Global Plastic Policy Reviews

This policy makes provisions for the importation of plastic waste and establish a 5% excise duty on plastics items, which include products in all primary forms, plastic bags, and disposable food containers (Ministry of Finance and Economy, 2023). The primary driver was environmental, the increase in excise duties on plastic products and so forth aimed to support the efforts of Department of Environment, Parks and Recreation in reducing the amount of plastic waste to be disposed of; encouraging the use of recycled materials and to help minimize pollution that can harm the people’s health (Ministry of Finance, 2017). The Ministry of Finance and Economy is responsible for the administration of this Act.

There was insufficient evidence available to assess this policy, however the government acknowledged that the change in the excise duty rate of these plastic products impacted importers, plastic manufacturing industries and subsequently, businesses and consumers (The Bruneian, 2023). Consequently, a temporary remit of an excise duty rate of $5 per kilogramme on selected plastics was announced by the Ministry of Finance and Economy to assist “businesses to prepare new strategies and adjust their operations accordingly, to support the initiatives towards reducing the use of plastic and the Royal Customs and Excise Department stated that they will refund the difference for any excise duty payments that have been made based on the $5/kg excise duty rate since 17 May 2023 (Ministry of Finance and Economy, 2023; The Bruneian, 2023). Furthermore, “As an interim measure,” the ministry added, “an excise duty rate of five per cent of the declared trade value will be imposed temporarily” on 139 lines of the Harmonised Code System, namely under headings 39.01 to 39.14 and a few products under the heading 39.23 (Temporary suspension of excise duty on certain plastic products: MoFE, 2023).

(Uploaded in Dec 2023)