萬國法律事務所

After 17 years of discussions, Taiwan’s Legislative Yuan has finally passed the Environmental Education Act on May 18, 2010, just in time for the World Environment Day on June 5. The Act, expected to take effect in 2011 at the earliest, aims to promote environmental protection by incorporating environmental issues such as climate change into the lifelong learning of the public.

According to the Act, students of high school and below, civil servants of government agencies and employees of public enterprises and government-sponsored foundations will have to join mandatory environmental protection courses conducted by certified organizations for at least four hours each year. Any of the above entities failing to implement such environmental education will be subject to a fine of at least NT$ 5,000 but not more than NT$ 15,000. The representative of an entity in violation will also be required to attend as much as eight hours of environmental lectures.

In response to passage of the Act, the central and local governments will establish the foundations for environmental education, the funds for which may come from sources such as the income generated from recycling and fines collected from violations of the environmental protection regulations. Meanwhile, the Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) and other authorities will be consolidated and reorganized into a new Environment and Resource Ministry, which will become the largest branch of the Executive Yuan, in order to promote environmental protection in the most efficient manner. For example, the upper, middle and lower reaches of a river which are at present managed respectively by the Council of Agriculture, the Ministry of Economic Affairs and the local governments will be under the sole authority of the new Environment and Resource Ministry.

The Act was passed with the hope of equipping the public with better knowledge of environmental protection. According to the EPA Minister, Taiwan follows the United States, Japan, South Korea and Brazil in enacting an education law in the environmental protection field.