[The Hwankyung Ilbo] The Ministry of Environment and the Korea Customs Service announced that they will include alien species into items subject to a ‘safety cooperative inspection’ starting on December 30 and establish a cooperative inspection system for the management of alien species at Incheon International Airport.
Under the Conservation and Use of Biological Diversity, imports of ‘potential risk species’ and ‘ecosystem disturbing species’ should be approved or reported in advance by the head of the local environmental office.
However, there have been difficulties in identifying information on imported alien species, and since customs clearance, there have been limitations in effectively checking the implementation of the legal import procedures.
The cooperative system consists of alien species experts from the National Institute of Ecology, a specialized agency under the Ministry of Environment, and relevant customs officials.
“With the establishment of a cooperative system, a foundation has been prepared to effectively block the inflow of potential risk species from the customs stage,” said an official at the Ministry of Environment. “We will gradually expand the cooperative system to other customs, including Incheon Port, in the future.”
조수빈 리포터 press@hkbs.co.kr
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