Who is responsible for the colored powder used in color runs? The Consumer Protection Committee of the Executive Yuan will hold further discussions.
After the dust explosion at the Formosa Fun Coast water park on the 27th, how to use "color run powder" safely became the focus of discussion among all parties. At present, only the Ministry of the Interior has confirmed that the act of "spraying dust" will be brought under the management of the Fire Services Act; however, color run powder may also be put to different entertainment uses, so can the safety of this product be regulated by the Fire Services Act alone? The Consumer Protection Committee of the Executive Yuan says it will hold further discussions.
The legal community believes that the safety of color run powder as a product can be brought under the management of the Consumer Protection Act, requiring manufacturers to clearly state recommended safe methods of use and warning labels on the product's outer packaging, and to guarantee the safety of the product, so as to fully discharge the responsibility of protecting consumers.
Supplying run powder should carry warning labels; users must ensure safe methods of use
"Color run powder" is made from cornstarch with added artificial colorants; these colorants are water-soluble acid mordant dyes, mostly used in plastic toys and household goods; edible artificial coal-tar colorants are made through coal-tar distillation and sulfurization reactions into water-soluble and volatile ester substances. In other words, because color run powder contains added artificial colorants, it may aid combustion, and together with its small particles and large contact area, it caused the tragic accident once it encountered heat and burned.
The color run powder used in "Color Party" was supplied by Taiwan Wang Company to the "organizers" Ruibo International Company and Formosa Fun Coast, and consumers entered into a legal relationship by purchasing tickets and consuming "the services of Color Party." However, looking at the circulation of color run powder, the entire legal relationship should be broken down into two layers: "Taiwan Wang - organizers" and "organizers - consumers."
Under Article 7 of the Consumer Protection Act, the producer or provider of any product must ensure that the product or service meets "the safety that can be reasonably expected at the current level of science and technology or professional standards"; and if a good or service may endanger the life, body, health, or property of consumers, it shall provide warning labels and methods for emergency handling of danger "in a conspicuous place."
In the first layer, the "Taiwan Wang - organizers" relationship, when Taiwan Wang Company supplied color run powder downstream, whether for food or entertainment use, as long as it circulated into the market and there was any safety concern, there should be danger labels; and it is understood that Taiwan Wang Company marked on the specifications such things as "do not spray in enclosed spaces to avoid dust explosions" and "avoid use near ignition sources to prevent flash fires," which "counts as having fulfilled the duty to inform."
In the "organizers - consumers" relationship, color run powder is one of the tools the organizers provide to consumers for the "party service." Overall, "the service the organizers provide to consumers, that is, 'the entire party,' should comply with the norms of Article 7 of the Consumer Protection Act," said Wu Cheng-hsueh, deputy director-general of the Consumer Protection Committee of the Executive Yuan, so activity safety, evacuation routes, disaster relief equipment and the like must all be taken into consideration.
However, as for the organizers at present, the relationship between Formosa Fun Coast and Ruibo Company still needs to be clarified. Wu Cheng-hsueh said that at present Ruibo Company's legal responsibility is relatively undisputed, but Formosa Fun Coast still says it "only provided the venue"; therefore the Consumer Protection Committee still needs to investigate the content of the contract between the two parties, cost sharing, media advertising, venue use, and so on, in order to clarify and determine whether Formosa Fun Coast is also an "organizer" and what compensation liability it must bear under the law.
Clearly marking danger and emergency handling methods means the operator has fulfilled the duty to inform
Ye Qing-yuan, a lawyer at Tai Ding Law Firm who once served as chairman of the Taipei City Regulations Committee and has experience handling consumer disputes, took the "kitchen knife" as an example: as long as manufacturers and sellers clearly and conspicuously mark on the outer packaging the danger and the emergency handling method, they have "fulfilled the duty to inform." If a consumer buys a kitchen knife to commit an illegal criminal act, or is injured by failing to follow the recommended method of use, the operator can only be exempted from liability under the Consumer Protection Act because it "fulfilled the duty to inform."
In addition, in the "organizers - consumers" relationship, "the operator must provide any labels and warnings that raise safety concerns." However, the cause of the explosion at present is suspected to be that "some consumer smoked inside the venue." If that is true, the organizers at least failed to properly manage the harm from smoking, though whether consumers engaged in "improper use" leaves room for further discussion.
Wu Cheng-hsueh also said that current discussion of color run powder mostly focuses on "inhalation injuries" and environmental impact, but there is little discussion of dust explosion situations; since this case has occurred, there is room to study the labeling and methods of use of dust-type products in the future.
"How should color run powder be regulated?" Executive Yuan Consumer Protection Committee: further discussions will be held
However, current discussion of color run powder is focused only on regulating the "method of use." For example, after the dust explosion incident, the Ministry of the Interior said it would follow the model of sky lanterns and bring the act of spraying "combustible powders" during sports, leisure and other activities held in public places under the norms of Article 14 of the Fire Services Act for management; after the amendment passes, spraying combustible powders may proceed only with permission from the local government.
Yet how color run powder "as a commodity" should be managed has rarely been discussed. Wu Cheng-hsueh admitted that if color run powder is used as food, the competent authority is indeed the Food and Drug Administration; however, if used as an entertainment product, the competent authority is the Tourism Bureau of the Ministry of Transportation and Communications; if it is a road-running activity, then it is the Sports Administration of the Ministry of Education; if it is a circulated commodity, then it is the Ministry of Economic Affairs. "In this regard, I think the Consumer Protection Committee will serve as an integration platform to confirm which competent authority is actually more appropriate," Wu Cheng-hsueh said.
At present, the entire dust explosion incident has confirmed 494 victims. Because the public has been sent to hospitals across the country, local consumer protection officers everywhere will accept reports from the public, and in the future, after the Consumer Protection Committee clarifies the relationship between the organizers, it will proceed with follow-up matters such as compensation.