South Korea Simplifies Import Requirements for 13 Restricted Toxic Chemicals

As per the circular released on November 8 of 2022, South Korea’s Ministry of Environment (MoE) adopted the amendments to the Enforcement Decree of Chemical Control Act (a.k.a. K-CCA Enforcement Decree) to relieve industry compliance burden caused by duplicative management. The amendments focus on simplifying the import requirements for substances that are designated as both toxic and restricted (hereinafter referred to as 'restricted toxic substances'), and will officially come into force on November 15, 2022. Updates are highlighted in red in the table below.

The substances are designated as restricted toxic substances.

Import requirements under the current K-CCA Enforcement Decree:

Submitting the 'Notification of Import' (for toxic substances); and
Applying for the 'Permission for Import' (for restricted substances).

Import requirements under the revised K-CCA Enforcement Decree:

The submission of the 'Notification of Import' (for toxic substances) can be omitted if the substance has obtained the 'Permission for Import' (for restricted substances).

There are 13 substances meet the foregoing precondition, such as methyl bromide, carbon tetrachloride, formaldehyde, cadmium, etc. Specific list can be accessed here (Page 5~7).

Background

According to K-CCA and its Enforcement Decree, if a company intends to import a restricted substance (whether it's toxic or not), the company should apply for the 'Permission of Import' prior to the importation. In practice, most of the documents required for the 'Notification of Import' for toxic substances and 'Permission for Import' for restricted substances are the same. The duplicative requirements and double charges increase the compliance burdens on importers of restricted toxic substances.

On October 26 of 2021, the MoE held a symposium to listen to the opinions and suggestions from stakeholders in this regard. To address this issue, the simplified import requirements were then proposed to add into K-CCA Enforcement Decree. The new rules implemented from December 2021 in practice, although they were not yet approved at that time. The official circular released recently is to officially adopt the rules in laws.