These Rules are determined pursuant to Article 31 of the Environmental Impact Assessment Act (herein referred to as this Act).

The authorized agency in Article 3, Paragraph 4 and Paragraph 5 of this Act shall be the central competent authority.

The authority of the central competent authority as designated in this Act is as follows.
I. Matters related to the formulation of national environmental impact assessment policies and plans
II. Matters related to the determination, approval and interpretation of national environmental impact assessment laws and regulations
III. Matters related to the review of environmental impact statements, environmental impact assessment reports (hereinafter referred to as the “assessment reports”), environmental impact survey reports and other environmental impact assessment documents listed under the division of Article 12, Paragraph 1; Consultancy of environmental impact assessment of government policy.
IV. Matters related to the supervision of environmental impact statements, assessment reports and review conclusions or environmental impact survey reports and the implementation of response strategies, for all development activities which were approved by central competent authority or whose jurisdiction was transferred from municipality or competent authority of county (city) to central competent authority.
V. Matters related to the collection, establishment and exchange of national environmental impact assessment information
VI. Matters related to national environmental impact assessment research and development
VII. Matters related to the training and management of national environmental impact assessment professional personnel
VIII. Matters related to national environmental impact assessment public awareness work
IX. Matters related to the supervision and facilitation of special municipality, county and city environmental impact assessment work
X. Matters related to environmental impact assessment international cooperation work
XI. Other matters related to national environmental impact assessment work

The authority of special municipality competent authorities as designated in this Act is as follows.
I. Matters related to the planning and implementation of special municipality environmental impact assessment work
II. Matters related to the determination, approval and interpretation of special municipality environmental impact assessment laws and regulations
III. Matters related to the review of environmental impact statements, assessment reports, environmental impact survey reports, and other environmental impact assessment documents listed under the division of Article 12, Paragraph 1.
IV. Matters related to the supervision of environmental impact statements, assessment reports and review conclusions or environmental impact survey reports and the implementation of response strategies, for all development activities which were approved by competent authority of municipality or whose jurisdiction was transferred from central competent authority to competent authority of municipality.
V. Matters related to the collection, establishment and exchange of special municipality environmental impact assessment information
VI. Matters related to special municipality environmental impact assessment research and development
VII. Matters related to the training and management of special municipality environmental impact assessment professional personnel
VIII.Matters related to special municipality environmental impact assessment public awareness work
IX. Matters related to the supervision and facilitation of special municipality environmental impact assessment work
X. Other matters related to special municipality environmental impact assessment work

The authority of county and city competent authorities as designated in this Act is as follows.
I. Matters related to the planning and implementation of county and city environmental impact assessment work
II. Matters related to the determination, approval and interpretation of county and city environmental impact assessment regulations
III. Matters related to the review of environmental impact statements, assessment reports and environmental impact survey reports and other environmental impact assessment documents listed under the division of Article 12, Paragraph 1.
IV. Matters related to the supervision of environmental impact statements, assessment reports and review conclusions or environmental impact survey reports and the implementation of response strategies, for all development activities which were approved by the competent authority of county (city) or whose jurisdiction was transferred from central competent authority to competent authority of county (city).
V. Matters related to the collection, establishment and exchange of county and city environmental impact assessment information
VI. Matters related to county and city environmental impact assessment research and development
VII. Matters related to county and city environmental impact assessment public awareness work
VIII. Other matters related to county and city environmental impact assessment work

The Article Association of Environmental Impact Assessment and Review Committee (hereinafter referred to as the Committee) which was made by the competent authorities of all levels by Article 3 shall include avoidance requirement in this Act and follow principle of avoiding members’ interest as well as relevant regulations in Administrative Procedure Act.
The developers referred to in Article 3, Paragraph 2 are municipality, county (city) government or sponsor of municipality or county (city) government for Act for Promotion of Private Participation in Infrastructure Projects. When municipality or county (city) government handles assessment and review of environmental impact, all committees of municipality or county (city) government shall avoid attending the meeting and voting. The chairman of the committee shall be elected by present committee members.
The calculation of the number of present members shall deduct the number of members to be avoided as the benchmark of total number of numbers.

