Laws and Regulations

National Laws and Regulation

Three major laws and regulations tackle marine plastic litter issue in Brunei Darussalam. The Prevention of Pollution of the Sea Order 2005 aims to prevent disposal of waste from ships, including refuse, garbage, effluents, plastics, and dangerous pollutants. Section 5(1) states that ‘… if any disposal or discharge of refuse, garbage, waste matter, trade effluent, plastics or marine pollutant in packaged form occurs from any ship into Brunei Darussalam waters, the master, the owner and the agent of the ship shall each be guilty of an offence …’. Section 16(1) states that any direct or indirect discharge from ships of refuse, garbage, waste, plastics, effluents, and dangerous pollutants into any part of the sea or waters in Brunei Darussalam shall be charged for recovery costs.

The Prevention of Pollution of the Sea (Garbage) Regulations 2008, especially Section 4(1), specifies plastic discharge prohibition, covering all plastics, including but not limited to synthetic ropes, synthetic fishing nets, and plastic garbage bags. The Law of Brunei Chapter 30 Minor Offences Act 1929 prohibits littering in public. Environmental Protection and Management Order 2016, specifically Section 41(1), authorises the minister to make regulations that are necessary or expedient to carry out the order’s provisions. Section 41(2)(f) states that ‘… the Minister may also impose requirements with respect to control of land pollution, including industrial waste, domestic waste and littering’. Hazardous Waste (Control of Export, Import and Transit) Order 2013 prohibits the transboundary movement of plastic waste unless the person importing or exporting is authorised to do so. Following recent amendments to the country’s customs import and excise duties, which took effect on 01 April 2017, the volume of plastic and plastic products for import is to be reduced by imposing a 3% excise duty on them (Ministry of Finance, 2017).

The Ministry of Development has launched campaigns on plastic waste reduction, such as the promotion of reusable bags during the commemoration of World Environment Day in 2008 (Ministry of Development, 2019a). The ‘No Plastic Bag Weekend’ was launched on 26 March 2011 to phase out plastic bag use every Saturday and Sunday, and then every Friday (since 16 February 2012), Thursday (since 19 April 2018), Wednesday (since 11 July 2018), Tuesday (since 02 October 2018), and Monday (since 31 December 2018). In 2013, the Ministry of Development launched a campaign to reduce styrofoam packaging by advising schools to reduce the use of styrofoam containers in their canteens (Ministry of Development, 2019b). Three schools (Sekolah Menengah Sayyidina Hasan, Maktab Duli Pengiran Muda Al-Muhtadee Billah, and Pusat Tingkatan Enam Katok) have successfully followed this campaign.