South Korea Designates Two New Toxic Chemical Substances

On 13 Jul 2016, South Korea’s Ministry of Environment (MoE) announced updates to the Toxic Chemical Substance List (TCSL) by MoE Announcement No. 2016-137. The updates are effective immediately. 

2 substances listed as KE No. 2014-1-729~2014-1-730 have been newly added to the TCSL associated with corresponding content threshold (%) for mixtures. These two substances were classified as toxic based on their hazard evaluation results under K-REACH after new chemical registration (CL news). 

The details of the two toxic substances are specified as below.

Transitional measures are provided for the above 2 newly added toxic chemical substances under which importers should within six months conduct importation notification according to the Article 20 of Chemical Control Act (CCA).

Manufacturing, trading, storing, transporting and using these substances are subject to business licensing in accordance with the Article 28 of CCA. 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.   

In addition to the adding of 2 toxic chemical substances, the KE No. of 5 toxic chemical substances previously announced by the MoE Announcement No. 2016-2 on 8 Jan 2016 (CL news) were changed from 2014-1-724~2014-1-728 to 2016-1-724~2016-1-728. The business license in terms of manufacturing, trading, storing, transporting and using these 5 substances should be obtained before 31 Dec 2017.

For classification and labeling information of the above 7 toxic chemical substances, please refer to NIER Announcement No. 2016-6 (CL news). 

Note: Manufacturers or Importers of toxic chemicals shall comply with CCA requirements accordingly (See CCA Chempedia).