This Act is enacted to prevent toxic and concerned chemical substances from polluting the environment and endangering human health, and to manage all relevant information on domestic chemical substances to serve as a basis for the screening, selection and assessment of toxic and concerned chemical substances.

The“Competent authority” as means in this Act refers to the Environmental Protection Administration, Executive Yuan, at the central government level, the municipal government in special municipalities and the county or city government in counties or cities.

The Terms used in this Act are defined as follows.
I.“Toxic chemical substances” means those chemical substances that are intentionally produced by human activity or unintentionally derived from production processes and that have been officially announced by the central competent authority as having toxicity subject to the following classification regulations. Toxic chemical substances shall be classified as follows.
A.Class 1 toxic chemical substances: those chemical substances that are not prone to decompose in the environment or that pollute the environment or endanger human health due to bioaccumulation, bioconcentration or biotransformation.
B.Class 2 toxic chemical substances: those chemical substances that cause tumors, infertility, teratogenesis, genetic mutations or other chronic diseases.
C.Class 3 toxic chemical substances: those chemical substances that endanger human health or the lives of biological organisms immediately upon exposure.
D.Class 4 toxic chemical substances: those chemical substances that have endocrine disruptor properties, environmental pollutants or chemicals which endanger human health.
II. "Concerned chemical substances" refers to chemical substances aside from toxic chemical substances, that have been officially announced by the central competent authority to pollute the environment or are a suspected threat to human health based on substance characteristics or public consumer issues of domestic or foreign concern and are controlled by the central competent authority.
III.“Existing chemical substances” refers to those chemical substances that are listed in the chemical substance inventory issued by the central competent authority after consultation with the government authorities in charge of subject industry.
IV.“New chemical substances” refers to chemical substances that are not included in the existing chemical substance inventory.
V.“Handling” refers to such activities as the manufacture, import, export, sale, transport, use, storage or discarding of chemical substances.
VI.“Pollution of the environment” refers to an alteration of the quality of air, water or soil due to the handling of chemical substances such that it causes an impact on the normal use of the air, water or soil, destruction of the natural ecology or damage to property.
VII. “Release quantity” refers to the total quantity of a chemical substance that is dispersed into the air, water or soil due to handling.

The central competent authority is responsible for the following matters:
I.Drafting of nationwide toxic and concerned chemical substances management policies, programs, and plans.
II.Drafting,review,and interpretation of nationwide toxic and concerned chemical substances management laws and regulations.
III.Oversight of nationwide toxic and concerned chemical substances transport management.
IV.Supervision, guidance, and approval of toxic and concerned chemical substance management by special municipalities or counties/cities.
V. Coordination of management of toxic and concerned chemical substances in cases involving relevant agencies, two or more counties and cities, a special municipality and county/city, or two special municipalities.
VI. Training of nationwide toxic and concerned chemical substances management research, development, and implementation personnel.
VII. International cooperation and scientific/technological interchange concerning toxic and concerned chemical substances.
VIII.Awareness of nationwide toxic and concerned chemical substances management.
IX.Oversight of mutual aid groups for nationwide toxic and concerned chemical substances.
X.Management and oversight of chemical substance registration and reporting tasks.
XI.Other matters concerning the nationwide management of toxic chemical and concerned substances.

The responsibilities of special municipality, county and city competent authorities are as follows:
I. Planning and implementation toxic chemical substance and chemical substance of very concern management implementation programs and plans within its area of jurisdiction.
II.Implementation of toxic chemical substance and chemical substance of very concern management laws and regulations implement and drafting, interpretation, and implementation of autonomous management laws and regulations within its area of jurisdiction.
III. Toxic chemical substance and chemical substance of very concern management research and development and awareness within its area of jurisdiction.
IV.Investigation and analysis of the transport and dispersion of toxic chemical substances and chemical substances of very concern within its area of jurisdiction.
V.Investigation of toxic chemical substance and chemical substance of very concern management and statistical data production and reporting within its area of jurisdiction.
VI. Oversight of regional toxic and concerned chemical substances’ mutual aid groups within its area of jurisdiction.
VII. Oversight of toxic chemical substance and chemical substance of very concern transport and handling within its area of jurisdiction.
VIII.Implementation and audit of chemical substance registration implementation and reporting matters.
IX. Other relevant toxic chemical substance and chemical substance of very concern management matters within its area of jurisdiction.

The competent authority may a subordinate agency or commission another agency or group to implement relevant management research, personnel training, and hazard assessment and prevention matters related to toxic chemical substances and concerned chemical substances.
The competent authority may commission an administrative corporation, legal person, juridical organization, or relevant professional group to implement environmental accident response consulting and related matters regarding toxic chemical substances and concerned chemical substances, and certify their professional competence. The regulations for these juridical persons, organizations or groups for qualification requirements, verification methods, audits, deadlines, revocations, cancellations, and other administrative procedures shall be prescribed by the central competent authority.

The Executive Yuan shall establish the National Chemical Substance Management Board, and the Premier of the Executive Yuan shall be the convener, convening relevant government departments, and assembled experts, scholars, and group representatives to strengthen the responsibility of relevant national chemical substance decision making and coordination, and the handing over to relevant agencies for implementation, to coordinate inter-department chemical substances risk assessment and management measures. The convener shall designate Ministers without Portfolio or minister to serve as executive of the National Chemical Substance Management Board and the central competent authority shall be responsible for staff matters.
Resolutions of the above the National Chemical Substance Management Board shall be implemented be relevant ministries. The Executive Yuan shall regularly monitor their oversight and report to the public, and annually report policies and objectives to the Legislative Yuan.
The composition, tasks, proceedings and other matters to be observed in the National Chemical Substance Management Board in Paragraph 1 shall be determined by the Executive Yuan.