Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. The regulations that have been laid before the Assembly for your consideration today are the Environmental Protection (Microbeads) (Wales) Regulations 2018. These regulations have been introduced under powers contained in the Environmental Protection Act 1990 and the Regulatory Enforcement and Sanctions Act 2008. Under these regulations it will be an offence in Wales, from 30 June 2018 onwards, for anyone to manufacture any rinse-off personal care products that use plastic microbeads as an ingredient. It will also be on offence in Wales from that date to supply or offer to supply any rinse-off personal care products that contain plastic microbeads.

Welsh local authorities will be responsible for enforcing these regulations, and this enforcement role will be carried out in line with the published guidance. These regulations introduce an enforcement regime that includes civil and criminal sanctions, such as variable monetary penalties, compliance notices and stop notices. Civil sanctions provide flexibility and allow local authorities, when enforcing the ban, to distinguish between those who are striving to comply and those who disregard the law. These regulations provide for anyone who has a civil sanction imposed on them to appeal to the first-tier tribunal.

I met with marine stakeholders on 7 June, who impressed on me how important this ban is, and through our public consultation exercise, the introduction of this ban received widespread support. Deputy Presiding Officer, I commend these regulations to the National Assembly.