1.The Ministry of the Interior (hereinafter as the MOI) has established the Operation Directions herein with a view to promote buildings with low embodied carbon, to implement net-zero building policies, and to reduce carbon emission during various stages of the building cycle, including material production and transportation, construction, renovation, and demolition and disposal.
2.Definitions of terms:
(1)Embodied carbon:An evaluation of carbon emission during the four stages of the building cycle, including material production and transportation, construction, renovation, and demolition and disposal, based on criteria for evaluating the whole-lifecycle carbon footprint of a building.
(2)Manual of Low Embodied-carbon Building Rating System:The manual published by the MOI Architecture and Building Research Institute for the purpose of evaluating the embodied carbon in a building.
(3)Embodied-carbon Building Rating:A carbon footprint reduction ratio assessed based on the Manual of Low Embodied-carbon Building Rating System. There are a total of seven levels including Levels One, Two, Three, Four, Five, Six and Seven, with Level One being the highest one.
(4)Low-carbon Building:A building with an Embodied-carbon Building Rating of Level Four or above.
(5)Low-carbon Building Rating:The rating indicated on the Embodied-carbon Building Rating Label, including four levels from high to low in the following order:Low-carbon Level One, Two, Three and Four. A building with at least 20% carbon reduction is designated as an ultra-low-carbon building and labelled as Low-carbon Level One+.
(6)Low-carbon Building Label:A label demonstrating MOI certification as conformant to the criteria for Low-carbon Building Rating, which has obtained an occupation permit and is deemed a legal building or a completed Special Building by the municipality/city/county government.
(7)Low-carbon Building Candidate Certificate:A MOI-issued demonstrating conformance to the criteria for Low-carbon Building Rating for a building that has obtained a building permit or a Special Building under construction.
(8)Applicant:The builder, owner, or managing agency of a building, or the management committee or manager stipulated under the Condominium Administration Act Building Administration Division.
(9)Designer:The designing architect of a building.
3.To apply for the Low-carbon Building Label or Low-carbon Building Candidate Certificate, the Applicant shall submit an application form to the MOI complete with an evaluation report for the Low-carbon Building Label or for the Low-carbon Building Candidate Certificate issued within six months of the application date.
The application specified in the preceding paragraph shall include the following:
(1)Where the Applicant is a natural person, the name, address, phone number and signature/seal of the Applicant shall be included. Where the Applicant is a juridical person or an agency/institution, the following shall be included: name of the juridical person or agency/institution, Uniform Business Number, address, phone number, name of the principal, and signature/seal of the juridical person or agency/institution.
(2)The name, address, phone number, architect’s business license number (exempt where Article 13.2 of the Building Act applies) and signature/seal of the Designer.
(3)Name, site area, total floor area and site divisions of the building.
(4)The applicable version of the Manual of Low Embodied-carbon Building Rating System and Low-carbon Building Rating.
(5)Name and phone number of the Accredited Evaluation Organization.
Where rectification is required for an application specified in Paragraph 1 herein, the Applicant shall do so within ten days upon receipt of such notice issued by the MOI; if unable to do so, the Applicant may apply for an extension by submitting explanatory documents before the deadline, and the extension is ten days maximum. An application where the required rectification has not been submitted before the deadline shall be rejected.
4.To apply for the evaluation report for the Low-carbon Building Label or for the Low-carbon Building Candidate Certificate, the Applicant shall submit the following documents to an Embodied-carbon Building Rating Label Evaluation Organization accredited by the MOI (hereinafter as the EO):
(1)A schedule of low-carbon building evaluation documents.
(2)A score sheet for Low-carbon Building Rating。
(3)Data sheet for the contact person
(4)An affidavit by the Applicant and the Designer. Where the Applicant is the management committee or manager stipulated under the Condominium Administration Act Building Administration Division, proof of resolution by the unit owners shall be attached.
(5)A letter of authorization for the documents to be made available for public browsing or reproduction.
(6)The building permit, occupation permit or Special Building permit.
(7)A summary of the building (including floor plans for all floors, elevations for all directions and sections).
5.The EO, upon accepting the application specified in Article 4, shall complete the evaluation within thirty days for the Low-carbon Building Candidate Certificate and fifty days for the Low-carbon Building Label and provide an evaluation report.
A building that has obtained the Low-carbon Building Candidate Certificate but has undergone design alterations shall submit the related drawings and documents to the original EO for review; for an application for the Low-carbon Building Label after the inspection and acceptance of the building, the EO shall complete the evaluation within twenty-five days.
Where rectification is required in Paragraph 1 herein, the EO shall notify the Applicant to do so within thirty days from receipt of such notice; if unable to do so, the Applicant may apply for an extension by submitting explanatory documents before the deadline, and the extension is thirty days maximum. An application where the required rectification has not been submitted before the deadline shall be rejected.
The duration of the Applicant’s rectification and deadline extension specified in the preceding paragraph does not count toward the evaluation time.
For a building that has reached construction completion but has not obtained the occupancy permit, the Applicant may first apply for an evaluation for the Low-carbon Building Label and, within three months of delivery of the notice of passing the evaluation, submit the occupancy permit to the EO; only after obtaining the evaluation report can the Applicant apply to the MOI for certification. An application where the required documents have not been submitted before the deadline shall be rejected.
