Taiwan Will Add 15 More Concerned Chemical Substances

By Xunyao Fu, PhD., senior regulatory specialist, Supply Chain team, UL Solutions 

On Sept. 7, 2022, Taiwan’s Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) commenced a period of public comments for the draft amendments of Categories and Management of Handling for Concerned Chemical Substances.  

Categories and Management of Handling for Concerned Chemical Substances, a subsidiary regulation under the Toxic and Concerned Chemical Substances Control Act, was first published on Oct. 30, 2020 and currently covers 3 concerned chemical substances: Nitrous oxide, Ammonium nitrate and Hydrogen fluoride. The draft amendments expand the concerned chemical substances to 18 substances and divide them into 3 categories based on the nature of the chemical substances and their management needs. 

Category I: Concerned chemical substances related to people's livelihood issues, covering Nitrous oxide, Hydrogen fluoride, 1,4-Butanediol and (S)-5,6,6a,7-Tetrahydro-1,2,9,10-tetramethoxy-6-methyl-4H-dibenzo[de,g]quinoline. These chemicals are New Psychoactive Substances (NPS), which may cause vomiting, incontinence, hallucination or respiratory depression via improper use.

Category II: Concerned chemical substances with food safety risk concerns, including Lead monoxide, Lead tetroxide, Sodium sulfide, Sodium thiocyanate and β-Naphthol. Long-term ingestion of the above chemicals may cause physical harm such as lead poisoning or neuropathy, gastrointestinal damage, goiter or nephritis.

Category III: Concerned chemical substances of explosive precursors, containing Ammonium nitrate, Calcium nitrate, Sodium nitrate, Calcium ammonium, Nitromethane, Sodium azide, Ammonium perchlorate, Sodium perchlorate and Aluminium phosphide. 

Appendix Tables 1-3 of the draft amendments promulgate the control concentration, hazardous property, handling activities, graded handling quantity, reporting frequency,  exempted usages and articles, labelling requirements and recording methods of the regulated substances.

Appendix Table 4 specifies the detailed handling activities and their deadlines of completion. E.g., for 1,4-Butanediol, by Aug. 31, 2023, the following activities should be completed: (1) labelling on containers/packaging, at operation sites and facilities, and preparation of SDSs; (2) obtaining approval documents for designated handling activities, such as manufacturing, import, sale, usage, storage and so on; (3) recording of operations.

In order to meet the expectations of the public as soon as possible, the period for public comments is shortened to 14 days from the date the draft amendments were published. Any comments or concerns can be sent to EPA via their email address: tchsu@epa.gov.tw.

Recommended action items

• Check if your products contain any concerned chemical substance.
• Submit any comments or concerns you might have to Taiwan's EPA.
• Keep an eye out for the publication of the official amendments.

References

Draft Amendments to Categories and Management of Handling for Concerned Chemicals Substances
Categories and Management of Handling for Concerned Chemicals Substances