South Korea 

The Seoul metropolitan government enacted an ordinance on the prevention and management of light pollution, herein referred to as the ordinance, on July 15, 2010. The purpose of the ordinance is to improve the quality of life for citizens, protect ecosystems, and save energy by preventing unnecessary lighting practices. It is applied under three categories of lighting practices: space lighting, advertisement lighting, and decorative lighting. 

The idea behind light management zones is to allow different levels of lighting in areas that serve different purposes; for instance, lighting levels in a commercial area should be relatively higher than those in a residential area.

I. Space lighting includes any type of lighting installed to facilitate safe and pleasant nighttime activities and consists of security and road lighting. (This facet of the ordinance mainly addresses light pollution, in the form of light trespass, intruding into enclosed areas at night.

 II. The ordinance defines advertisement lighting as lighting devices installed outdoors for advertising purposes. (The ordinance provides lighting maximum luminance values that are legally accepted in each light management zone.) 

III. Decorative lighting refers to outdoor lighting installed for decorative or recreational purposes. (The ordinance provides lighting limits for decorative lighting in the form of mean and maximum permissible luminance values.) 

China

 Attention to light pollution is a recent activity in China, and theoretical research results are relatively limited. Light pollution prevention legislation is also scarce. So far, China has not issued special light pollution prevention or control legislation. The current law has failed to effectively solve China’s current light pollution problems. 

According to article 26, “The state protects and improves the environment in which people live and the ecological environment. It prevents and controls pollution and other public hazards”. This law can be regarded as a base law for all environmental pollution prevention laws. it is only a principled provision of the general outline. It does not specify which types of pollution should be controlled. The expression of “other public hazards” is also vague. It cannot be used as a direct legal basis for relief. 

According to article 83, “In the spirit of helping production, making things convenient for people’s lives, enhancing unity and mutual assistance, and being fair and reasonable, neighboring users of real estate shall maintain proper neighborly relations over such matters as water supply, drainage, passageway, ventilation, and lighting. Anyone who causes obstruction or damage to his neighbor, shall stop the infringement, eliminate the obstruction, and compensate for the damage”. The so-called “lighting” means that the light is sufficient without interference from external adverse factors and harmful light. In the current case of light pollution, the court’s judgment is mostly based on neighbor relations. This shows that the limitations of the law in the application of the case must first satisfy the condition of occurrence between adjacent real estate. This makes the neighboring right seem to be a little powerless in the relief of light pollution. 

According to Article 90, “An oblige of an immovable shall not, in violation of State regulations, discard solid waste or discharge hazardous substances, such as air and water pollutants, noises, and optical and electromagnetic radiation”. In the legislation, the Property Law is the first to incorporate light pollution into the scope of legal regulation. It strictly prohibits the destruction of the light environment and sets mandatory restrictions for emitted light. However, the provisions on light pollution in this article are too simple and have obvious limitations. This article stipulates that “obligations” are mainly restricted to real estate owners, and light pollution regulations in China require further improvement. 

According to Article 24, “Units that cause environmental pollution and other public hazards shall incorporate the work of environmental protection into their plans and establish a responsibility system for environmental protection, and must adopt effective measures to prevent and control the pollution and harm caused to the environment by waste gas, wastewater, waste residues, dust, malodorous gases, radioactive substances, noise, vibration, and electromagnetic radiation generated in the course of production, construction, or other activities.” Again this particular law does not take light pollution into account. 

According to Article 39, The penalties imposed by the administrative departments of forestry and principles shall be as follows. First, those who install glass curtain walls in buildings in natural dark areas, such as nature reserves and forest parks, shall be fined no more than 50,000 yuan (7450 USD). Second, those who use night scene lighting, lighting, and lighting of outdoor advertising in dark environment areas shall be fined less than 50,000 yuan (7450 USD) [24]. Only Guangzhou has put forward relevant contravention fines. 

Though China’s light pollution laws and regulations require improvements to the legislative model, such as special legislation on light pollution, the government has introduced many measures to prevent and control light pollution. 

1- In the prevention and control of light pollution in urban environmental lighting, the laws of Shanghai are clearly against direct light falling into residential buildings. 