The adverse impact in Article 5 of this Act means one of the following circumstances occurring during development activities:
I. The creation of such public nuisances as water pollution, air pollution, soil pollution, noise, vibration, noxious odor, waste, toxic substance pollution, land subsidence or radioactive pollution.
II. The endangerment of the reasonable use of natural resources
III. Damage to the natural scenery or ecological environment.
IV. Damage to the social, cultural or economic environment.
V. Other circumstances officially announced by the central competent authority

The developer referred to in this Act means natural persons, juridical persons, groups or others that engage in a development activity.

The planning referred to in Article 6, Paragraph 1 of this Act means feasibility research, preliminary work, preparation for an application for permission or other stage-based acts the central competent authority determines are related to planning.
The central competent authority in consultation with the central industry competent authority shall make the determination in the foregoing paragraph.

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Those developers that submit an environmental impact statement pursuant to Article 7, Paragraph 1 of this Act shall, unless the procedures of other relevant laws and regulations apply, perform this task during the development review stage or development permission application stage.

After received the preliminary environmental impact statements or assessment reports from the developer, the industry competent authority shall clarify disputes which do not belong to the law under supervision of the competent authority and submit description and recommendation for policy of development activity with on-site survey record, public hearing record and preliminary assessment reports of the second phase environmental impact evaluation for competent authority review.
For those industry competent authorities who didn’t follow the regulation above for treatment, the authorities may describe return reasons of preliminary environmental impact statements or assessment reports.
See the attachment chart for environmental impact assessment flow regulated in this Act and Rules.

• Attachment Chart：The Flow Chart of Environmental Impact Assessment.pdf

The division of competent authority is subject to attachment chart 1. When necessary, the central competent authority may commission municipality or the competent authority of county (city) for treatment.
When two or more development activities were combined for environmental impact assessment, the competent authority shall review them jointly. Under which different competent authorities were involved or development base crosses development activity of two municipalities or counties (cities), the competent authority shall be the central competent authority.
For the development activity not belonging to attachment chart 1 or if there is dispute for division identification of competent authority, the central competent authority shall meet with related municipality or competent authority of county (city) for identification.
After regulations in the above three paragraphs are implemented, if there is any change of jurisdiction for case under review of environmental impact assessment, the original competent authority shall transfer the case to the one with jurisdiction. However, the original competent authority may continue to review the environmental impact statements or approve assessment reports then transfer follow-up supervision and changes to the competent authority with jurisdiction after consent of developer and competent authority with jurisdiction.

• Attachment Chart 1 Environmental Impact Assessment Review and Division of Labor of the Competent Authority in Supervision.pdf

The industry competent authority in this Act shall be subject to the professional regulations established by development activity or organizational regulation.
If there is any dispute for the identification of above mentioned industry competent authority, it shall be treated in accordance with Administrative Procedure Act.

The competent authority shall make the content of preliminary environmental impact statements or assessment reports, information of committee meeting, conference records and review conclusions publicly available on the website designated by the central competent authority (hereinafter referred to as the Designated Website) when reviewing the environmental impact statement pursuant to Article 7.2 or assessment reports pursuant to Article 13.2.
The above mentioned content of preliminary environmental impact statements or assessment reports and information of committee meeting shall be published 7 days before the meeting; the conference records shall be published within 30 days after the conference; the review conclusion shall be published within 7 days after announcement.

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The review periods in Article 7 and Article 13 of this Act shall start from the date that documents are prepared by the developer and review fees are paid to the competent authority.
The review periods in the foregoing paragraph shall not include the following periods.
I. The number of days used by the developer to make corrections.
II. The number of days, not exceeding 60 days, that involve the interpretation of industry competent authority orders or consultations with other agencies and organizations
III. The number of other deductible days not attributable to the competent authority

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Those special circumstances referred to in the proviso in Article 7, Paragraph 2 of this Act and in the proviso in Article 13, Paragraph 3 of this Act means those development activities for which one of the following circumstances apply.
I. Those development activities of a massive scale, with an extensive area of impact and for which a review cannot be completed within a short period
II. Those development activities that are highly controversial and for which a review cannot be completed within a short period.

The permission referred to in Article 7, Paragraph 3 of this Act means permission granted by the industry competent authority for a development activity.

