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Editor's Note: This article was originally published in March 2025 to analyze the proposed handling limits for 26 toxic chemicals newly designated in January, and was updated on 27 April 2025 to introduce the finalized version.
By the MoE Announcement No. 2025-72 issued on April 27, 2025, South Korea's MoE adopted the proposed handling quantity limits for 26 newly designated toxic substances (Given No. 2025-1-1223 ~ 2025-1-1248) to align with their updates in the Toxic Chemical Substances List made on January 24, 2025. Besides, the chemical 'Chrysotile (Given No. 06-5-7)’ previsouly listed in Annex 2 restricted chemicals has been deleted and added to Given No. 06-4-27 in Annex 3 prohibited chemicals to align with the designation made in on December 5, 2024.
According to K-CCA and the Regulation, for a target chemical, exceeding the upper handling limit requires submitting the Grade 1 chemical accident prevention management plan, while the Grade 2 chemical accident prevention management plan can apply if it only exceeds the lower handling limit.
The updates came into force immediately. The MoE announcement is available here.
Proposed draft in March 2025
South Korea’s Ministry of Environment (MoE) recently initiated a public consultation on the draft amendments to the Stipulated Quantities for Toxic Substances, Restricted Substances, Prohibited Substances, and Substances Subject to Authorization. Consultation period will end on April 11, 2025.
Under K-CCA, toxic substances, restricted substances, prohibited substances, and substances subject to authorization are required to submit a chemical accident prevention management plan if they exceed the corresponding handling limits specified in the Stipulated Quantities for Toxic Substances, Restricted Substances, Prohibited Substances, and Substances Subject to Authorization. This Regulation includes Annex 1 for toxic substances, Annex 2 for restricted substances, and Annex 3 for prohibited substances. As for the substances subject to authorization, eleven candidate substances for authorization under K-REACH have been proposed, including benzene, bisphenol A, DBP, BBP, etc. Currently, no substances are on the Authorization List.
The regulation will be dynamically amended according to the updates to lists of toxic substances, restricted substances, and prohibited substances. This time the draft amendments include:
Add proposed handling limits in Annex 1 for 26 toxic chemical substances (Given No. 2025-1-1223 ~ 2025-1-1248) newly designated on January 24, 2025 (CL news).
Delete 'Chrysotile (Given No. 06-5-7)’ from Annex 2 restricted chemical and add it to Given No. 06-4-27 in Annex 3 prohibited chemicals, because this previously restricted chemical has been designated as prohibited chemical on December 5, 2024 (CL News).
Details about these target chemical substances and their handling limits can be accessed here.
