in accordance with the approved permit content, and the environmental protection unit shall conduct the inspection of the permit content accordingly.

Before the Permit System was promoted, many related operations were carried out separately. For example, in August 1988, the Ministry of Economic Affairs announced the implementation of the "Key Points for Pollution Prevention Verification of Newly-Established Factories", which stipulated that principal of new or expanded sources must submit a pollution control plan through the technician visa and permit registration verification. In order to promote the Permit System, it was necessary to obtain information on the current state of sources across the country, which benefited the management of sources in batches. The Ministry of Environment of Executive Yuan (MOENV) had promoted the "Expanded Management of Stationary Sources Supervision and Improvement Plan" in July 1989. The number of public and private premises has been expanded from 200 to 5,000. They were required to improve to comply with the stricter emission standards year by year. Furthermore, with promotion of data digitization, database of source equipment, control equipment and current emissions in public and private premises was established.

Pursuant to Article 14 Item 3 of the Air Pollution Control Act of the Republic of China, the central competent authority is authorized to formulate the "Stationary Pollution Source Installation and Operating Permit Management Regulations" (abbreviation as the Permit Regulations). After referencing the permit regulations of Bay area and South Coast Air Quality Management District, amendments were revised through six article consultation meetings, three public hearings, and the opinions from all parties and sent to the Executive Yuan in February 1993. Then the amendments were passed in April and finally implemented on May 7. Its contents were divided into general rules, application, issuance and management of installation and operating permits, and supplementary articles. However, the overall permits management regulations had been revised 7 times in 1997, 1999, 2001, 2003, 2007, 2017 and 2019 in response to the adjustment of various control strategies.

For more information, please refer to the Air Quality Protection Web.