The Diet enacted a new law Thursday that bans the import and breeding of designated nonindigenous animals and plants that damage Japan's native ecological systems and agricultural crops.
The law, which had cleared the House of Councilors, was approved by the House of Representatives on Thursday. It features fines of up to 3 million yen for individual violators and 100 million yen for corporate violators.
Individual violators might also face up to three years in prison.
The law bans the import, trade, breeding and disposal of designated alien species unless approved by the government for research and other special purposes.
With the law coming into force within a year, the government will now move to devise basic policy guidelines and compile a list of the foreign species subject to the ban.
The Environment Ministry said during Diet deliberations that if designated animals and plants are already being raised, the state plans to find entities to take control of them.
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