G/TBT/N/KOR/980  
25 June 2021  
(21-5147) Page: 1/3 
Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade  Original:  English  
 
  
NOTIFICATION  
The following notification is being circulated in accordance with Article 10.6  
 
1. Notifying Member:  REPUBLIC OF KOREA   
If applicable, name of local government involved (Article 3.2 and 7.2):   
2. Agency responsible:  Ministry of Environment (ME)  
Name and address (including telephone and fax numbers , email and website 
addresses, if available) of agency or authority designated to handle comments 
regarding the notification shall be indicated if different from above:   
Chem icals Policy Division, Ministry of Environment,  
Building #6, 11, Doum 6 -ro, Sejong, 30103, Republic of Korea  
Tel: 82 -44-201-6783  
Fax: 82 -44-201-6786 
E-mail:parksc23@korea.kr   
Website: www.me.go.kr  
3. Notified under Article 2.9.2 [   ], 2.10.1 [X], 5.6.2 [   ], 5.7.1 [   ], other :  
4. Products covered (HS or CCCN  where applicable, otherwise national tariff 
heading. ICS numbers may be provided in addition, where applicable):  Chemical 
substances, and polymers  
5. Title, number of pages and language(s) of the notified document:   
1. Draft partial amendment of the Enfo rcement Decree of the Act on Registration, 
Evaluation, etc. of Chemicals (19 page(s), in Korean ) 
2. Draft partial amendment of the Enforcement Rule of the Act on Registration, Evaluation, 
etc. of Chemicals (15 page(s), in Korean)  
6. Description of content:   
Name of Law: "Draft partial amendment of the Enforcement Decree of the Act on 
Registration, Evaluation, etc. of Chemicals"  
- Major Contents:  
A. Additional chemical substances that can be waived some of data requirements for 
registration (Article 13) 
1) Polymers that are intended to manufacture or import less than 1,000 ton/y.  
2) Chemical substances that relevant data is already submitted to obtain an approval of 
biocidal substance in accordance with the "Act on Consumer Chemical Products and 
Biocides Safety".  
B. Improved procedure for designation of authorization substances (Article 19)  
1) When intending to designate authorization substance(s), the Ministry of Environment 
(ME) selects and announces the candidate substance(s) beforehand.  G/TBT/N/KOR/980  
 
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  2) When it is necessary to perform risk review on candidate substance, ME surveys the 
current status of its distribution on the market first, and then designates it as an 
authorization substance, if appropriate.   
3) When intending to designate authorization substa nce or provide grace period of 
authorization, ME establishes and operates a consultative group consisting of 
manufacturers, importers and users of the concerned chemical substance, with a view to 
listen the voice of stakeholders.  
C. ME can request the info rmation on export and import of chemical substance (Article 
29(3))  
1) When it is recognized to be necessary for checking whether registration or notification 
is completed regarding manufacture or import of chemical substance, ME can request the 
Korea Custo ms Service to provide export, import or return declarations under 
Article  245(2) of the "Enforcement Decree of the Customs Act".  
D. Improvement of the provisions related to entrusted works (Article 19)  
1) Regarding a permission for use of hazard data under  Article 19(2) of the Act on 
Registration and Evaluation of Chemical Substances, ME entrusts relevant works (i.e. 
collection of the fees to use the hazard data) to the Korea Environment Corporation 
(KECO).      
2) ME entrusts the following works to the Kore a Chemicals Management Association 
(KCMA) that is established pursuant to Article 53 of the Chemicals Control Act: the works 
to support the communication of chemicals information under Article 29(1) of the Act on 
Registration and Evaluation of Chemical Sub stances; the works for administrative, 
technical and financial support that the industry has and utilizes existing vertebrate test 
data under Article 42(2) of the "Act on Registration and Evaluation of Chemical 
Substances."  
Name of Law: "Draft partial amen dment of the Enforcement Rule of the Act on 
Registration, Evaluation, etc. of Chemicals"  
- Major Contents:  
A. Additional chemical substances that can be waived some of data requirements for 
registration (Article 5)  
1) For polymers that are intended to manu facture or import less than 1,000 ton/y, ME 
waives the risk data requirements under Article 5(1)2 of the Enforcement Rule of the Act 
on Registration and Evaluation of Chemical Substances.  
2) ME waives some data requirements for registration if such data is  already submitted 
to obtain an approval of biocidal substance in accordance with the Act on Consumer 
Chemical Products and Biocides Safety.  
B. Submission of the opinion about hazard review results (Article 24)  
1) If there is an opinion about results of ha zard review, those received the results may 
submit his/her opinion to the National Institute for Environmental Research (NIER) within 
20 days from the date when he/she receives the review results.  
C. Methods to prepare and provide the chemical safety information (Article 36)  
1) When existing substance is still within the grace period of registration and not 
registered yet, or when substance is registered without submission of risk data as its 
manufacture/import amount is less than 10 ton/y, a person wh o provides MSDS within 
the supply chain shall include registration or notification number of the chemical 
substance in MSDS.      
D. Additional data to be submitted to register nanomaterials (Attachment 1)  
1) ME requests the submission of the data, includin g particle size, particle size 
distribution, particle shape and length/diameter ratio, when applying for registration of 
nanomaterials.  G/TBT/N/KOR/980  
 
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  7. Objective and rationale, including the nature of urgent problems where 
applicable:  To have the information of chemical substances that are manufactured in or 
imported to the Republic of Korea, with a view to prevent public health and environmental 
damage from chemical substances; Protection of human health or safety  
8. Relevant documen ts:  
• ME Public Notice No. 2021 -420 (3 June 2021)  
• ME Public Notice No. 2021 -421 (3 June 2021)  
9. Proposed date of adoption:  August 2021  
Proposed date of entry into force:  August 2021,  
14 October (Article 29(3) of Enforcement Decree),  
12 months from the date of adoption (Article 19 of Enforcement Decree),  
6 months from the date of adoption (Article 24 of Enforcement Rule)  
10. Final date for comments:  40 days from notification  
11. Texts available from:  National enquiry point [X] or address, telephone and fax 
numbers and email and website addresses, if available , of other body:   
Korea WTO TBT Enquiry Point  
Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT) Division  
Korean Agency for Technology and Standards (KATS)  
93 Isu -ro Maengdong -myeon Eumseong -gun 
Chungchungbuk -do  
27737  
+(82) 43 870 5525  
+(82) 43 870 5682 (Fax)  
tbt@korea.kr  
http://www.knowtbt.kr  
https://members.wto.org/crnattachments/2021/TBT/KOR/21_4314_00_x.pdf  
https://members.wto.org/crnattachments/2021/TBT/KOR/21_4314_01_x.pdf