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Pres Solih ratifies amendment to Environment Protection and Preservation Act

President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih Wednesday ratified the second amendment bill to the Environment Protection and Preservation Act of Maldives.

According to the newly added clause (8.1), all goods classified on the list of Single-Use Plastics (SUPs) declared by the President are prohibited from being imported, manufactured and marketed in the Maldives.

The Amendment also vests the President with the authority to compile and publicise a list of goods classified as SUPs banned from import, and to add or remove items from that list. The amendment stipulates that the initial list of banned SUPs must be declared by the President before 1, January 2022 and published on the government gazette.

Further, under the amendment, the President must ensure that the criteria for itemizing goods for the list of banned SUPs and a date for its prohibition as well as definitions of technical terminologies are publicised concurrent to the ratification and publication of the amendment.

Upon ratification, the amendment has now been published in the Government Gazette.