Environmental Legislations and EMS Standards

Impact to Stakeholders

Introduction

EQA Amendment 2012 – General Comments and Implications

Highlights from EMS Survey

Impact to Stakeholders and Next Step

May 2013 2

Act A636 - EQ (Amendment) Act 1985: gazetted on 9th Jan 1986

Act A953 - EQ (Amendment) Act 1996: gazetted on 1st Aug 1996

Act A1030 - EQ (Amendment) Act 1998: gazetted on 1st July 1998

Act A1102 - EQ (Amendment) Act 2001: gazetted on 28th June 2001

Act A1315 - EQ (Amendment) Act 2007: gazetted on 30th Aug 2007

Act A1441 - EQ (Amendment) Act 2012: gazetted on 16th Aug 2012

May 2013 4

EQ (Appeal Board) Regulations 2003 EQ (Control of Emission from Motorcycles)

Regulations 2003 EQ (Dioxin and Furan) Regulations 2004 EQ (Scheduled Wastes) Regulations 2005 EQ (Control of Petrol and Diesel Properties)

Regulations 2007 EQ (Industrial Effluent) Regulations 2009 EQ (Sewage) Regulations 2009 EQ (Control of Solid Waste from Transfer Station

and Landfill) Regulations 2009

May 2013 5

EQ (Declared Activities) (Open Burning) Order 2003

EQ (Prescribed Conveyance) (Scheduled Wastes) Order 2005

EQ (Delegation of Powers) Order 2005

May 2013 6

Customs (Prohibition of Import) Order 1998 Customs (Prohibition of Export) Order 1998

Exclusive Economic Zone Act, 1984 Fisheries Act 1985

Land Conservation Act 1960 National Forestry Act 1984 National Land Code 1965 National Parks Act 1980

Protection of Wild Life Act 1972 Sabah Conservation of Environment (Prescribed Activities)

Order 1999 Sarawak Natural Resources and Environment (Prescribed

Activities) Order 1994 Waters Act 1920

etc.

May 2013 7

Definition

Members of the EQ Council

EIA & EIA Report

Environmental Fund

Enforcement & Prosecution

Regulations

May 2013 9

Competent Person vs Qualified Person ◦ if you are qualified, does it mean you are competent ?

Competence ◦ one of the EMS requirements

◦ need to define criteria for person carrying out activities specified in Section 49A

May 2013 10

Terms of reference (TOR) for members

Industry representation ◦ Subsection (2) (o): are SMEs represented ?

◦ Subsection (2) (r): does it include industry or trade association ?

◦ What about service sector ?

May 2013 11

Appoint qualified person to conduct EIA and submit EIA report

Give responsibility and accountability to qualified person on the ◦ conduct of EIA

◦ recommendations in EIA report

Increase fine from 100K to 500K

Issue prohibition order/stop work order

May 2013 12

Environmental Fund Committee ◦ additional two members from EQ Council

Application of the fund ◦ not just for research purpose, but also for study,

environmental audit or any related activity

May 2013 13

Power to carry out investigation and arrest without warrant

Statement made by witness/accused may be used as evidence in Court

Power to require attendance of any person acquainted with case

Improvement in procedure for forfeiture, disposal and release of seized items

Power to have access to computerised data and to inspect/examine documents and other items

Reward to and protection of informers

May 2013 14

Power of the Minister to make regulations related to ◦ EIA

◦ competent person

◦ competency of training providers

Contravention of regulations ◦ fine ≤ 100K or ≤ 2 year jail or both

May 2013 15

May 2009 17

Empirical investigation on ISO 14001 EMS implementation in Malaysia

Areas examined ISO 14001 ◦ implementation challenges

◦ experience

◦ impact on organisations environmental performance

Rationale ◦ little are known on the status of ISO 14001

◦ very few empirical studies carried out based on Malaysian scenario

17

May 2009 18

Motivations for seeking ISO 14001 certification Problems encountered Strategies employed in EMS implementation Benefits gained Limitations of EMS implementation Impact on performance: regulatory

compliance, environmental and business Other challenges ◦ environmental regulations ◦ enforcement ◦ capacity building ◦ government support/incentive ◦ national environmental policy

Conducted in Dec 2005/Jan 2006

Sample size: 500

Response rate: 31.6%

Respondents profile ◦ ISO 14001 certified organisations

◦ Majority were foreign owned multinationals involved in manufacturing sector

◦ Most have achieved ISO 14001 certification > 5 years

May 2013 19

19

EMS Issues Examined Response

Top two reasons for adopting ISO 14001

Regulatory compliance Image enhancement

Main problems encountered

Suppliers and contractors were not aware on environmental issues

Constraints in financial and human resources

Common strategies employed

Obtained commitment from all levels of employees including top management

Focused on • training to increase understanding on

environmental issues and EMS • on site implementation to ensure

effectiveness

May 2013 20

Majority achieved regulatory compliance and environmental performance improvement

Some gained financial savings

Slight improvement in profitability

sales revenue

customer orders

market share

May 2013 21

EMS Issues Examined Large Enterprises SMEs

Driving factor Directive from CEO Customer requirements

Problem faced Financial and skilled human resources

Financial and skilled human resources

Strategy employed Training or employees to increase understanding and knowledge in environmental issues

Need extra efforts to communicate with and educate employees

Benefits gained Improved management of environmental aspects and relationship with the local communities

Meeting customer requirements

Limitation Some savings gained EMS implementation was costly

Performance - environmental and business

Slight improvement in the performance

Slight improvement in the performance

May 2013 22

In general, certified organisations

felt that environmental regulations were adequate

were neutral on issues related to ◦ effectiveness of enforcement

◦ progress of capacity building

◦ adequacy of government support/incentive

◦ awareness on environmental policy

May 2013 23

Mechanism to enforce and implement the regulations was lacking due to ◦ inadequate manpower, competency, infrastructure,

guidelines and monitoring

Enforcement was viewed as ineffective due to ◦ perceived unfriendly attitude and lack of experience

among the officers

◦ non-uniformity in enforcement policies

◦ lack of control on illegal environmental activities that have occurred

May 2013 24

Below expectation due to ◦ lack of expertise in certain areas

◦ overlapping of roles and responsibilities

◦ unclear communication channel

◦ difficulty in getting environmental information

Very few organisations were aware of the national environmental policy

May 2013 25

Inadequate in promoting environmental awareness and sustainability

Results were not transparent due to the differences in policies of some government agencies

May 2013 26

It reflects customer requirements and in turn, help organisations to demonstrate regulatory compliance and good corporate image

International market demands higher environmental standards

Relevant agencies responsible for SMEs to consider financial and human resources issues to assist SMEs in financing environmental improvement projects and providing skilled resources

Be more proactive in keeping up with the current market trend and be prepared ahead of their competitors in meeting future environmental requirements

May 2013 27

Government agencies responsible for the environment should promote and encourage organisations to adopt ISO

14001

review outdated environmental regulations

provide guidelines and infrastructure

improve enforcement policies and speed of respond to industries

focus on capacity building to produce competent work force

increase public and corporate awareness on the National Environmental Policy

May 2013 28

May 2013 30

Allocate budget

Train personnel

(new/existing)

Source for

qualified/competent

person

Revise and update

documentation

Communicate to

affected personnel

Review current

system

May 2013 31

Management of

Change (MOC)