Government legislation ministry says old landfills must report fugitive dust

The Ministry of Government Legislation said Tuesday that operators of waste landfill facilities established before January 1, 2016, must report their operations as sources of fugitive dust and install necessary suppression measures. The interpretation resolves uncertainty over whether older sites were grandfathered out of regulations added to the Enforcement Decree of the Air Environment Conservation Act in 2015.

Issued in response to an inquiry from Jangsu County in North Jeolla Province on June 9, the clarification states that the revised decree added waste landfill operations to the list of businesses generating fugitive dust without transitional measures or exceptions for existing facilities. Because dust generation is an ongoing condition rather than a completed event, the landfills fall under the scope of the new regulations despite being installed earlier.

The ministry rejected arguments that the rule should not apply retroactively, noting the delay in enforcement until 2016 was intended to provide operators time to prepare, not to exempt them. Excluding existing facilities would contradict the legislative intent to protect public health and the atmospheric environment.

The ministry cited a precedent involving painting operations where specific transitional rules were explicitly written to limit application to new projects. The absence of similar language in the landfill amendment signals a deliberate intent to include all active sites. While the ministry's interpretations serve as internal guidelines for administrative consistency rather than binding court precedents, they establish the standard for local enforcement.