SEN A’
OFFICE OF bs. SPGLETABY

* FIFTEENTH CONGRESS OF THE REPUBLIC)

OF THE PHILIPPINES
First Regular Session )
10) WL 22 AISA
SENATE
S.No.
ECE RO
Introduced by Senator Miriam Defensor Santiago ~
EXPLANATORY NOTE

R.A. No, 6969 or the “Toxic Substances and Hazardous and Nuclear Wastes Control Act
of 1990,” covers the importation, manufacture, processing, handling, storage, transportation,
sales, distribution, use, and disposal of all unregulated chemical substances and mixtures in the
Philippines, including the entry, even in transit, as well as the keeping or storage and disposal of
hazardous and nuclear wastes into the country for whatever purpose.

However, the law lacks specifié guidelines on how the hazardous and nuclear Wastes
would be transported. This bill seeks to empower the Secretary of the Department of
Environment and Natural Resources and the Secretary of the Department of Transportation and
Communications, in coordination with other concerned government and non-government
entities, to establish the safest routes for the transportation of hazardous and nuclear wastes. ‘

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“MIRIAM DEFRNSOR SANTI4G0

This bill was originally filed during the Fourteenth Congress, First Regular session.
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* FIFTEENTH CONGRESS OF THE REPUBLIC)

OF THE PHILIPPINES )
First Regular Session )

s. no 488 7 5

aeeewcom
Introduced by Senator Miriam Defensor Santiago

REQUIRING THE DESIGNATION OF THE SAFEST ROUTES FOR THE
TRANSPORTATION OF HAZARDOUS AND NUCLEAR WASTES

Be it enacted by the Senate and the House of Representatives of the Philippines in
Congress assembled:

SECTION 1. Short Title, - This Act shall be known as the “Safest Routes for Nuclear
‘Wastes Act”.

SECTION 2. Declaration of Policy. - It is the policy of the State to regulate, restrict, or
prohibit the importation, manufacture, processing, sale, distribution, use, and disposal of
chemical substances and mixtures that present unreasonable risk and/or injury to health or the
environment; to prohibit the entry, even in transit, of hazardous and nuclear wastes and their
disposal into the Philippine territorial limits for whatever purpose; and to provide advancement
and facilitate research and studies on toxic chemicals.

SECTION 3. Definition of Terms. -As used in this Act:

(A) “Hazardous wastes” are substances that are without safe commercial, industrial,
agricultural, or economic usage and are shipped, transported, or brought from the country of
origin for dumping or disposal into or in transit through any part of the territory of the
Philippines.

Hazardous wastes shall also refer to by-products, process residues, spent reaction media,
contaminated plant or equipment, or other substances from manufacturing operations, and as
consumer discards of manufacture products;

(B) “Nuclear wastes” are hazardous wastes made radioactive by exposure to the radiation

incidental to the production or utilization of nuclear fuels but does not include nuclear fuel, or

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" radioisotopes which have reached the final stage of fabrication so as to be usable by any

scientific, medical, agricultural, commercial, or industrial purpose; and

(C) “Secretaries” refer to the Secretary of the Department of Environment and Natural
Resources and the Department of Transportation and Communication.

SECTION 4. Establishment of Safest Routes. —

(A) The Secretaries shall promulgate regulations in selecting the safest routes for the
transportation of hazardous and nuclear wastes. Such regulations shall at least prescribe a
formula for analyzing the risks presented by each proposed route for the transportation of these
wastes and the risks presented by the materials to be transported, especially to public health and
safety. Such regulations shall -

(1) specify the data to be considered in making the analysis, including
demographic data, data on the location of emergency response resources, data on
accidents in each route, data on routes recommended by national and local authorities,
and date on evacuation distances; and

(2) require the maintenance by persons engaged in the transportation of hazardous
materials of -

(a) data on routes recommended by national and local authorities;

(b) data on government designated wayside rest stops for hazardous cargo
trucks;

(©) current data on hazardous material transportation evacuation and
emergency response information;

(d) highway accident data; and

(©) data on container failure rates.

(B) The Secretaries shall formulate the regulations in coordination with the members of

the Inter-Agency Technical Advisory Council established by R.A. No. 6969, and two (2)

representatives of each of the local government unit concerned.

(C) The Secretaries, within sixty (60) days from finalizing the safest routes, should cause

the publication of the routes where the hazardous and nuclear wastes may be transported and the


* designated safest time when the transportation of these waters may be done. Any changes in the
regulation affecting the route and time should be published in the same manner.

SECTION 5. Separability Clause. -If my provisions or part hereof, is held invalid or
unconstitutional, the remainder of the law or the provision not otherwise affected shall remain
valid and subsisting.

SECTION 6, Repealing Clause. -Any law, presidential decree or issuance, executive
order, letter of instruction, administrative order, rule or regulation contrary to or inconsistent
with the provision of this Act is hereby repealed, modified, or amended accordingly.

SECTION 7. Effectivity Clause. -This Act shall take effect fifteen (15) publication in at
least two (2) newspapers of general circulation,

Approved,