President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih has decreed changes to the import ban on several single-use plastics into the Maldives.

The decree was issued on Monday, under Section 7 of the Import-Export Act under which he has the power to prohibit the import of single-use plastic items by deadlines as part of a gradual phase-out efforts.

The amendments highlight changes to the deadline for the enforcement of import ban on Styrofoam containers as well as carbonated and non-carbonated drinks in plastic packaging.

As such, the deadline for the ban on importing Styrofoam lunch boxes is to take effect on 31 December 2021.

The deadline for the ban on the import of carbonated and non-carbonated drinks in plastic packaging has been pushed to 1 June 2022.

The president’s decree also mandate the banning of hair conditioner bottles and body lotion packed inside plastic bottles to the existing list to take effect on Tuesday.

Coming into immediate effect, the decree and changes have been publicized in the government gazette.

On Monday the Ministry of Economic Development revealed that the changes stemmed from the evolving Covid-19 situation and difficulties facing imports to the Maldives due to precautionary measures.

The ministry revealed that the Maldives Customs Service will be allowing the import of shipments for which the bill of lading or the airway bill was issued before Tuesday. This will be effective even if the shipment arrives after June 1.

The decision was made to pave eases for shipping delays in the face of the pandemic, and to ease the burden on businesses and importers during the crisis.

Further, the government will be imposing a ban on plastic shopping bags below 50-micron thickness including oxo-degradable and synthetic polymer-based biodegradable plastics as well as shampoo and soap bottles in plastic packaging from 50ml to 200ml starting from 1 December 2022. Import of all imported water that is one liter and below packet in PET packaging will be banned from 1 December 2023 as well.

President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih had declared a list of single-use plastics to be banned for import into Maldives earlier, to come into effect on June 1.

The president approved the plan to phase out single-use plastics in the Maldives by the year 2023, during November 2020. In December last year the People’s Majlis passed the 18th amendment to the Export-Import Act of the Maldives following which the president ratified the legislation the same month.

The amendment gave the president authority to compile and publish a list of goods prohibited to be imported to Maldives, the president may also add and remove goods from the list. Under the amendment, the government is mandated to compile and publicize the list of banned single-use plastics, including the date from which the changes are to come into effect, before January 1, 2021.

Parliament in mid-2019 passed a resolution to ban single-use plastics in Maldives from 2025 onward, after students from a number of schools collectively submitted a proposal that details the dangers of single-use plastic.

In December 2018, the president launched a campaign to eliminate single-use plastic. The government’s vision to phase out single-use plastics from the Maldives by the year 2023, was initially announced during Solih’s maiden trip to New York to attend the 74th session of the United Nations General Assembly, held in 2019.

It was introduced at the session as a government pledge, reiterated in the incumbent government’s 2019-2023 Strategic Action Plan (SAP) which envisages Maldives' waters to be cleared of plastic pollution by the year 2023.

Minimizing the use of single-use plastics was also one of Solih’s first 100-day-pledges. Since the Solih administration came into power, several government institutions alongside restaurants and cafés have stopped using plastic.