Malaysia legislation

Section 2

of *ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY ACT 1974

Section 2

In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires—

“aircraft” includes any kind of vehicle which may be used for the conveyance of passenger or goods by air;

“beneficial use” means a use of the environment or any element or segment of the environment that is conducive to public health, welfare or safety and which requires protection from the effects of wastes, discharges, emissions and deposits;

“Committee” means the Environmental Fund Committee established under section 36C;

“competent person” means a person who is competent to conduct the activities as specified in section 49A;

“computer” means any device, identified by whatever name or description, for recording, storing, processing, retrieving or producing any information or matter, or for performing any one or more of those functions; and, where two or more computers carry out any one or more of those functions in combination, conjointly, or in succession, they shall be treated as a single computer;

“control equipment” includes—

(a)

any apparatus for collecting wastes;

(b)

any automatic device used for securing the more efficient operation of any equipment;

(c)

any device to indicate or record pollution or to give warning of excessive pollution; and

(d)

any other device or facility used for the purpose of limiting pollution;

“Council” means the Environmental Quality Council established under section 4;

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“development plan” has the same meaning assigned to it under the

Town and Country Planning Act 1976;

“Director General” means the Director General of Environmental

Quality referred to in section 3;

“document” means any matter expressed, described, or represented in whatever manner, upon any substance, material, thing or article, including any matter embodied in a disc, tape, film, sound track or device, by means of—

(a)

any letter, figure, mark, symbol, signal, sign or any other form of expression, description or representation;

(b)

a visual recording (whether of any still or moving image);

(c)

a sound recording, or any electronic, magnetic, mechanical or other recording, or by any sound, electronic impulse or other data; or

(d)

a recording, or transmission, over a distance of any matter by any, or any combination, of the means mentioned in paragraph (a), (b) or (c), or in this paragraph;

“element” in relation to the environment means any of the principal constituent parts of the environment including water, atmosphere, soil, vegetation, climate, sound, odour, aesthetics, fish and wildlife;

“environment” means the physical factors of the surroundings of the human beings including land, water, atmosphere, climate, sound, odour, taste, the biological factors of animals and plants and the social factor of aesthetics;

“environmental audit” means a periodic, systematic, documented and objective evaluation to determine—

(a)

the compliance status to environmental regulatory requirements;

(b)

the environmental management system; and

(c)

the overall environmental risk of the premises;

“environmental management system” means a system comprising of an organizational structure with its responsibilities, practices, procedures, processes and resources for implementing and maintaining the system relating to the management of the environment;

“environmental risk” means any risk, hazard or chances of bad consequences that may be brought upon the environment;

“environmentally hazardous substances” means any natural or artificial substances including any raw material, whether in a solid, semi-solid or liquid form, or in the form of gas or vapour, or in a mixture of at least two of these substances, or any living organism intended for any environmental protection, conservation and control activity, which can cause pollution;

“Fund” means the Environmental Fund established under section 36B;

“goods” includes environmentally hazardous substances, pollutants and wastes;

“industrial plant” means any plant used for the generation of power or for any industrial use or for the operation of ships, dredges, locomotives, cranes or other machines;

“inland waters” means any reservoir, pond, lake, river, stream, canal, drain, spring or well, or any part of the sea above the low water line along the coast, or any other body of natural or artificial surface or subsurface water;

“local authority” includes any person or body of persons appointed under any written law to exercise and perform the powers and duties which are conferred or imposed on a local authority under any written law;

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“territorial waters” means the “territorial sea” and shall be construed subject to the provisions of the *Territorial Sea Act 2012 [Act 750];

“Minister” means the Minister charged with the responsibility for environment protection;

“mixture containing oil” means a mixture with such oil content as may be specified by the Minister or, if such oil content is not specified, a mixture with an oil content of one hundred parts or more in one million parts of the mixture;

“monitoring programme” means all actions taken and equipment used for the purpose of detecting or measuring quantitatively or qualitatively the presence, amount or level of any substance, characteristic or effect;

“occupier” means a person in occupation or control of—

(a)

any premises;

(b)

in relation to premises where different parts of which are occupied by different persons, the respective persons in occupation or control of each part; or

(c)

any vehicle, ship or aircraft;

“oil” means—

(a)

crude oil, diesel oil, fuel oil and lubricating oil; and

(b)

any other description of oil which may be prescribed by the

Minister;

“open burning” means any fire, combustion or smouldering that occurs in the open air and which is not directed there through a chimney or stack;

*NOTE—Any reference made in any other written law, arrangement or instruments to “territorial waters”

shall in so far as such reference affects federal law means “territorial sea” and shall be construed subject to the provisions of this Act–see section 6 of the Territorial Sea Act 2012 [Act 750].

