South Korea Consults on Updates of Quantity Limits for Hazardous Chemicals that Require Submitting Chemical Accident Prevention Management Plan

Published on March 14, 2022, by MoE Notice No. 2022-147, South Korea’s Ministry of Environment (MoE) consulted on the amendments to the Regulation on the Stipulated Quantities for Toxic Substances, Restricted Substances, Prohibited Chemical Substances, and Substances subject to Authorization (hereafter referred to as the Regulation). 

The amendments include: 

• Adding five toxic substances (NIER Given No. 2021-1-1080~2021-1-1084) into Annex 1 of the Regulation, with the upper and lower handling quantities; 

• Adding one restricted substance (Acrylamide, NIER Given No.06-5-14, CAS No.79-06-1) into Annex 2 of the Regulation, with the upper and lower handling quantities; 

• Updating CAS Number of one toxic substance previously designated (Epichlorohydrin, NIER Given No. 97-1-192)

• Deleting one toxic substance previously designated (Amitrole, NIER Given No. 99-1-501, CAS No. 61-82-5) 

The details can be accessed here. 

Hazardous chemicals regulated under the Regulation, if exceeding the corresponding handling limits are subject to submit chemical accident prevention management plans mandated under the Chemicals Control Act. Basically, for a hazardous 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.