ChanRobles Virtual law Library
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Be it enacted by the Senate
and House of Representatives of the Philippines in Congress assembled:chanroblesvirtuallawlibrary
This Act shall be known as the "Toxic Substances and Hazardous and Nuclear Wastes Control Act of 1990." It is the policy of the State to regulate, restrict or prohibit the importation, manufacture, processing, sale, distribution, use and disposal of chemical substances and mixtures that present unreasonable risk and/or injury to health or the environment; to prohibit the entry, even in transit, of hazardous and nuclear wastes and their disposal into the Philippine territorial limits for whatever purpose; and to provide advancement and facilitate research and studies on toxic chemicals. This Act shall cover the importation, manufacture, processing, handling, storage, transportation, sale, distribution, use and disposal of all unregulated chemical substances and mixtures in the Philippines, including the entry, even in transit, as well as the keeping or storage and disposal of hazardous and nuclear wastes into the country for whatever purpose. The objectives of this Act are:chanroblesvirtuallawlibrary
b. To monitor and regulate the importation, manufacture, processing, handling, storage, transportation, sale, distribution, use and disposal of chemical substances and mixtures that present unreasonable risk or injury to health or to the environment in accordance with national policies and international commitments; c. To inform and educate the populace regarding the hazards and risks attendant to the manufacture, handling, storage, transportation, processing, distribution, use and disposal of toxic chemicals and other substances and mixtures; and d. To prevent the entry, even in transit, as well as the keeping or storage and disposal of hazardous and nuclear wastes into the country for whatever purpose. As used in this Act:chanroblesvirtuallawlibrary
2. Any element of uncombined chemical. b. Chemical mixture means any combination of two or more chemical substances if the combination does not occur in nature and is not, in whole or in part, the result of a chemical reaction, if none of the chemical substances compromising the combination is a new chemical substance and if the combination could have been manufactured for commercial purposes without a chemical reaction at the time the chemical substances compromising the combination were combined. This shall include nonbiodegradable mixtures. c. Process means the preparation of a chemical substance or mixture after its manufacture for commercial distribution:chanroblesvirtuallawlibrary
2. As part of an article containing a chemical substance or mixture. d. Importation means the entry of a product or substance into the Philippines (through the seaports or airports of entry) after having been properly cleared through or still remaining under customs control, the product or substance of which is intended for direct consumption, merchandising, warehousing, or for further processing. e. Manufacture means the mechanical or chemical transformation of substances into new products whether work is performed by power-driven machines or by hand, whether it is done in a factory or in the worker’s home and whether the products are sold at wholesale or retail. f. Unreasonable risk means expected frequency of undesirable effects or adverse responses arising from a given exposure to a substance. g. Hazardous substances are substances which present either:chanroblesvirtuallawlibrary
2. long-term environmental hazards, including chronic toxicity upon repeated exposure, carcinogenicity (which may in some cases result from acute exposure but with a long latent period), resistance to detoxification process such as biodegradation, the potential to pollute underground or surface waters, or aesthetically objectionable properties such as offensive odors. h. Hazardous wastes are hereby defined as substances that are without any safe commercial, industrial, agricultural or economic usage and are shipped, transported or brought from the country of origin for dumping or disposal into or in transit through any part of the territory of the Philippines. Hazardous wastes shall also refer to by-products, side-products, process residues, spent reaction media, contaminated plant or equipment or other substances from manufacturing operations, and as consumer discards of manufactured products. i. Nuclear wastes are hazardous wastes made radioactive by exposure to the radiation incidental to the production or utilization of nuclear fuels but does not include nuclear fuel, or radioisotopes which have reached the final stage of fabrication so as to be usable for any scientific, medical, agricultural, commercial, or industrial purpose. The Department of Environment and Natural Resources shall be the implementing agency tasked with the following functions, powers, and responsibilities.
b. To require chemical substances and mixtures that present unreasonable risk or injury to health or to the environment to be tested before they are manufactured or imported for the first time; c. To require chemical substances and mixtures which are presently being manufactured or processed to be tested if there is a reason to believe that they pose unreasonable risk or injury to health or the environment; d. To evaluate the characteristics of chemicals that have been tested to determine their toxicity and the extent of their effects on health and the environment; e. To enter into contracts and make grants for research, development, and monitoring of chemical substances and mixtures; f. To conduct inspection of any establishment in which chemicals are manufactured, processed, stored or held before or after the commercial distribution and to make recommendations to the proper authorities concerned, g. To confiscate or impound chemicals found not falling within the standard set by the rules and regulations and the said acts cannot be enjoined except after the chemicals have been impounded; h. To monitor and prevent the entry, even in transit, of hazardous and nuclear wastes and their disposal into the country; i. To subpoena witnesses and documents and to require other information if necessary to carry out the provisions of this Act; j. To call on any department, bureau, office, agency, state university or college, and other instrumentalities of the Government for assistance in the form of personnel, facilities, and other resources as the need arises in the discharge of its functions; k. To disseminate information and conduct educational awareness campaign on the effects of chemical substances, mixtures and wastes on health and environment; and l. To exercise such powers and perform such other functions as may be necessary to carry out its duties and responsibilities under this Act. There is hereby created an Inter-Agency Technical Advisory Council attached to the Department of Environment and Natural Resources which shall be composed of the following officials or their duly authorized representatives:chanroblesvirtuallawlibrary
The representative from the non-governmental organization shall be appointed by the President for a term of three (3) years. The Council shall have the following functions:chanroblesvirtuallawlibrary
b. To assist the Department of Environment and Natural Resources in the preparation and updating of the inventory of chemical substances and mixtures that fall within the coverage of this Act; c. To conduct preliminary evaluation of the characteristics of chemical substances and mixtures to determine their toxicity and effects on health and the environment and make the necessary recommendations to the Department of Environment and Natural Resources; and d. To perform such other functions as the Secretary of Environment and Natural Resources may, from time to time, require. Before any new chemical substance or mixture can be manufactured, processed or imported for the first time as determined by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, the manufacturer, processor or importer shall submit the following information: the name of the chemical substance or mixture; its chemical identity and molecular structure; proposed categories of use; an estimate of the amount to be manufactured, processed or imported; processing and disposal thereof; and any test data related to health and environmental effects which the manufacturer, processor or importer has. Testing shall be required in all cases where:chanroblesvirtuallawlibrary
b. There are insufficient data and experience for determining or predicting the health and environmental effects of the chemical substance or mixture; and c. The testing of the chemical substance or mixture is necessary to develop such data.
