The Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) Act was enacted in 1994. For the past fifteen years, the practice of EIA often raises the attentions from relevant industries, academics, and the society at large. Government agencies have gained considerable practical experiences and have also learned acute issues and problems. Sometimes the EIA process became politicized and relevant parties felt frustrated and quite discontent. The building of Suhua highway, the development plan of Pin-nan industrial area and the establishment of the Central Taiwan Science Park in Houli were typical examples. In order for the EIA process to function, these issues and problems must be dealt with great care. 

    The EIA Act was amended three times since it had entered into force. These revisions, however, failed to provide any complete review of the EIA process. Director of the PLES, Professor Jiunn-rong Yeh, and a member, Professor Wen-Chen Chang, thus decided to undertake a thorough review of the existing EIA process and render advice to its comprehensive institutional revision. The research project was entrusted by the Research, Development and Evaluation Commission of the Executive Yuan. This project is aimed to reexamine the EIA mechanism and provide comprehensive resolutions to its most intricate issues and problems. It began in May 2009 and shall last to February 2010. The research goal is to develop the proper institution-design of the EIA by exploring the background of the EIA enactment, analyzing key EIA cases and practices and identifying its current structural problems. We are expected to deliver solutions to the current intricate issues and problems and help improve the EIA process.

    In order to deepen and widen our understandings of the current EIA process, two meetings with learned experts, lawyers and concerned environmental groups were held respectively on June 23 and June 26 in 2009. The invited experts were surveyed with key issues regarding the institution-design and practices of the EIA mechanism and asked to provide their opinions about reforms. Many raised sharp questions and expressed their acute concerns. In particular, a number of issues were discussed, including the insufficiency of citizen participation, inadequate information, malfunction of environmental consultant companies, lack of environmental consciousness and last but not the least, incompetence of administrative agencies. All these problems are now being studied for proper integrated solutions.