For a building that has not obtained the building permit, the Applicant may first apply for an evaluation for the Low-carbon Building Candidate Certificate and, within three months of delivery of the notice of passing the evaluation, submit the building permit to the EO. Only after obtaining the evaluation report can the Applicant apply to the MOI for certification. An application where the required documents have not been submitted before the deadline shall be rejected.
6.The evaluation criteria for the Low-carbon Building Label or Low-carbon Building Candidate Certificate shall be based on the version of Manual of Low Embodied-carbon Building Rating System effective on the day of the building permit application or evaluation application. However, where the building permit specifies a different applicable date or where the environmental impact assessment, urban renewal or urban design review stipulates otherwise, the requirements therein may apply.
For an application for the Low-carbon Building Label or renewal of the Low-carbon Building Candidate Certificate, where the Low-carbon Building Candidate Certificate has been obtained and is still within the validity period, the original version of the Manual of Low Embodied-carbon Building Rating System at the time of the original application for the Low-carbon Building Candidate Certificate applies.
Matters not stipulated in the Manual of Low Embodied-carbon Building Rating System may be evaluated based on a conclusion drawn by an evaluation group formed by the EO, and the results shall be submitted to the MOI for future reference within ten days.
7.When reviewing documents in the application for the Low-carbon Building Label, the EO shall convene experts, academics and related institutions together with the Applicant for a joint onsite review.
The MOI may review the preceding application for the Low-carbon Building Label as necessary.
8.The evaluation report shall indicate the following:
(1)Evaluation report number and date of evaluation.
(2)Name and principal of the EO and names and signatures/seals of the members of the evaluation group.
(3)Name and summary of the building.
(4)Low-carbon Building Rating.
(5)Schedule of evaluation report.
(6)Evaluation criteria, results and meeting minutes.
(7)Precautions.
(8)Other related complementary documents.
9.The Low-carbon Building Label or Low-carbon Building Candidate Certificate shall each indicate the following: name of building, summary of building, building permit number, parcel number of the building site, doorplate of the building (omitted if none), version of the Manual of Low Embodied-carbon Building Rating System, and the Low-carbon Building Rating and validity period (omitted if none).
10.The Low-carbon Building Label has no validity period.
The validity period for the Low-carbon Building Candidate Certificate is five years; where one of the following situations occurs, the Applicant may apply to the MOI for an extension by submitting an application form outlining the extension period and supporting drawings and documents, with a maximum extension of five years each time:
(1)The construction schedule approved by the competent building authority exceeds five years.
(2)Design alterations processed in accordance with Article 39 of the Building Act extends the construction schedule to more than five years.
(3)The occupancy permit has been applied via registered submision.
(4)Other causes not attributable to the Applicant.
11.For a building where a Low-carbon Building Candidate Certificate has been obtained and the whole-lifecycle embodied carbon in the four stages of the building cycle, including material production and transportation, construction, renovation, and demolition and disposal, has changed, the Applicant of the Low-carbon Building Candidate Certificate may apply to the EO for evaluation by submitting the related drawings and documents; upon passing the evaluation and obtaining the evaluation report, the Applicant may apply to the MOI for re-certification.
For a building that has obtained a Low-carbon Building Candidate Certificate, the Certificate becomes invalid should any of the following situations occur:
(1)An extension of the validity period of the building permit has not been obtained in accordance with Articles 53 and 54 of the Building Act and the building permit has become invalid.
(2)A Low-carbon Building Label has been obtained.
12.Where the Low-carbon Building Label or Low-carbon Building Candidate Certificate has been lost or damaged, the Applicant may apply to the MOI for replacement or re-issuance by submitting a description of the cause.
Should any of the following situations occur, the MOI may rescind a previously-issued Low-carbon Building Label or Low-carbon Building Candidate Certificate:
(1)The building permit has been annulled or rescinded by the competent authority.
(2)Forged documents.
(3)Submission of false information or proof.
13.The MOI or the EO may intermittently spot-check and inspect buildings that have obtained the Low-carbon Building Label or Low-carbon Building Candidate Certificate. Any non-conformity with the content of the Label or Certificate shall be rectified within thirty days; should the rectification not be completed within thirty days due to special circumstances, the building owner or Applicant may apply for an extension by submitting the related explanatory documents and an affidavit before the deadline; the extension is limited to thirty days maximum.
Where the rectification specified in the preceding paragraph is not done or has not been completed, the MOI may rescind the pertaining Low-carbon Building Label or Low-carbon Building Candidate Certificate and publish as such on the MOI net-zero building platform (http://www.abri.gov.tw), carbon-copying the municipality/city/county where the building is located and notifying the original Applicant of the pertaining Label or Certificate or the building owner.
14.The MOI provides certification only to the extent of the application and evaluation report submitted by the Applicant. The Applicant or the Designer, if involved in property infringement or causing danger or harm to others, shall be respectively liable for such matter as the situation warrants.
15.The logo of the Low-carbon Building Label is published and registered by the MOI in accordance with the law. The MOI may, in addition to publishing the perpetrator and building name, pursue civil damages and criminal liability in accordance with the law should there be any unauthorized use or imitation of the Low-carbon Building Label or Low-carbon Building Candidate Certificate.