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On August 27, 2021, South Korea’s Ministry of Environment (MoE) issued a notice for the changes of Article 29 of the Act on Registration and Evaluation of Chemicals (a.k.a. “K-REACH”) and Article 36 of the K-REACH Enforcement Rules, aiming to clarify the method of information transmission and simplify the information required to transfer to downstream links for some chemical substances. The revision took effect immediately.
According to Article 29 of K-REACH, the following two types of substances are stipulated to transmit required information in the supply chain, including the registration/notification number, substance names, hazards and risk information, and safety use information, etc.
Registered or notified chemical substances, or mixtures containing such substances.
Hazardous chemical substances designated by the MoE, or mixtures containing such hazardous substances and the content exceeds the threshold set by the MoE.
Regarding Article 36 of K-REACH Enforcement Rules, the safety information of chemical substances shall be prepared in format of the Attachment 25-Safety Information of Chemical Substances[1] and transmitted to the downstream users. However, if the Material Safety Data Sheet (MSDS) has been prepared in accordance with Article 41 of the Occupational Safety and Health Act (KOSHA), the Attachment 25 can be replaced by both Attachment 26-Safety Information of Chemical Substances (hazardous information)[2] and the MSDS while transmitting information to the downstream users. Moreover, the safety information of chemical substances shall be provided in writing or electronically.
Since not all chemical substances can provide the information on downstream uses and exposure of chemical substances as the Attachment 26 requires, the MoE simplified the information provision for some chemical substances. The MoE has changed Article 36 of the K-REACH Enforcement Rules to allow only providing MSDS and omitting Attachment 26 for substances that meet the following two conditions:
Existing hazardous chemical substances that not yet registered during the registration grace period
Substances that have been registered or notified in quantities of less than 10 tons per year. It should be noted that the registration or notification number shall be recorded in the Section 16 of the MSDS as reference.
