7. Issues and Challenges in Aquatic Invasive Alien Species - Seafdec

5. Legislation, Laws and Regulations
5.1 National Level
Section 40 of the Fisheries Acts 1985 provides for the
control of live fish for import and export (see Appendix
6 for details). Movement of live fish requires a permit
issued by DoF under the quarantine measures on fish
health and disease control policy. For import and export,
it requires the importer or exporter to have import or
export license issued by Fisheries Development
Authority of Malaysia (FDAM), a sister agency under
the Ministry of Agriculture and Agro-based Industry.
Malaysia is a member of the Office International des
Épizooties (OIE, the World Organisation for Animal
Health). Under the World Trade Organization’s
(WTO) Sanitary and Phytosanitary Agreement (SPS)
Agreement, the OIE is recognized as the
international organization responsible for the
development and promotion of international animal
health standards, guidelines and recommendations
affecting trade in live terrestrial and aquatic animals
and their products. Several codes and conducts,
international guidelines binding and non-binding
5.2 Regional and Global Levels
Most countries are signatories of one or more
international agreements that include provisions for
the protection of biodiversity from the impacts of
aquatic IAS. Under the CBD signatory nations are
committed to developing national strategies, plans
or programs for the conservation and sustainable
use of biological diversity.
related to IAS issues have been designed and some
have been implemented by several countries. These
are listed in Appendix 7.
17