A developer that holds a public explanation meeting pursuant to Article 7, Paragraph 3 of this Act shall hold this meeting after the industry competent authority grants permission for the development activity and prior to the beginning of construction.

The significant impact risk on the environment referred in Article 8 of this Act means one of the following circumstances.
I. For those development activities that environmental impact assessment shall be made according to Article 5 of this Act, under attachment chart 2 as well as review and identified by committee.
II. For those development activities not belonging to attachment 2 or not achieving the scale listed in attachment 2 but with significant impact risk on the environment after the committee reviewed environmental impact statements:
(1) Those circumstances in which the development activity has a significant adverse conflict with and is incompatible with a nearby related plan
(2) Those circumstances in which the development activity has a significant adverse impact on environmental resources and special environmental characteristics
(3) Those circumstances in which the development activity has a significant adverse impact on the habitat or survival of protected or rare animals or plants
(4) Those circumstances in which the development activity causes local environmental conditions to exceed environmental standards or the carrying capacity of the local environment
(5) Those circumstances in which the development activity has a significant adverse impact on the movement or rights of local residents or the traditional ways of living of minority ethnic groups
(6) Those circumstances in which the development activity has a significant adverse impact on public health or safety
(7) Those circumstances in which the development activity has a significant adverse impact on the environment of another country
(8) Other situations as recognized by the competent authority.
Before the review conclusions of the 1st phase environmental impact assessment are made by the committee, the developer may submit the written voluntary application of the 2nd phase environmental impact assessment which will be transferred to the competent authority by the industry competent authority for review.

• Attachment Chart 2 Development Activity Which Shall Conduct 2nd Phase Environmental Impact Assessment.pdf

The appropriate location referred to in Article 8, Paragraph 1, Subparagraph 2 and Rules 22, Paragraphs1, 2 and Rules 26, Paragraph 2 of this Act means the following locations in the vicinity of the development activity.
I. The rural township, urban township, city or district public office or village or borough office where the development activity is located
II. The public offices of other rural townships, urban townships, cities and districts adjacent to the rural township, urban township, city or district in the foregoing subparagraph
III. Schools, temples, churches or markets in the vicinity of the development activity
IV. Locations along the roadsides of public roadways within 500 meters of the development activity
V. Other locations authorized by the competent authority.
The developer shall designate five or more locations in the foregoing paragraph as locations for the displaying or posting of environmental impact statements and shall strive to achieve the even distribution of each of these locations within the area of the environment to be affected by the development.
The developer shall publish environmental impact statements on the Designated Website for at least thirty days when it displays or discloses them.

A developer that publishes information in newspapers pursuant to Article 8, Paragraph 1, Subparagraph 3 of this Act shall do so continuously for three or more days.

Pursuant to Article 7, Paragraph 3 or Article 8, Paragraph 2 of this Act, the developer that holds a public explanatory meeting shall publish the time, location, method, the name of the development activity and the development site ten days prior to the meeting in newspapers and on the Designated Website, shall post official announcements in an appropriate location, and notify the following agencies and personnel:
I. Relevant agencies
II. Local public offices and the public offices of adjacent rural townships, urban townships, cities and districts
III. Local elected representative assemblies
IV. Local village or borough wardens
The location of the public explanatory meeting in the foregoing paragraph shall be an appropriate location in the area of the development activity.
The developer shall, within 45 days after the public explanatory meeting in Paragraph 1, prepare records of the meeting, send them by letter to the agencies and personnel in Paragraph 1 and publish on the Designated Website for at least thirty days.

For the information of scope identification submitted by the developer in accordance with Article 10 of this Act, the competent authority shall publish it on the Designated Website for at least fourteen days for the public, groups and agencies to express written comments and transfer it to the developer for treatment.
The competent authority shall publish the meeting of scope identification on the Designated Website seven days before the meeting to invite members of the committee, the industry competent authority, related agencies, groups, scholars, professionals and resident representatives to identify and assess the scope. The chairman shall be the member of the committee designated by competent authority.
The competent authority shall publish those confirmed events in accordance with Article 10, Paragraph 2 of this Act on the Designated Website within thirty days of completion of scope identification and assessment.

