Chapter 1: General Provisions

Article 1　 This Self-Government Ordinance is formulated by Tainan City (hereinafter referred to as “the City”) for the purposes of effectively mitigating the impact of climate change, and establishing a low-carbon city with adaptive functions.

Article 2　 The Competent Authority of this Self-Government Ordinance is Tainan City Government (hereinafter referred to as “the City Government”). The division of powers and responsibilities among relevant agencies of the City Government is as follows:

1.    Bureau of Environmental Protection: Conducting environmental education planning, material recycling, and other work for implementing low-carbon promotion.

2.    Bureau of Economic Development: Conducting work to promote energy-saving measures, assisting the introduction of low-carbon technologies and the development of renewable energy sources, and other matters of low-carbon related industrial promotion.

3.    Bureau of Public Works: Conducting low-carbon related work matters in respect of civil engineering construction and maintenance, parks and street lighting, and green building management.

4.    Bureau of Water Resources: Conducting low-carbon projects for irrigation, soil and water conservation, sewer engineering, etc., and other related work.

5.    Bureau of Urban Development: Conducting the planning of sustainable development and low-carbon promotion in regional plans and urban plans.

6.    Bureau of Land Administration: Conducting low-carbon work related to zone expropriation, urban land consolidation, and rural community land consolidation infrastructure.

7.    Bureau of Transportation: Conducting work matters concerning low-carbon transport development and management.

8.    Bureau of Tourism: Conducting work matters concerning low-carbon tourism.

9.    Bureau of Education: Conducting matters concerning environmental education in schools at all levels and low-carbon campus construction.

10.   Bureau of Agriculture: Promoting and assisting schools to use local food ingredients, carrying out forestation, and protecting important natural wetlands.

11.   Bureau of Civil Affairs: Conducting work to advocate and promote low-carbon practices in temple and religious folk custom activities.

12.   Cultural Affairs Bureau: Conducting matters relating to low-carbon and energy-saving practices for heritage sites, cultural facilities, cultural parks, community development, and arts and cultural events.

13.   Bureau of Health: Conducting matters concerning the promotion of low-carbon food and drink.

14.   Bureau of Local Tax: Assisting, giving guidance on, and conducting matters relating to tax reductions and exemptions.

Article 3　 The City Government shall establish a Low-Carbon Adaptation and Sustainable Development Committee (hereinafter referred to as “the Committee”), composed of scholars, experts, city councilors, relevant industry representatives, environmental groups, nonprofit organizations, government agencies, low-carbon industries, and representatives of the City Government, as invited or appointed by the mayor, to promote low-carbon policies with the goal of achieving a low-carbon city.

          To achieve the goal of a low-carbon city as referred to in the preceding paragraph, the Committee shall set sustainable development indicators for low-carbon adaptation, to be reviewed once every two years, and make public announcement of the indicators on the Internet.

          The Committee shall have 31 members, including the mayor, who shall act as the convener. Members shall be appointed for a term of two years, and their appointment may be continued when the term expires. If a vacancy occurs during a term of membership, a replacement may be invited or appointed to join the Committee, for membership until the expiration of the original term.

          The Committee shall be convened for a regular meeting once every half year; and when necessary, an extraordinary meeting may be convened.

Chapter 2: Implementation of Low-Carbon Education

Article 4　 The City Government shall conduct matters related to the planning, publicity, promotion, guidance, rewarding and appraisal of low-carbon environmental education.

Article 5　 Low-carbon environmental education shall include the following items:

1.    Low-carbon environmental education campaigns and activities.

2.    Preparation of teaching materials, pamphlets and handbooks for low-carbon environmental education.

3.    Low-carbon environmental education research and development.

4.    Promoting international exchanges and cooperation for low-carbon environmental education.

5.    Training to boost the capabilities of personnel conducting low-carbon environmental education.

Article 6　 (Deleted)

Article 7　 All levels of schools under the jurisdiction of the City Government shall utilize course teaching and campus space, devise environmental studies curriculums or teaching materials, and implement diverse learning activities, to carry out low-carbon environmental education of teachers, staff and pupils.

Article 8　 The City Government’s agencies and public schools of all levels, and public enterprises and organizations, shall promote low-carbon environmental education. Their staff, teachers and students shall all, each year, attend two hours of low-carbon environmental education. This time may be counted in the hours of environmental education prescribed in the Environmental Education Act.

