According to the Han River Basin Environmental Office, the IT system is now open for submission of annual reports under K-REACH. The submission deadline is 30 Jun 2017.
K-REACH stipulates that manufacturers, importers or sellers should report annually to MoE the volume and use etc. information of (1) all new chemical substances regardless of tonnage and (2) existing chemical substances at or above 1 ton/year in the previous year (Jan 1-Dec 31). The requirements are the same as last year (CL news).
Last year the Han River Basin Environmental Office received about 80,000 annual reports. The MoE has inspected domestic enterprises if they complied with annual reporting requirements. Some enterprises that failed to submit reports have been punished accordingly.
South Korea notified WTO of the K-REACH revision (G/TBT/N/KOR/700) in Jan 2017, in which the annual reporting system is proposed to be abolished (CL news). If passed the new revision would enter into force in Jun 2018, and annual reporting in 2018 would still likely be required. The takehome message is that before implementation of the new revision, the current annual reporting mechanism still applies.
*REACH24H Consulting Group is experienced in K-REACH compliance. We have developed an IT platform called “KR Cloud” for collecting information required for the annual report. It will help our clients build up their own company database and aid in timely recording of export information related to South Korea. KR Cloud also helps manage downstream importers information. Please contact us to learn more if you are interested.
