COMMITTEE MEETING:A DPP lawmaker called the ministry lazy for failing to send its draft amendment for review, but an official said it was still in the public notice period

Taipei Times
Date: Jul 19, 2017
By: Lauly Li / Staff reporter

The Ministry of Economic Affairs yesterday came under fire from lawmakers for failing to introduce an amendment to the Mining Act (礦業法) as they began a review of proposed revisions prompted by a public outcry over the mining industry’s effect on the environment.

“Lawmakers have been talking about amending the law since February and yet the ministry failed to send an amendment. It is so lazy,” Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Gao Jyh-peng (高志鵬), co-convenor of the Economics Committee, told a meeting of the Legislative Yuan committee.

Vice Minister of Economic Affairs Yang Wei-fu (楊偉甫) said the ministry’s draft amendment is undergoing a 60-day public notice and so could not be sent to the Legislative Yuan yet.

The committee is to review a bill submitted by lawmakers article-by-article today and tomorrow, including a ceiling on the amount that can be mined, the extension length of mining rights and how to retroactively impose new regulations on companies.
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