The manufacturers, processors
or importers shall shoulder the costs of testing the chemical substance
or mixture that will be manufactured, processed or imported.
The Secretary of Environment and Natural Resources or his duly authorized representatives shall, within ninety (90) days from the date of filing of the notice of manufacture, processing or importation of a chemical substance or mixture, decide whether or not to regulate or prohibit its importation, manufacture, processing, sale, distribution, use or disposal. The Secretary may, for justifiable reasons, extend the ninety-day pre-manufacture period within a reasonable time. The manufacture of the following chemical substances or mixtures shall be exempt from pre -manufacture notification:chanroblesvirtuallawlibrary
b. Those to be produced in small quantities solely for experimental or research and developmental purposes; c. Chemical substances and mixtures that will not present an unreasonable risk to health and the environment; d. Chemical substances and mixtures that exist temporarily and which have no human or environmental exposure such as those which exist as a result of chemical reactions in the manufacture or processing of a mixture of another chemical substance. The public shall have access to records, reports or information concerning chemical substances and mixtures including safety data submitted, data on emission or discharge into the environment, and such documents shall be available for inspection or reproduction during normal business hours except that the Department of Environment and Natural Resources may consider a record, report or information or particular portions thereof confidential and may not be made public when such would divulge trade secrets, production or sales figures or methods, production or processes unique to such manufacturer, processor or distributor, or would otherwise tend to affect adversely the competitive position of such manufacturer, processor or distributor. The Department of Environment and Natural Resources, however, may release information subject to claim of confidentiality to a medical research or scientific institution where the information is needed for the purpose of medical diagnosis or treatment of a person exposed to the chemical substance or mixture. The following acts and omissions shall be considered unlawful:chanroblesvirtuallawlibrary
b. Failure or refusal to submit reports, notices or other information, access to records as required by this Act, or permit inspection of establishment where chemicals are manufactured, processed, stored or otherwise held; c. Failure or refusal to comply with the pre-manufacture and pre-importation requirements; and d. Cause, aid or facilitate, directly or indirectly, in the storage, importation, or bringing into Philippine territory, including its maritime economic zones, even in transit, either by means of land, air or sea transportation or otherwise keeping in storage any amount of hazardous and nuclear wastes in any part of the Philippines. a.
2. In case any violation of this Act is committed by a partnership, corporation, association or any juridical person, the partner, president, director or manager who shall consent to or shall knowingly tolerate such violation shall be directly liable and responsible for the act of the employees and shall be criminally liable as a co-principal; 3. In case the offender is a government official or employee, he or she shall, in addition to the above penalties, be deemed automatically dismissed from office and permanently disqualified from holding any elective or appointive position. b.
2. In case of corporations or other associations, the above penalty shall be imposed upon the managing partner, president or chief executive in addition to an exemplary damage of at least Five hundred thousand pesos (P500,000.00). If it is a foreign firm, the director and all officers of such foreign firm shall be barred from entry into the Philippines, in addition to the cancellation of its license to do business in the Philippines; 3. In case the offender is a government official or employee, he or she shall in addition to the above penalties be deemed automatically dismissed from office and permanently disqualified from holding any elective or appointive position.
c. Every penalty imposed for
the unlawful importation, entry, transport, manufacture, processing,
sale
or distribution of chemical substances or mixtures into or within the
Philippines
shall carry with it the confiscation and forfeiture in favor of the
Government
of the proceeds of the unlawful act and instruments, tools, or other
improvements
including vehicles, sea vessels, and aircrafts used in or with which
the
offense was committed. Chemical substances so confiscated and forfeited
by the Government at its option shall be turned over to the Department
of Environment and Natural Resources for safekeeping and proper
disposal.
In all cases of violations of this Act, including violations of implementing rules and regulations which have been duly promulgated and published in accordance with Section 16 of this Act, the Secretary of Environment and Natural Resources is hereby authorized to impose a fine of not less than Ten thousand pesos (P10,000.00), but not more than Fifty thousand pesos (P50,000.00) upon any person or entity found guilty thereof. The administrative fines imposed and collected by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources shall accrue to a special fund to be administered by the Department exclusively for projects and research activities relative to toxic substances and mixtures. The Department of Environment and Natural Resources, in coordination with the member agencies of the Inter-Agency Technical Advisory Council, shall prepare and publish the rules and regulations implementing this Act within six months from the date of its effectivity. Such amounts as may be necessary to implement the provisions of this Act is hereby annually appropriated and included in the budget of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources. If any provision of this Act is declared void or unconstitutional, the remaining provisions thereof not affected thereby shall remain in full force and effect. All laws, presidential decrees, executive orders and issuances, and rules and regulations which are inconsistent with this Act are hereby repealed or modified accordingly. This Act shall take effect after fifteen (15) days following its publication in the Official Gazette or in any newspaper of general circulation.
Approved: October 26, 1990 Since 19.07.98 |