Publication Date：11/02/2012
Source： Taiwan Today
Taiwan’s Indoor Air Quality Management Act is set to take effect Nov. 23, only the second such law in the world after South Korea’s, according to the ROC Environmental Protection Administration.
“We have finalized quality standards and measurement procedures for suspended particulates, carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, ozone, volatile organic compounds, formaldehyde, fungal flora and bacteria,” EPA Minister Stephen Shu-hung Shen said Nov. 1.
Certification of qualified inspectors is ongoing, to upgrade the monitoring of indoor air quality, he added.
In the first stage of the law’s implementation, the EPA will provide assistance in meeting the standards to large-scale kindergartens; hospitals; train, high-speed rail and mass rapid transit stations; hypermarkets; and department stores, the agency said.
In earlier public hearings on the regulations, owners and managers called for an extended grace period, Shen noted. They said extra ventilation and electricity would be needed to maintain indoor air quality, running counter to efforts to reduce carbon emissions, while the medical sector explained that it would be a challenge to meet the standards because CO2 and bacteria are brought into hospitals by the public. In addition, monitoring institutions were not yet up to the job, the operators claimed.
The initial stage is scheduled to last six months to one year, according to the EPA. “This gradual approach to applying the law, with guidance from our agency, is expected to help reduce the burden on public and private venues,” Shen said. (THN)
