On 17 Apr 2018, The Toxic and Chemical Substance Bureau under Taiwan Environmental Agency released their annual monitoring report of environmental agents. In 2017, 40,720 advertisements, labels and products were inspected and the qualification rate was 99%. One notable violation prompted Taiwan’s EPA to issue a public warning against mosquito repellents imported from Japan.

In Taiwan, environmental agents are defined as a type of biocide which includes household insecticides, rodenticides, acaricides and disinfectants. Under the “Environmental Agents Control Act”, environmental agents cannot be manufactured, imported, processed or advertised without prior registration.

In addition to the warning, a total of 48 counterfeit biocides were seized and 1 of them contained the banned substance mirex. 323 of 30,453 labels were illegal, mainly due to expiration of the registration. 37 biocides of 10,045 ADs were unregistered, most of which were mosquito repellent pads imported from Japan. EPA warned that 788 biocides have been registered with the Bureau so far and that online advertisers of unregistered biocides will be fined TWD 2000-10,000.