“owner” in relation to—

(a)

any premises, means—

(i)

the registered proprietor of the premises;

(ii)

the lessee of a lease including a sublease of the premises, whether registered or otherwise;

(iii)

the agent or trustee of any of the owners described in subparagraphs (i) and (ii) of this definition or where the owner as described in subparagraphs (i) and (ii)

cannot be traced or has died, his legal personal representative; or

(iv)

the person for the time being receiving the rent of the premises whether on his own account or as agent or trustee for any other person or as receiver or who would receive if the premises were let to a tenant;

(b)

any ship, means—

(i)

the person registered as the owner of the ship;

(ii)

in the absence of registration, the person owning the ship;

(iii)

in the case of a ship owned by any country and operated by a company which in that country is registered as the ship’s operator, “owner” shall include the country; or

(iv)

the agent or trustee of any of the owners described in subparagraphs (i), (ii) and (iii), or where the owner as described in subparagraphs (i) and (ii) cannot be traced or has died, his legal personal representative;

(c)

any vehicle or aircraft, means the person registered as the owner of the vehicle or aircraft;

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“physical plan” means—

(i)

the national physical plan under the Town and Country

Planning Act 1976 [Act 172];

(ii)

the physical plan covering Sabah under the Town and

Country Planning Ordinance [Sabah Cap. 141];

(iii)

the physical plan covering Sarawak under the Sarawak

Land Code [Cap. 81];

“pollutants” means any natural or artificial substances, whether in a solid, semi-solid or liquid form, or in the form of gas or vapour, or in a mixture of at least two of these substances, or any objectionable odour or noise or heat emitted, discharged or deposited or is likely to be emitted, discharged or deposited from any source which can directly or indirectly cause pollution and includes any environmentally hazardous substances;

“pollution” means an act or process, whether natural or artificial, resulting in the introduction of any pollutant into the environment in contravention of the acceptable conditions as specified in the regulations made under section 21;

“practicable” means reasonably practicable having regard, among other things, to local conditions and circumstances and to the current state of technical knowledge and the term “practicable means”

includes the provision and the efficient maintenance of plant and the proper use thereof and the supervision by or on behalf of the occupier of any process or operation;

“premises” includes messuages, buildings, lands, and hereditaments of every tenure and any machinery or plant;

“prescribed” means prescribed by or under this Act or continued in operation by this Act;

“prescribed conveyance” means a vehicle or ship prescribed by the

Minister under section 18 as a prescribed conveyance;

“prescribed premises” means any premises prescribed by the

Minister under section 18;

“prescribed product” means any product prescribed by the Minister under paragraph 30A(1)(b);

“qualified person” means a person who fulfils the requirement as the

Director General may determine to conduct an environmental audit and environmental impact assessment, and to submit a report thereon;

“scheduled wastes” means any waste prescribed by the Minister in the regulations as scheduled wastes;

“segment” in relation to the environment means any portion of the environment expressed in terms of volume, space, area, quantity, quality, or time or any combination thereof;

“ship” includes every description of vessel or craft or floating structure;

“soil” includes earth, sand, rock, shales, minerals and vegetation in the soil;

“trade” means any trade, business or undertaking whether ordinarily carried on at fixed premises or at varying places which results in the discharge of wastes and includes any activity prescribed to be a trade, business or undertaking for the purposes of this Act;

“transit” means the continuous passage from one border to another border through Malaysian territory and waters without storage;

“vehicle” means a structure capable of moving or being moved or used for the conveyance of any person or thing and which maintains contact with the ground when in motion;

“waste” includes any matter prescribed to be scheduled waste, or any matter whether in a solid, semi-solid or liquid form, or in the form of gas or vapour which is emitted, discharged or deposited in the environment in such volume, composition or manner as to cause pollution.

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Read in full context — *ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY ACT 1974 →