The handling of opinions referred to in Article 11, Paragraph 2, Subparagraphs 11 and 12 of this Act shall include the following matters.
I. Compilation of an organized list, including item-by-item explanations, based on the sources and contents of opinions
II. Circumstances concerning the acceptance of opinions and reasons for not accepting opinions
III. Explanation of revisions to opinions

The industry competent authority, when conducting an on-site inspection pursuant to Article 12, Paragraph 1 of this Act, shall submit inspection opinion forms to those that participate and compile the responses in order to make inspection records; these forms and records shall be sent together to the competent authority.

The public hearing referred to in Article 12, Paragraph 1 and Article 13, Paragraph 1 of this Act means the collection by the industry competent authority of a wide range of opinions from the competent authority, members of the Environmental Impact Assessment Review Committee, relevant agencies, experts and scholars, groups, and local residents in order to facilitate future review meetings of the committee.

When the competent authority defines the scope of assessment pursuant to Article 10 of this Act or the industry competent authority conducts an on-site inspection or holds a public hearing pursuant to Article 12, Paragraph 1 of this Act, the following matters shall be considered and experts and scholars shall be invited to participate.
I. The special characteristics of each individual case
II. Assessment items
III. Each related professional area

The industry competent authority, when holding a public hearing pursuant to Article 12, Paragraph 1 of this Act, shall notify the competent authority, Committee members, relevant agencies, experts, scholars, groups and local residents ten days prior to the meeting and publish on the Designated Website till the next day of the public hearing.
The public hearing shall be held at an appropriate location where the development activity is located. For the notification of local residents in the first paragraph, the public offices of the local rural township, urban township, city or district may be called upon to forward the notification.
The industry competent authority shall publish the records of the public hearing on the Designated Website within thirty days after the records are completed.

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The developer, when submitting an environmental impact statement, environmental impact assessment reports or environmental impact survey report pursuant to Article 7, Article 13 or Article 18 of this Act, shall provide complete information including forecasting and a feasibility plan.
When the competent authority, within the necessary scope of the review, deems the information provided by the developer to be not sufficiently complete, it may designate an appropriate period and order the developer to provide relevant information or reports, or may notify the developer in writing to be prepared to respond to inquiries.
Those circumstances in which the information in the foregoing paragraph involves the protection of business or other secrets shall be managed in accordance with relevant orders and regulations.

When the developer fails to revise the draft environmental impact assessment reports pursuant to the review conclusion in Article 13, Paragraph 2 of this Act, the competent authority shall explain the reason and request the developer to make corrections within a limited period.

The official announcements in Article 7, Paragraph 2 or Article 13, Paragraph 3 of this Act shall be displayed or posted at an appropriate location in the vicinity of the place where the development activity is located or published in newspapers continuously for five days or more.

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Those developers that make a submission to the competent authority for the review of alternative proposal pursuant to the proviso in Article 14, Paragraph 2 of this Act shall carry out this submission pursuant to the designated procedures in Article 6 and Article 7 of this Act.
When the alternative proposal of the same development activity was re-planned at the original location, the developer shall attach environmental impact statements to the industry competent authority that will transfer it to the original competent authority for review without the restriction of division of Article 12, Paragraphs 1 and 2.

The same site referred to in Article 15 of this Act means those development sites within a certain area for which environmental background factors are similar and for which environmental impact can be jointly assessed.

For those circumstances in which assessments are jointly conducted for two or more development activities, each developer shall be jointly responsible for the implementation of assessments, the performance of review procedures, the preparation of environmental impact statements and environmental impact assessment reportss and other related matters.
For the circumstances in the foregoing paragraph, developers shall each dispatch a representative or jointly elect a representative to implement assessments and participate in review procedures and other related matters.

