South Korea Designates 31 New Toxic Chemicals

31 new substances were listed as toxic chemical substances after hazard evaluation under K-REACH. They are still considered new chemical substances in South Korea and require new chemical registration other than the original registrants. Transitional measures were provided for control of these toxic substances under CCA regulation.

On July 17, 2020, South Korea's National Institute of Environmental Research (NIER) officially listed 31 toxic chemical substances (Given No. 2020-1-970~2020-1-1000) into the Toxic Chemical Substances List (TCSL). They were registered and found toxic after the hazard evaluation under K-REACH. In addition, the concentration limits of 7 toxic chemical substances that were previously desiganted (Given No. 97-1-12, 2006-1-556, 2006-1-557, 2006-1-558, 2014-1-694, 2019-1-930 and 2019-1-951) were updated. The updates came into effective immediately.

The updates details are accessible here^[1].

The transitional measures for the newly designated 31 toxic chemical substances are as below:

Manufacturers or Importers of these newly added toxic chemicals shall submit a "Written Confirmation of Details for Chemical Product" within six months in accordance with Article 9 of Chemical Control Act (CCA)
Handling of these newly added toxic chemicals is subject to labeling within six months in accordance with Article 16 of CCA
Importers should within six months conduct importation notification according to Article 20 of CCA.
All enterprises handling these newly added toxic chemicals or having installed and operated handling facilities for these toxic chemicals shall prepare within 2 years according to Article 23 Paragraph 1 of CCA an off-site impact analysis report
Manufacture, trade, storage, transport or use of these newly added toxic chemicals is subject to business licensing in accordance with Article 28 of CCA. In addition, stakeholders should comply with the requirements in terms of facilities, equipment and technical personnel qualifications, etc. within two years after the implementation of this announcement to obtain their license.
All enterprises handling these newly added toxic chemicals or having installed and operated handling facilities for these toxic chemicals shall comply with the standards specified in Annex 1 of CCA Enforcement Rules within one year and shall comply with the standards specified in Annex 5 of CCA Enforcement Rules within 4 years.