          The number of study hours as referred to in the preceding paragraph shall be recorded by each agency (organization) and school.

Article 9　 The City Government’s agencies and public schools of all levels, and public enterprises and organizations, shall advocate and promote energy conservation and the use of high-efficiency low-energy-consuming products and services, to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Article 10   The City’s business units that provide all kinds of energy products shall advocate and encourage users to conserve energy and raise energy use efficiency, to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Chapter 3: Practice of Low-Carbon Living

Article 11　The City’s residents shall uphold the concepts of environmental protection, practice green consumption, and carry out waste reduction, sorting and recycling, to lighten the environmental burden produced by daily living.

Article 12　Every business unit in the City that engages in production shall give consideration to the product life cycle, employ low-carbon production processes to reduce pollution, and recover, recycle and reuse resources.

Article 13　The City Government’s agencies and public schools of all levels, and public enterprises and organizations, shall prevent the burning of spirit money in activities under their conduct.

          Every temple in the City may adopt centralized burning of spirit money or effective measures for the reduction of spirit money.

Article 14　The City Government’s agencies and public schools of all levels, and public enterprises and organizations, shall each week designate one day as vegetarian day, and promote its adoption by civil society and businesses.

Article 15　The City Government’s agencies and public schools of all levels, and public enterprises and organizations, shall put into effect green consumption, and shall prioritize use of environmentally friendly products or products labeled or certified as having a low carbon footprint.  When purchasing items for which the central competent authority for environmental protection has announced environmentally-friendly labeling, products without environmentally-friendly labels shall not be purchased.

Chapter 4: Low-Carbon City Promotion and Management

Article 16　 The City’s regional plans and urban plans shall conform to the concept of a low-carbon city, with appropriate planning of land use, public facilities and transportation, the increased establishment of parks and green spaces, the reduction of unnecessary traffic journeys, the planning of bicycle path and pedestrian path systems, and review of the principles considered in setting urban plans, to make the City into a low-carbon city. 

Article 17　In order to respond to the frequent hazards and disasters resulting from climate change caused by rising concentrations of greenhouses gases, the flood-protection and disaster-protection standards for the City’s buildings shall be upgraded.

Article 18　Land development or building projects of a specified scale, as stipulated by public announcement of the City Government, shall have flood protection and rainwater collection facilities installed.

Article 19　Where areas are comprehensively developed by the City Government through zone expropriation, urban land consolidation, or rural community land consolidation, the public infrastructure facilities shall meet the following requirements:

1.    At the planning or development approval stage, the concepts of the Ecological Community Evaluation System should be applied, to achieve the objectives of low-carbon, ecological and sustainable operation.

2.    Development of the site’s environment must ensure the water retention properties of the whole area, to facilitate the water cycle.

3.    The concepts of rainwater collection and solar energy or renewable energy electricity-generating systems shall be incorporated into the construction of public facilities, and priority given to the purchase and installation of products officially labeled as energy-saving.

4.     Where a development area has products that have been publicly announced or approved as recyclable in accordance with the Resource Recycling Act, the design units thereof must make plans for the recycling and reuse of waste material.

5.    Where land is designated for schools or government institutions that have yet to be built, more trees should be planted on it, and these should as far as possible be native tree species.

Article 20   To promote the deep rooting of green industries, the City Government shall assist in the introduction of low-carbon technologies and the development of renewable energy or other low-carbon industries, and shall guide and assist the adoption of low-carbon production processes or energy sources so as to reduce pollution, and may give timely encouragement thereto.

Article 21　Applications for construction licenses for the new construction of buildings on land owned by the City Government, or on designated areas as publicly announced by the City Government, shall meet the following requirements:

1.    Buildings not provided for public use must be green buildings of certified class or above, and buildings that are publicly owned or provided for public use must be green buildings of silver class or above. However, publicly owned buildings in low-carbon demonstration communities designated by the City Government must be diamond-class green buildings.

2.     The installation of solar water heating equipment, renewable-energy electricity generation systems, or rooftop greening facilities.

3.    The use of rainwater collection and recycling systems.

For the new construction of buildings as referred to in the preceding paragraph, a candidate green building certificate shall be presented at the time of the site inspection of each floor, and a green building label obtained within one year after obtaining a usage license.