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The modification of the contents of the original application referred to in Article 16, Paragraph 1 of this Act means the modification of the contents of Article 6, Paragraph 2, Subparagraphs 1, 4, 5, or 8 of this Act or Article 11, Paragraph 2, Subparagraphs 1, 4, 5, 8, 10, 11 or 12 of this Act.
For one of the following circumstances not belonging to the events in the foregoing paragraph which the approval was required for the change, the party in question shall send official letter to the industry competent authority to transfer to competent authority for reference:
I. The development base is not the positon of local adjustment of environmental protection facility.
II. There is disaster risk without immediate improvement or it is the reconstruction of disaster recovery.
III. The change is within error range which was allowed by other regulations.
IV. It is to perform the inspection or supervision method of announcement in accordance with the revision of environmental protection law.
V. It is to lower the planned capacity or scale within original scope of development base.
VI. It is to improve the treatment level or efficiency of environmental protection facility.
VII.Other changes that the competent authority identified that environmental protection issues were not involved or the content is good for maintenance of environment quality.

For those circumstances in which the developer applies pursuant to Article 16, Paragraph 1 of this Act for the modification of the contents of an environmental impact statement, assessment reports or review conclusion without re-conduction of environmental impact assessment in accordance with Article 38, the developer shall submit an analysis report on the difference of the environmental impact. The report shall be approved then transferred by the industry competent authority to the competent authority for approval. However, any circumstance that meets one of the following conditions may attach the comparison chart of the original and revised content to the industry competent authority for approval then transfer to the competent authority for approval:
I. The adjustment positon or function of environmental protection facility within development base which doesn’t involve the change of receiving waters or efficiency of treatment level.
II. The improvement of the production process, replacement of obsolete parts or with energy saving and low emission of pollutants devices for equipment currently in use without changing the production capacity or capacity cannot be improved 10% without increase of total pollution.
III. The change of environment supervision plan.
IV. The original development activity doesn’t meet environmental impact assessment and has to change original review conclusion because of the lower scale of development activity, change of sensitive district sorting and revision of environmental impact assessment or other relevant laws.
V. Other conditions that the competent authority identified to have minor impact on the environment.

The content of reference by Article 36, Paragraph 2 is as follows:
I. Name and office address of developer.
II. The condition met Article 36, Paragraph 2 and the reason and content of reference application.
III. Other events designated by competent authority.
The analysis report on the difference of the environmental impact submitted in accordance with the last article shall include items as follows:
I. Name and office address of developer.
II. Signature of integrated evaluator and writer of impact items.
III. The comparison between the change content this time as well as previous times and original content.
IV. The reason and content of development activity or environmental policy change.
V. The change content doesn’t include specific description of conditions appropriate for re-conducting of environmental impact assessment listed in Article 38, Paragraph 1.
VI. The difference in analysis of environmental impact after changing the development activity or environmental protection policy.
VII. Review and revision of environmental protection policy or integrated environment management program.
VIII. Other events designated by competent authority.
The comparison chart of revised and original content submitted in accordance with the last article shall include items as follows:
I. Name and office address of developer.
II. Conditions met the last article and reason and content of change application.
III. Current development activity.
IV. The comparison between the change content this time as well as previous times and original content.
V. The description on the environmental impact after the change.
VI. Other events designated by competent authority.

Those developers that modify the contents of an original application and for whom one of the following circumstances applies shall reconduct an environmental impact assessment for the parts of the application that are to be modified.
I. Those circumstances in which planned production capacity or scale is expanded, or a roadway is extended, by ten percent or more
II. Those circumstances in which the modification of land use involves an existing protection area, greenbelt buffer zone, or other area for which human development is prone to cause severe change to or destruction of the environment.
III. Those circumstances in which the handling capacity or efficiency of an environmental facility is reduced
IV. Those circumstances in which there is concern of an increase of impact on the living, natural or social environment or protected objects within the scope of impact due to the modification of the plan
V. Those circumstances in which modifications are adverse to the maintenance of environmental quality
VI. Other circumstances determined by the competent authority
Those circumstances in Subparagraph 1 or Subparagraph 2 in the foregoing paragraph that receive the authorization of the competent authority and industry competent authority shall not be subject to this restriction.
For those circumstances in which there is an expansion of scope or expansion of construction after a development activity is completed and permission to operate is obtained, an environmental impact assessment shall still be conducted pursuant to Article 5 of this Act.

