Environmental Quality Act 1974 · Updated to 7 Jul 2024 · Part VI · Miscellaneous
51. Regulations
Official textFrom Laws of Malaysia Online, unchanged
In addition to and not in derogation of any of the powers contained in any other provisions of this Act, the Minister after consultation with the Council may make regulations for or with respect to—
Minister
“Minister” means the Minister charged with the responsibility for environment protection;
prescribing fees for examining plans, specifications and information relating to installations or proposed installations the subject of applications for licences or for any other forms of approval given under this Act or any regulations made thereunder;
prescribing standards or criteria for the implementation of any declared environmental policy or classification for the protection of the environment and for protecting beneficial uses;
prescribing standards or criteria for determining when any matter, action or thing is poisonous, noxious, objectionable, detrimental to health, or within any other description referred to in this Act;
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prohibiting the discharge, emission, or deposit into the environment of any matter, whether liquid, solid or gaseous, and prohibiting or regulating the use of any specified fuel;
prescribing ambient air quality standards and emission standards and specifying the maximum permissible concentrations of any matter that may be present in or discharged into the atmosphere;
prescribing ambient water quality standards and discharge standards and specifying the maximum permissible loads that may be discharged by any source into inland waters, with reference either generally or specifically to the body of waters concerned;
prohibiting the use of any equipment, facility, vehicle, or ship capable of causing pollution or regulating the construction, installation or operation thereof so as to prevent or minimize pollution;
requiring the giving of pollution warnings or alerts;
prohibiting or regulating the open burning of refuse or other combustible matter;
regulating the establishment of sites for the disposal of solid or liquid wastes on or in land;
defining objectionable noise and prescribing standards for tolerable noise;
prohibiting or regulating bathing, swimming, boating or other aquatic activity in or around any waters that may be detrimental to health or welfare or for preventing pollution;
any matter or thing which by this Act is authorized or required or permitted to be prescribed or which is necessary or expedient to be prescribed for carrying this Act into effect;
Environmental Quality 77
(Deleted by Act A636);
(Deleted by Act A636);
(Deleted by Act A636);
requiring any person handling, storing or using oil or mixture containing oil to report discharges and spillages of oil or mixture containing oil into Malaysian waters;
requiring any person handling, storing or using oil or mixture containing oil to store such substance or material and equipment necessary to deal with any oil pollution of the Malaysian waters that may arise in the course of their business;
(Deleted by Act A636);
(Deleted by Act A636);
regulating environmental audit and the submission of an audit report and the appointment of qualified person to assist the Director General in carrying out an environmental audit of any vehicle, ship or premises, irrespective of whether the vehicle, ship or premises are prescribed under section 18 or otherwise, and their manner of operation, and prescribing the fees chargeable;
regulating any matters relating to the environmental impact assessment;
prohibiting or regulating the manufacture, storage, transportation, or the application or use, emission, discharge, or deposit into the environment, of any environmentally hazardous substances;
regulating measures to assess, control, reduce or eliminate environmental risk;
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regulating any matters relating to a competent person;
regulating the competency of training providers providing training in the environmental field;
prescribing the offences which may be compounded.
Any such regulation may be general or may be restricted in operation as to time, place, persons or circumstances whether any such time, place, person or circumstances is determined or ascertainable before, at or after the making of the regulations.
Regulations made under subsection (1) may prescribe any act in contravention of the regulations to be an offence and may prescribe penalties of a fine not exceeding one hundred thousand ringgit or imprisonment for a term not exceeding five years or to both and, in the case of a continuing offence, a sum not exceeding one thousand ringgit for every day during which the offence continues.
*NOTE—see section 30 of the Environmental Quality (Amendment) Act 2024 [Act A1712]
w.e.f. 7 July 2024 which provides the following savings provision:
“Saving
Terms defined in s 2
competent person
Defined · s 2“competent person” means a person who is competent to conduct the activities as specified in section 49A;
Council
Defined · s 2“Council” means the Environmental Quality Council established under section 4; Environmental Quality 11
Director General
Defined · s 2“Director General” means the Director General of Environmental Quality referred to in section 3;
environment
Defined · s 2“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
Defined · s 2“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 risk
Defined · s 2“environmental risk” means any risk, hazard or chances of bad consequences that may be brought upon the environment;
environmentally hazardous substances
Defined · s 2“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;
inland waters
Defined · s 2“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;
Minister
Defined · s 2“Minister” means the Minister charged with the responsibility for environment protection;
mixture containing oil
Defined · s 2“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;
oil
Defined · s 2“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
Defined · s 2“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. “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,
pollution
Defined · s 2“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;
premises
Defined · s 2“premises” includes messuages, buildings, lands, and hereditaments of every tenure and any machinery or plant;
prescribed
Defined · s 2“prescribed” means prescribed by or under this Act or continued in operation by this Act;
qualified person
Defined · s 2“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;
ship
Defined · s 2“ship” includes every description of vessel or craft or floating structure;
vehicle
Defined · s 2“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;