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On November 2, 2023, South Korea’s Ministry of Environment (MoE) issued two notices to solicit public comments on the draft revisions regarding the K-REACH Enforcement Rules and the K-REACH Enforcement Decree. Comments are welcome before January 2, 2024. The MoE also notified WTO of these two draft revisions for public consultation lasting 60 days. The implementation date of these revisions as proposed in the WTO notifications is January 30, 2024.
Draft revision to K-REACH Enforcement Rules
Under K-REACH, if a substance’s hazards to human health or the environment can be confirmed via the hazard evaluation reports disclosed by overseas governments or overseas regulatory authorities, submission of certain testing data required for chemical registration application can be omitted. However, the corresponding proof is required to be provided. In practice, due to the copyright, enterprises need to purchase overseas hazard evaluation reports to leagally quote the relevant testing data for proof submission. To relieve compliance burden and cost, the MoE proposed in WTO Notification G/TBT/N/KOR/1181 to revise the K-REACH Enforcement Rules, allowing enterprises to just provide the source of the overseas hazard evaluation reports to the MoE for confirmation.
The draft revision this time and the proposed change to the critical registration tonnage band under K-REACH (from 0.1 t/y to 1 t/y; see CL news) reflect the Korea's ambition to reduce the compliance burden on enterprises while carrying out chemical management in a reasonable and scientific manner.
Draft revision to K-REACH Enforcement Decree
According to WTO Notification G/TBT/N/KOR/1180, the MoE proposed to revise the K-REACH Enforcement Decree, aiming to introduce an exemption from chemical registration under K-REACH for chemical substances manufactured by recycling wastes if they meet certain conditions. Below is an example to facilitate your understanding.
Substance A (handled by Company A) will be exempted from chemical registration under K-REACH, if it falls under all the following:
✅ Substance A is manufactured by recycling wastes;
✅ Substance A has been already registered by Company X (other companies except Company A); and
✅ Company A’s handling quantity of Substance A is less than or equal to that registered by Company X.
*Note: If the proposal was adopted, Company A should submit the application for confirmation of registration exemption to the MoE with the evidence to prove that Substance A is the same substance registered by Company X.
Currently, such substances are subject to chemical registration under K-REACH. However, under EU REACH, registration obligation is exempted for substances manufactured by recycling wastes if other companies have already completed the registration of the same substances. In this regard, the MoE proposed updates to the K-REACH Enforcement Decree to keep pace with EU REACH.
The draft revisions in Korean were issued by the following two notifications:
