Metal Detecting Laws in Brunei

A general rule for hobby metal detecting in Brunei could not be confirmed. There are clearer rules for excavating antiquities, digging at scheduled sites and carrying out activities in reserved forests. What happens after a find depends on its legal category: antiquities, treasure trove, ordinary lost property and wreck have different rules.

The rules, land by land

Even where detecting is allowed, archaeological and historic sites are protected, and you must fill every hole and follow posted rules. Always confirm the current rule with the land manager.

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General detecting and private land

General hobby-detecting rules could not be confirmed nationally, on private land, or on beaches and the foreshore. These gaps do not establish permission to detect.

The Antiquities and Treasure Trove Act requires a license for excavation to discover antiquities. That purpose-limited rule does not establish a general restriction on detector sweeping or a general permission to search for modern lost items. Antiquities excavation licensing applies even to the owner or occupier of the land, and a license does not authorize infringement of private rights.

Excavating to discover antiquities

Excavating to discover antiquities requires a license from the Permanent Secretary of the ministry responsible for museums. Applications go to the Secretary of the Museum Committee. Section 11 excepts excavations by or on behalf of the Director of Museums.

Landowner consent is a precondition. Section 14 requires scientific excavation to the Director’s satisfaction, preservation, records and requested documentation; section 16 preserves private rights and other laws. This licensing rule concerns excavation to discover antiquities, not all digging for modern objects.

Scheduled monuments and historical sites

Digging or excavation on or in the immediate neighborhood of an ancient monument or historical site included in the section 17 schedule requires written permission under section 18. That includes digging to recover a buried detector target. The provision does not name detector sweeping.

Permission comes from the Permanent Secretary of the ministry responsible for museums, after consultation with the Minister, and is subject to its conditions. Excavation to discover antiquities also needs the separate section 11 license.

Reserved forests, national parks and conservation areas

In a reserved forest, section 22C of the Forest Act requires a use permit to occupy land or carry out any activity, including detecting, unless an applicable exemption covers it. The Director of Forestry may grant a general or individual exemption with conditions.

The Act allows reserved forests to be classified as national parks or conservation forests. The use-permit rule described here applies to parks and conservation areas within that statutory reserved-forest category. Detecting rules for state forest and protected areas outside that category could not be confirmed.

A use permit alone does not authorize taking forest produce. Breaking up land for any purpose in reserved forest is separately restricted by section 19(e), subject to section 21 exceptions for specified privileges, grant or contract rights, or written permission from an empowered forest officer. Restricted-forest entry is separately controlled under section 14C. A recreational visit does not itself authorize ground disturbance.

Antiquities: ownership and immediate reporting

The Act’s antiquity category includes qualifying human-made objects and human, plant or animal remains dating, or reasonably believed to date, before January 1, 1894, as well as ancient monuments. Section 2 contains exclusions, including objects imported on or after commencement and objects or remains without the specified public interest. This category does not cover every modern lost object.

Newly discovered antiquities belong to the Government, subject to the Act. Under section 5(2), an antiquity the Museum Committee does not retain is returned to the person who delivered it, while ownership passes to whoever would have owned it without section 3. Section 6 permits an agreed share in place of compensation; finding an antiquity does not automatically make it yours.

If you discover an object or monument you have reason to believe is an antiquity or ancient monument, give notice immediately to the Penghulu (subdistrict head), Ketua Kampung (village head), or District Officer for the place of discovery. If practicable, deliver the antiquity to the District Officer, who must provide a receipt. This duty does not establish a general reporting deadline for ordinary modern lost property.

Treasure trove: a separate category

Treasure trove excludes antiquities. Section 2 covers valuable items “found hidden in, or in anything affixed to, the soil or the bed of a river of the sea” whose owner is unknown or cannot be found. The quoted location wording appears on printed page 7 (PDF page 9); “river of the sea” is an apparent drafting typo in the native text. The location and ownership limits matter: this is not a category for valuables hidden anywhere, or for every ordinary lost object.

Report treasure trove immediately to the District Officer for the place of discovery and deliver it to that officer, who must provide a receipt. Section 23(1) excepts a discovery already notified and delivered under section 4.

Sections 24–28 provide a claims inquiry and a process for declaring treasure trove ownerless, including an appeal. Once a section 28 declaration is made, the treasure trove vests in the Government under section 29. The Government may, in its discretion, reward the finder and landowner under section 30. There is no automatic finder ownership or reward.

Ordinary lost property

Do not dishonestly appropriate another person’s lost property. Penal Code section 403 prohibits dishonest misappropriation or conversion of movable property; its illustration (f) treats immediately selling a found valuable ring without trying to discover the owner as an offense.

This provision does not establish a general fixed waiting period, reporting deadline or procedure for eventual finder ownership of ordinary lost property. The separate antiquities and treasure-trove duties should not be applied to every modern lost item.

Beaches, foreshore and wreck

General hobby-detecting permission on beaches and the foreshore could not be confirmed. Antiquities, protected-site and wreck obligations can apply to coastal finds, but those obligations do not establish general permission to search a beach.

The Merchant Shipping Order, 2002 defines wreck to include jetsam, flotsam, lagan and derelict found in or on sea shores or tidal water. It is not a category for every beach find. If you find wreck you do not own, deliver it to the receiver as soon as possible. An owner who finds or takes possession of wreck must notify the receiver and describe identifying marks.

Section 150 covers wreck found or taken into possession within Brunei, as well as wreck found outside and brought within its limits. The Maritime and Port Authority of Brunei Darussalam supervises wreck matters and may appoint receivers.

Owners may establish their claims; sections 153 and 156 provide a one-month claim period after the receiver takes possession. Unclaimed wreck belongs to the Government unless it has granted someone the right to it. That wreck claim period is not a waiting period for ordinary lost property.

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