New construction buildings as referred to in the preceding paragraph are exempt from the provisions of this Article if they are below a specified size or for a special use. The City Government will publicly announce the relevant criteria for size and use. 

Article 21-1　The installation of equipment, systems and facilities as referred to in Paragraph 1 Subparagraph 2 of the preceding Article shall together cover at least half of the newly constructed building area.  But areas of the roof where they cannot be installed may be deducted.

          The area of installation as referred to in the preceding paragraph means the area under the shadow of solar water heating equipment, renewable-energy electricity generation systems, or rooftop greening facilities; areas where such equipment cannot be installed on roof, as referred to in the preceding paragraph, means the areas of roof projections and miscellaneous roof works, areas overshadowing the frames of roof openings, and, upon review and approval, the sloping roof of a religious building that presents an authentic difficulty for installation.

          The installation of rooftop greening facilities as referred to in Paragraph 1 Subparagraph 2 of the preceding Article shall also comply with the following requirements:

1.    The attachment of water-supply equipment for watering the plants, and consideration given to plant positioning and drainage and waterproofing design.

2.    The design meets the technical specifications of the green construction code for the base building.

Rooftop greening facilities as referred to in the preceding paragraph may be installed on a terrace or on the roof of another existing building on the same base.

Article 22　Where the new construction of a building of a specified size, as designated by the City Government in a public announcement, has engineering conditions that match conditions for renewable energy installation, priority shall be given to the installation of equipment for generating or using renewable energy or facilities for rooftop greening.

          The provisions of the preceding Article shall apply, mutatis mutandis, to the installation of equipment, systems and facilities referred to in the preceding paragraph.

Article 23　 A user with a power usage contract capacity of 800 kilowatts or above, as designated by the City Government in a public announcement, shall select a suitable site in the City to set up a solar photovoltaic system to generate at least ten percent of the contract capacity and energy storage equipment, or purchase a specified amount of renewable electricity and renewable energy certificates. Those failing to comply with the preceding requirements shall make a substitute payment, to be used exclusively for renewable energy development.

          The specified amount, types of storage equipment, methods of paying and calculating the substitute payment, processing schedule, and other relevant matters, as referred to in the preceding paragraph, shall be announced by the City Government.

Article 23-1　Public agencies of designated areas as announced by the City Government shall install solar photovoltaic systems with a specified installed capacity or more in power-use locations, or purchase a specified amount of renewable energy and renewable energy certificates.

          The specified installed capacity, specified amount, processing schedule, and other relevant matters, as referred to in the preceding paragraph, shall be announced by the City Government.

Article 24　Places designated by the City Government in a public announcement shall install drinking water dispensers for use by members of the public, and the installer shall be responsible for their maintenance and management.

Article 25　New development communities and congregate housing shall have plans to set up dedicated areas for resource recycling.

Article 26　Except as otherwise provided by law, shops in the City shall not provide drinking cups or eating utensils made of Styrofoam and similar kinds of expanded polystyrene, or of other material that the City Government has publicly announced as an environmental pollution threat.

          Shops as referred to in the preceding paragraph means department stores and shopping centers, hypermarkets, supermarkets, franchise convenience stores, franchise fast-food stores, catering enterprises with shop fronts, and chains of designated beverage vendors.

Article 26-1　The following catering businesses in the City shall install oil fume and odor extraction systems, air pollution control equipment, and oil/water separation facilities:

1.    Businesses of a specified size as announced by the City Government.

2.    Businesses designated by public announcement of the City Government.

3.    Other businesses with serious situations of oil fume and odor pollution, as determined by the City Government.

Regulations for oil fume and odor extraction systems, air pollution control equipment, and oil/water separation facilities, as referred to in the preceding paragraph, shall be separately prescribed by the City Government.

Article 26-2　Catering businesses of a specified size as announced by the City Government or designated by public announcement of the City Government shall provide consumers with the option of using environmentally friendly tableware for onsite eating and drinking.

          Environmentally friendly tableware as referred to in the preceding paragraph means straws, chopsticks, spoons, knives, forks, stirring sticks, cups, bowls, dishes, plates and lunchboxes made from stainless steel, pottery, porcelain, glass, wood and other materials, which can be cleaned and reused after use.

