Cabinet Ordinance Partially Amending the Enforcement Ordinance of the Law Concerning Special Measures against Dioxins

August 9, 2005

The Cabinet is expected to approve the Cabinet Ordinance Partially Amending the Enforcement Ordinance of the Law Concerning Special Measures against Dioxins (hereinafter referred to as "the Dioxins Law") in August 10.

This cabinet ordinance is intended to add facilities manufacturing supported catalysts^*1, recovering metals from supported catalysts^*2 and destructing fluorocarbons (CFCs) to the list of the specified facilities subject to water quality control under the Dioxins Law and to make necessary amendments to related regulations.

1.	Purpose of the amendment

In order to control the generation and discharge of dioxins, the Dioxins Law, enacted in 2001, controls dioxins emission from the specified facilities (facilities subject to effluent control) designated by the cabinet ordinance.

To substantiate and enhance the information on source of dioxins, the Ministry of the Environment (MOE) set up an expert study team, "Study Committee for Investigating Unregulated Sources of Dioxins" in 2002 and has been undertaking annual investigation and study of unregulated sources of dioxins. Based on these reviews, facilities discharging polluted water containing high level dioxins confirmed by the Study Committee have been added to the list successively. Sixteen facilities are on the list by the end of FY 2004.

Based on the recent investigation, the following facilities are confirmed by the Study Committee in February 2005 to have discharged polluted water containing dioxins. This cabinet ordinance adds these facilities to the list of the specified facility (facilities subject to water quality control) in Appendix 2 of the Enforcement Ordinance of the Dioxins Law and to make necessary amendments to related regulations.

2.	Points of Amendment

(1)	Partial amendment of Enforcement Ordinance of the Dioxins Law
	Facilities listed below are added as the specified facility pursuant to the Dioxins Law. (i) Waste gas cleansing facility for treating gas generated from baking furnace for manufacturing supported catalysts (those using chlorine or chlorinated compounds only) (ii) Facilities listed below which used for metal recovery from the used supported catalysts by roasting furnace with soda ash and by alkaline extraction (not treated by roasting furnace) Filtering facility Refining facility Waste gas cleansing facility (iii) Facilities listed below which used for destructing (limited to destructing methods using plasma or other methods stipulated in the MOE Ministerial Ordinance) CFCs (referring to specified substances defined in Appendices 1, 3 and 6, Enforcement Ordinance of the Law Concerning the Protection of the Ozone Layer Through the Control of Specified Substances and Other Measures) Plasma reaction facility Waste gas cleansing facility Wet type dust collecting facility
(2)	Partial amendment to the Enforcement Ordinance of the Law concerning the Improvement of Pollution Prevention Systems in Specific Factories
	Facilities mentioned in (i) and (ii) above defined as specific factories complying with the Dioxins Law are added to the list of dioxins generating facilities obliged to appoint pollution control manager in accordance with the Law concerning the Improvement of Pollution Prevention Systems in Specific Factories.
(3)	Partial amendment to the Cabinet Order for Implementation of Waste Management and Public Cleansing Law
	Facilities mentioned in (i) through (iii) are added to, Appendix 5-24 of Waste Management and Public Cleansing Law. Consequently, this amendment adds sludge, waste acid and waste alkali generated from those facilities and post treatment of these waste containing dioxins higher than certain level to the list of specially controlled industrial waste and make necessary adjustments in the regulations.

3.

Schedule

-	Cabinet Meeting: August 10, 2005
-	Enforcement: September 1, 2005

*1

Supported catalyst Catalyst is a substance which influences chemical reaction rate without chemically changing itself. Catalysts are manufactured for industrial purpose such as oil refining and high molecular polymerizarion and environmental protection such as catalysts for motor vehicle exhaust gas and flue gas denitrification. Catalysts for industrial purpose and environmental protection are manufactured by making substances called carrier to support activated substance such as precious metals or oxide of these metals.

*2

Metal recovery from supported catalyst Expensive precious metals are used in many of catalysts. These precious metals are recovered from used catalysts by acid/alkali extraction and refining. Before the extraction, used catalysts may be roasted to remove impurities and to be transformed into metallic compounds facilitating extraction.