President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih ratifies list banning the import of single use plastics to Maldives on Wednesday.
On October 20, the parliament amended the Environment Protection and Preservation Act of Maldives, one of which allowed for President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih to alter the list of single use plastics that can be used or imported to Maldives at his will. As the amendment was ratified and published in the Government Gazette today, it will come into effect from today onwards.
The amendment was first submitted as a bill to the Parliament in March of this year. It called to ban the production of single use plastics and introduction of such products to the Maldivian market. The bill said the banned products would be a list compiled by the President. The amendment also said the list could be complied in various stages.
As per the amendment, President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih had announced the first list of banned plastic products by June of this year.
Parliament's Environment and Climate Change Committee later further researched the bill and had added to further amendments. The first amendment banned the production and introduction of single use plastics to the Maldivian market, while the change was to extend the deadline for compiling the list of products banned from single-use plastics until January.
In determining the list of single-use plastics, it is necessary to look into the extent to which such items are not produced and used. In addition, it should be checked how feasible it would be implement the the ban of import and export of such products.
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