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The matters to be tracked by the industry competent authority pursuant to Article 18 of this Act are as follows.
I. The matters the developer is requested to conduct when permission is granted.
II. The implementation of the contents of the environmental impact statement and environmental impact assessment reports and competent authority review conclusion matters
III. Other related environmental impact matters
The competent authority shall be informed by letter of the implementation of the matters in the foregoing paragraph.

The environmental impact survey report in Article 18, Paragraph 1 of this Act shall record the following matters.
I. Name and office address of developer.
II. The signatures of those who conducted comprehensive assessments of the environmental impact survey report and those who wrote impact items for the environmental impact survey report.
III. Current status of development activity.
IV. Investigation and analysis of difference on the environment before and after the development activity is conducted as well as interactive comparison and review between the forecast result of environmental impact statements and assessment reports.
V. Conclusions and recommendations.
VI. Reference bibliography.
VII. Other events designated by the competent authority.
The response strategy in Article 18, Paragraph 3 shall record the following items:
I. Name and office address of developer.
II. Review and revision of environmental protection policy and expected completion period of improvement based on the conclusion of previous environmental impact survey reports or the content which the competent authority identified negative impact on the environment.
III. The budget required for performing the revised environmental protection policy.
IV. Reference bibliography.
V. Other events designated by competent authority.

The competent authority or industry competent authority, for purposes of exercising the powers designated in Article 18 of this Act, may dispatch personnel to visit the developer or development site in order to survey or test related operational circumstances. The competent authority or industry competent authority may, for purposes of the performance of its duties designated in Article 18 of this Act, dispatch personnel to visit the developer or development site in order to survey or test related operational circumstances.

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The content of the review conclusion prepared by the competent authority following the review of the environmental impact statement and environmental impact assessment reports shall include a comprehensive rating based on the following classifications.
I. Approval of the environmental impact assessment review
II. Conditional approval of the environmental impact assessment review
III. Required to proceed by conducting a second-stage environmental impact assessment
IV. Permission not granted for development.
V. Other circumstances that the central competent authority has determined.

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When it [the competent authority] deems necessary in Article 28 of this Act means one of the circumstances listed in the subparagraphs in Article 19 that is still unable to be resolved after being handled pursuant to other related regulations and orders.

The written report for conducting a survey and analysis of environmental impact and submitting response strategies pursuant to Article 28 of this Act shall record the following items.
I. The name and business address or office address of the developer
II. The name, permanent residence address, temporary residence address and identification number of the statutory responsible person
III. The name and site of the development activity
IV. The purpose and content of the development activity
V. Environmental protection strategies adopted for the development activity and their results.
VI. Current environmental conditions.
VII. Known and forecast environmental impacts of the development activity.
VIII. Strategies for the mitigation and prevention of adverse environmental impacts
IX. Alternate plan
X. Budget required for the implementation of response strategies
XI. Reference bibliography

The relevant competent authority in Article 29 of this Act means the agency that performs the original review of an environmental impact statement or environmental impact assessment reports prior to this Act taking effect.
The agency in the foregoing paragraph shall perform supervision work pursuant to article 18 of this Act; the competent authority may implement said supervision work in conjunction with the agency in the foregoing paragraph.

Article 36 through Article 38 shall apply, where appropriate, to those environmental impact statements or environmental impact assessment reportss that are already completed prior to this Act taking effect and for which review conclusions have been prepared following review and to those developers that apply to modify the contents of an original application.

When the central industry competent authority, municipality or county (city) government proposes recommendations for revision based on the identification standard, detailed items or laws relevant to environmental impact assessment work, it shall invite related agencies and diversified private groups to have a public discussion then integrate consensus to a proposal in an official letter to request the central competent authority to have a public hearing which the treatment shall be made in accordance with legal procedure by the central competent authority.

The central competent authority shall determine the format for all disciplinary citations, letters of appointment and other documents and forms designated in this Act and these Rules

The enforcement rules shall take effect as of the date of promulgation except those under the amendment to Article 5-1, Article 11-1 and Article 12 on July 3, 2015, which will come into effect six months after promulgation, and the development could be classified as the development of hotels, tourist hotels, cultural and educational facilities and the application for the installation of cement storage facilities in port areas in Table 1 of the amendment to Article 12 on April 11, 2018, which will take effect three months after promulgation.