2- According to CIE (Commission Internationale de L’Eclairage), there are four types of environmental regions: namely, a naturally dark environmental region, a low-brightness environmental region, a medium-brightness environmental region, and a high-brightness environmental region. Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Beijing also use the division of environmental areas to understand night lighting design and light radiation environmental management. 

3- To better view the night sky, the brightness of the earth's atmosphere must be reduced, so the upward light output ratio (ULOR) of outdoor lamps is important. Shanghai has a standard for the ULOR of different areas. 

4- Guangzhou has imposed time limits on nighttime lighting in public areas. It is prohibited to have lighting in public areas from 22:00 to 6:00 in the evening and when it affects the normal rest of the surrounding residents.  

5- If the surrounding interference light exceeds the technical requirements and causes complaints from residents, the city management comprehensive law enforcement department shall enforce the relevant regulations. Businesses should deactivate ads, logos, and signboard lighting at night before 23:30. This article only regulates the lighting time of style and commercial venues, which fully reduces residents’ complaints and the problem of urban light pollution. 

6- Shanghai proposed that a tree be irradiated from 3m to 5m, and a floodlight should be installed on the ground and not produce glare. Flowers should be illuminated from top to bottom, light sources containing wavelengths harmful to trees should be strictly limited around trees, and lighting time and intensity should be controlled for general trees. Lighting facilities should not be entangled or installed on trees for long periods and should not affect the growth of plants. 

7- Since rivers, bridges, ponds, fountains, and other bodies of water are commonly illuminated, Shanghai has proposed regulations for lighting rivers with seasonal or periodic water level changes. Lighting equipment on riverbanks and bridges must consider the effects of changes in the water level. 

8- Guangzhou City proposed that, to set up a large electronic display of neon light-illuminating materials and video outdoor advertising facilities, its location, brightness, and operating time should meet the technical specifications and light environment control requirements of the area. 

9- Shanghai limits self-illuminating billboards and surface brightness of signboards and displays and also gives a maximum for functional lighting of urban commercial areas, public event areas, stadiums, and other places. 

10- In addition, all of these Chinese cities have limits for maximum brightness and measurement of natural environment illuminance. In the measurement step, there are four steps: 

I. Determine that the running status of the LED display and the displayed image signal are the same as when the display is actually running. 

II. Measure the relevant ambient illuminance with an illuminometer and record the ambient illuminance conditions. 

III. In the visible range of the LED display audience, select the test point where you may observe the peak brightness of the screen, the position of the test point is extremely high, and the LED screen is tested at this position. 

IV. In a certain period of time, use the luminance meter to capture the peak brightness on the LED display and record it as L (i).  

Japan

 The governmental environmental agency of Japan published "Guidelines for Light Pollution - Aiming for Good Lighting Environments" in March 1998. This is the first governmental guideline in the world that deals with the reduction of light pollution. An essential point of this Guideline is to give a checklist to use when outdoor lighting fixtures are prepared. This is a perfect list: therefore, if one follows this list, we may minimize light pollution. The guideline reviews the problems relating to bad lighting and defines good lighting systems. It also requests good monitoring systems. However, it gives only three lines of text for monitoring night-time brightness by satellite measurement. The night sky brightness was also measured at three stations in Japan to study the current situation and the growth rate of light pollution.  

European Union (EU)

EU: Light pollution and not only humans but other species too. 

Some countries of the EU also have considered wildlife-friendly lighting design and the management of light sources near protected wildlife. The guidelines have recognized the potential of conflicting requirements for wildlife conservation and human safety and the need for a balance between both. 

When formulating rules for managing artificial light, it is crucial to understand how animals perceive light. The implemented guidelines include a step-by-step process to prevent harm to migratory animals. Before installing artificial light sources, an environmental impact analysis will take adverse consequences into account. 

Things that were kept in consideration: Natural darkness is important for conservation and should be protected by good quality lighting design and management. Utilizing low-intensity illumination with a dimmable feature and limiting the time are advised. Additionally, light with filtered or decreased ultraviolet wavelengths is less likely to disturb wildlife if it is kept near to the ground.