 |
|
|
|
Operation of the Pollution-related Health Damage Compensation |
|
|
|
We collect a part of the funds for the compensation under the Pollution-related Health Damage Compensation System(pollution levy, specific levy)from the operators of soot and smoke producing facilities and other specified facilities, and remit it to the prefectures, cities and wards where the health damage has occurred(payment to the victims is made by the prefecture, city or ward).
|
|
| >> About pollution levy |
|
1.Designating class 1 areas and Compensation to patients
The Class 1 areas are areas with a very high level of air pollution and which have many cases of diseases such as bronchial asthma related to the pollution.
As in the figure, forty-one areas were previously designated as the Class 1 areas. However, this designation was removed from all of the areas on March 1, 1988 after considering the state of air pollution, the effects of air pollution on health, and other factors.
Governors of local public bodies are permitted to grant certification in Class 1 areas under their jurisdiction to patients who are suffering from one of the designated diseases and have either lived in, or commuted to, a Class 1 area for more than a certain period of time. The certified patients, etc. are eligible to receive compensation and the benefits provided by the pollution health and welfare program.
The Class 1 designation was abolished on March 1,1988 and since then the system of granting certification to patients has stopped.
However, patients who were formerly recognized as certified patients or the families of deceased certified patients continue to receive services including the renewal of the certifications and compensation disbursements as previously.
There are 7 types of compensation disbursements for the formerly certified patients, etc. as follows:
- Medical care provision and medical care expenses
- Compensation for disabilities
- Compensation for the bereaved families of certified patients
- Lump-sum compensation for the bereaved families of certified patients
- Child compensation allowances
- Medical care allowances
- Funeral expenses
The number of certified patients at the end of March 2004 was 53,024.
|
|
|
|
2.Source of expenses
It is regulated that expenses should be burdened by the concerned who causes air pollution.
In detail, 80% of the expenses are raised from the pollution levy collected from stationary smokeemitting facilities and 20% is a levy on automobiles, which is appropriated by government from part of the automobile tonnage tax.
|
|
|
|
3.Method of levy payment
The pollution levy is paid based on voluntary declarations in the same way as the payment of national taxes such as the corporation tax and income tax.
Therefore, enterprises that discharge, or have discharged pollutants in the past, and are defined as polluters by the stipulated conditions, are expected to declare and pay the levy to ERCA.
|
|
|
|
4.Difinition of levy payer and levy calculation method.
Factories and enterprises that had facilities discharging smoke with a possible sulfur oxide(SOx)content on April 1,1987 and with a maximum daily effluent gas quantity of 5,000m3 N/h or more in the Class 1 areas, or 10,000m3 N/h or more in other areas, are obliged to pay the levy.
The amount of the levy to be paid each year is calculated using the following formula:
The past and present levy scales are fixed by government ordinance every year. The levy is legally regarded as a "loss" for each business year for corporation tax purposes and as a "necessary expense" for income tax purposes.
|
|
| >> About the specific levy |
|
The Class 2 areas are defined as areas in which diseases that have an apparent connection with the pollutants which cause diseases such as Minamata disease and itai-itai disease occur.
The number of presently designated areas are five as shown in the figure.
The patients are granted certification after confirmation of the causal relationship between their diseases and the pollutants.
The number of certified patients was 1,106 at the end of March 2004.
Compensation disbursements under the pollution health and welfare program for certified patients, etc., are permitted as in the Class 1 areas.
All the pollution levy disbursed as compensation are raised from the companies whose factories discharged the pollutant which caused the diseases.
Since the number of "pollution creators" obliged to pay this levy is limited, ERCA decides the amount of the levy and notifies potential payers.
Outline of the Pollution-related Health Damage Compensation System
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Copyright, 2004 Environmental Restoration and Conservation Agency. All rights Reserved.
|
|
|
|