Article 27　To promote the use of low-carbon vehicles, the City shall set up a widespread system of electric vehicle charging stations, and when necessary, public agencies shall give priority to installing electric vehicle charging points.

Article 28　To promote the use of low-carbon vehicles, the City’s off-road parking facilities shall comply with the following requirements:

1.    Parking facilities with more than fifty parking spaces shall establish at least one low-carbon vehicle parking space; public parking facilities shall establish one low-carbon vehicle parking space for every fifty parking spaces.

2.    Establishment of an area or marked spaces for parking bicycles.

Public parking facilities may publicly announce the adoption of preferential parking charges or measures for low-carbon vehicles.

Article 29　Parking facilities in busy traffic areas, as designated by the City Government in a public announcement, may adopt progressive or differential rates to calculate the collection of parking charges.

Article 30　New vehicles purchased for city center public transportation should as a rule be low-carbon vehicles, and vehicles past a prescribed age limit shall be discarded and replaced year by year with a prescribed ratio of low-carbon vehicles.

          The age limit and ratio as referred to in the preceding paragraph shall be separately prescribed by the City Government.

Article 31　The opening of new operating routes for city center public transportation may give priority of approval to operators that use low-carbon transportation vehicles.

Article 32　To encourage energy saving and carbon reduction, the City Government may give subsidies for the purchase and installation of equipment that promotes low-carbon transportation as follows:

1.    The purchase of low-carbon vehicles by operators of car transportation services.

2.    The improvement of vehicles into low-carbon vehicles.

3.    The establishment of low-carbon vehicle parking spaces or installation of low-carbon vehicle charging systems by parking facility operators.

Regulations for subsidies as referred to in the preceding paragraph shall be separately prescribed by the City Government. 

Article 33　To promote low-carbon tourism, the City Government may give subsidies to tourist amusement enterprises, tourist accommodation providers, and other service providers of the tourism industry.

          Regulations on the targeted recipients, qualifying conditions, review criteria, application procedures and other related matters for subsidies as referred to in the preceding paragraph shall be established separately by the City Government.

Article 34　The City Government may compile a budget for the conservation of wetlands as publicly announced by the government.

Chapter 5: Penalties

Article 34-1　Violators of the provisions of Article 26-1 will be notified by the City Government of a time limit for rectification. Those failing to carry out the rectification within the time limit will be penalized with a fine of not less than NT$5,000 and not more than NT$50,000, and may be fined repeatedly.

          Those that are unable to carry out rectification within the time limit, as referred to in the preceding paragraph, may, within fifteen days of receiving notification thereof, present a concrete rectification plan to the City Government to request an extension of the rectification time limit, which may not exceed a maximum of half a year. If they fail to actually carry out the rectification plan, the City Government may immediately terminate their rectification time limit and impose a heavy fine.

Article 35　Violators of the provisions of Article 21 to Article 23-1 will be penalized with a fine of not less than NT$6,000 and not more than NT$30,000, and a time limit will be set for rectification. Failure to carry out rectification within the time limit will incur an additional fine for each successive failure.

Article 36　Violators of the provisions of Article 24 will be penalized with a fine of not less than NT$1,200 and not more than NT$6,000, and a time limit will be set for rectification. Failure to carry out rectification within the time limit will incur an additional fine for each successive failure. 

Article 37　 Violators of the provisions of Article 26 or Article 26-2 will incur a warning for the first violation, and a time limit will be set for rectification. Failure to carry out rectification within the time limit will incur a fine of not less than NT$1,200 and not more than NT$6,000, which may be imposed repeatedly.

          Violators of Article 26-2 that are unable to carry out rectification within the time limit, as referred to in the preceding paragraph, may, within fifteen days of receiving notification thereof, present a concrete rectification plan to the City Government to request an extension of the rectification time limit, which may not exceed a maximum of sixty days. If they fail to actually carry out the rectification plan, the City Government may immediately terminate their rectification time limit and impose a heavy fine.

Article 37-1　 The implementation of subsidies, rewards (incentives), substitute payment collection, fines, and other penalties under the provisions of this Self-Government Ordinance shall be carried out in the name of each agency concerned in accordance with the powers and responsibilities set forth in Article 2.

Chapter 6: Supplementary Provisions

Article 38　 This self-government ordinance is effective from the date of promulgation.