ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY ACT 1974

LAWS OF MALAYSIA ONLINE VERSION OF UPDATED TEXT OF REPRINT Act 127 ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY ACT 1974 As at 7 July 2024 This text is ONLY AN UPDATED TEXT of the Environmental Quality Act 1974 by the Attorney General’s Chambers. Unless and until reprinted pursuant to the powers of the Commissioner of Law Revision under subsection 14(1) of the Revision of Laws Act 1968 [Act 1], this text is NOT AN AUTHENTIC TEXT. 2 ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY ACT 1974 Date of Royal Assent … … … 8 March 1974 Date of publication in the Gazette … … … 14 March 1974 Latest amendment made by Act A1712 which came into operation on … … … 7 July 2024 PREVIOUS REPRINTS First Reprint … … … … … 1995 Second Reprint … … … … … 2000 Third Reprint … … … … … 2006 3 LAWS OF MALAYSIA Act 127 ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY ACT 1974 ARRANGEMENT OF SECTIONS PART I PRELIMINARY Section 1. Short title, application and commencement 2. Interpretation PART II ADMINISTRATION 3. Director General and other officers 4. Establishment of the Environmental Quality Council 5. Duration of office and eligibility for reappointment 6. Disqualification, resignation and vacation from office 7. Calling of meetings, quorum, voting, procedure and minutes 8. Presiding officer at meeting of Council 9. Remuneration PART III LICENCES 10. Licensing authority 11. Licences 12. Power to attach conditions to licences 4 Laws of Malaysia ACT 127 Section 13. Duration and renewal of licences 14. Transfer of licences 15. Register of licences 16. Licensee to comply with licence 17. Licence fees PART IV PROHIBITION AND CONTROL OF POLLUTION 18. Prescribed premises to be licensed 19. Prohibition against causing vehicle, ship or premises to become prescribed conveyance or prescribed premises 20. Requirement and approval of plans 21. Power to specify conditions of emission, discharge, etc. 22. Restrictions on pollution of the atmosphere 23. Restrictions on noise pollution 24. Restrictions on pollution of the soil 25. Restrictions on pollution of inland waters 26. (Deleted) 27. Prohibition of discharge of oil into Malaysian waters 28. Special defences 29. Prohibition of discharge of wastes into Malaysian waters 29A. Prohibition on open burning 29AA. (Deleted) 29B. Owner or occupier of premises liable for open burning 29C. Defence 30. Power to prohibit use of any material or equipment 30A. Power to control use of substance and product and to state environmental labelling 30B. Power to specify rules on deposit and rebate schemes 31. Power to require occupier to install, operate, repair, etc. 31A. Prohibition order, etc. Environmental Quality 5 Section 32. Owner or occupier to maintain and operate equipment 33. Power to prohibit or control licensed persons from discharging, etc. of wastes in certain circumstances 33A. Environmental audit 34. Exemptions 34A. Report on impact on environment resulting from prescribed activities 34AA. Prohibition order for prescribed activities PART IVA CONTROL OF SCHEDULED WASTES 34B. Prohibition against placing, deposit, etc., of scheduled wastes PART V APPEAL AND APPEAL BOARD 35. Appeal 36. Appeal Board PART VA PAYMENT OF CESS AND ENVIRONMENTAL FUND 36A. Research cess 36B. Establishment of Environmental Fund 36C. Environmental Fund Committee 36D. Contribution into the Fund 36E. Application of the Fund PART VI MISCELLANEOUS 37. Owner or occupier to furnish information 37A. Power of investigation 37B. Authority card 6 Laws of Malaysia ACT 127 Section 37C. Power of arrest 38. Power to stop, board, search, etc. 38A. Power to examine person acquainted with case 38AA. Admissibility of statements in evidence 38AB. Power to require attendance of persons acquainted with case 39. Service of notices 40. Evidence 41. Penalty for offences not otherwise provided for 42. Attempts and abetments 43. Offences by bodies of persons and by servants and agents 44. Prosecution 45. Compounding of offences 46. Sessions Court and Court of a Magistrate of the First Class to have jurisdiction 46A. Power to seize vehicle or ship 46B. Forfeiture of seized vehicle, ship, book, etc. 46BA. List of vehicle, ship, book, etc., seized 46BB. Release of seized book, record, computer, etc. 46BC. Cost of holding seized vehicle, ship, book, etc. 46C. (Deleted) 46D. No costs or damages arising from seizure to be recoverable 46E. Compensation for loss or damage to property 47. Power of recovery of costs and expenses 48. Power to detain and sell vehicle or ships 48A. Power to test and prohibit use of vehicle 48AA. Access to computerized data 48AB. Presumption 48AC. Additional powers 48AD. Obstruction to search 48AE. Joinder of offences 48B. Assistance Environmental Quality Section 49. Delegation 49A. Competent person 49B. Reward to informers 50. Secrecy 50A. Protection of informers 51. Regulations 7 9 LAWS OF MALAYSIA Act 127 ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY ACT 1974 An Act relating to the prevention, abatement, control of pollution and enhancement of the environment, and for purposes connected therewith. [15 April 1975, P.U. (B) 113/1975] BE IT ENACTED by the Seri Paduka Baginda Yang di-Pertuan Agong with the advice and consent of the Dewan Negara and Dewan Rakyat in Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows: PART I PRELIMINARY Short title, application and commencement 1. (1) This Act may be cited as the Environmental Quality Act 1974 and shall apply to the whole of Malaysia. (2) This Act shall come into force on such date as the Minister may appoint by a notification in the Gazette and the Minister may appoint different dates for the coming into force of different provisions of this Act and may bring all or any provisions thereof into force either in the whole of Malaysia to which the notification applies or such area as may be specified in the notification. 10 Laws of Malaysia ACT 127 Interpretation 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; Environmental Quality 11 “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; 12 Laws of Malaysia ACT 127 (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; Environmental Quality 13 “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 referen