Law School, Shanghai Maritime University, Shanghai 201306, China.
Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2022 Dec 7;19(24):16394. doi: 10.3390/ijerph192416394.
Several countries or regions have issued bans on microplastic pollution. This paper conducted a textual analysis on the provisions of the referenced countries or regions, and it was noticed that most of the existing bans only regulate and control microbeads instead of legal rules regarding all types of marine microplastic pollution. Existing international conventions can solve some of the problems of marine microplastic pollution, but they cannot solve all of them. Scientific uncertainty of marine microplastic pollution leads to the dilemma of future legislation. Specifically, based on the theory of legal norms, there are several issues faced by future international uniform legislation. The basic elements of legal rules are the hypothesis, disposition, and sanctions. At present, the scientific uncertainty of marine microplastic pollution cannot establish the three elements (hypothesis, disposition, and sanctions) of legal rules, so the existing bans in various countries can only target microbeads, and it is difficult to regulate other types of marine microplastic pollution. Consequently, we conclude that the time for comprehensive legislation on marine microplastics pollution is not yet ripe.
一些国家或地区已经发布了针对微塑料污染的禁令。本文对相关国家或地区的规定进行了文本分析，注意到现有的大多数禁令仅针对微珠进行了规范和控制，而不是针对所有类型的海洋微塑料污染的法律规则。现有的国际公约可以解决海洋微塑料污染的部分问题，但无法解决所有问题。海洋微塑料污染的科学不确定性导致未来立法陷入困境。具体而言，基于法律规范理论，未来的国际统一立法面临几个问题。法律规则的基本要素包括假设、处置和制裁。目前，海洋微塑料污染的科学不确定性无法建立法律规则的三个要素（假设、处置和制裁），因此各国现有的禁令只能针对微珠，难以规范其他类型的海洋微塑料污染。因此，我们得出结论，全面立法治理海洋微塑料污染的时机尚未成熟。
