국내 외래종 관리를 위한 법적 과제: 일본 「특정외래생물에 의한 생태계등과 관련된 피해 방지에 관한 법률」의 외래종 규정 분석을 중심으로

Invasive Alien Species (IAS) intentionally or unintentionally introduced from its original habitats may harm the environment, agriculture, forestry and fisheries. Recently, majority of countries across the globe have suffered severe damages to ecosystem, economy and public health due to the IAS. The developed countries such as United States, Australia and Japan have improved its IAS legislation in order to prevent the damages. In 2004, Japan which was previously much analogy to the circumstances of Korea on natural ecosystem and socio-economic conditions established a new single legislation called "Invasive Alien Species Act". The primary purposes of the act were to improve IAS management scheme, coordinate the regulating authorities over IAS management scattered in different legislation and agencies and to fill up any regulatory gaps in IAS management. The act prohibits raising, implanting, storing, carrying, importing and releasing of IAS and it clarifies the authority and responsibility in IAS management. Moreover, the act adopts the precautionary approach principle such as ecological risk assessment and setting of import restrictions. It also describes not only the implementation of systematic mitigation measures against IAS but also a liability of a causer provision. On the other hand, current Korean IAS legislation is inadequate to prevent the invasion and introduction of IAS. Furthermore, it does not effectively control the establishment and spreading, which will result in repeated establishment and damages by a new IAS introduced into Korea. In this study, we investigated and analysed the new IAS Act of Japan in order to point out the criteria for improving current Korean IAS legislation. The key criteria of the improvement are as follow: a) adoption of precautionary approach principle in IAS management; b) establishment of integrated and comprehensive management scheme for IAS; c) import regulation and control of IAS through ecological risk assessment; d) enhancement of IAS management measures; e) adoption of polluter pays principle.