G/TBT/N/KOR/782  
 
24 July 2018  
(18-4645) 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 Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs (MAFRA)  
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:   
Environmentally -Friendly Agriculture Division of the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural 
Affairs (MAFRA)  
Tel.: +82 -44-201-2432, 2433  
Fax: +82 -44-868-0483 
E-mail: llty@korea.kr  
3. Notified und er Article 2.9.2 [ X], 2.10.1 [   ], 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): 
Environmentally -friendly agricultural and fishery products, processed organic foods and 
materials for organic farm ing 
5. Title, number of pages and language(s) of the notified document: Proposed 
Amendments to the Act on the Promotion of Environmentally -friendly Agriculture and 
Fisheries, and Management of and Support for Organic Foods (98 page(s), in Korean)    
6. Description of content:  
A. Certified business operators shall take training on environmentally -friendly agriculture in 
a mandatory manner (Articles 10 and 16 (1), Asterisks 3 and 11 of the Draft)  
1)  Those wishing to apply for or renew their certifications should take training related to 
the environmentally -friendly agriculture every two years in a mandatory manner  
B. Labelling requirement for organic food, etc. and pesticide -free agricultural produce, etc. 
shall be improved. (Article 18 (2) and Asterisks 5,  6 and 12 of the Draft)  
1) To exclude "the name of the certified agency" from the labelling requirement for organic 
food, etc. and pesticide -free agricultural produce, etc. in order to minimize any 
inconvenience that certified business may face due to the  change of the agency  
C. Having in place additional ways to apply for designation of the notifying agency (Article 
60 (1) of the Draft)  
1) Inconvenience that stakeholders may face due to the cancellation of designation of 
notifying agencies shall be minimi zed, by newly introducing proviso enabling flexible 
application for designation, in case of emergency where the designation of the agencies is 
cancelled, etc.  
D. More information shall be provided from the Environmentally -Friendly Certification  
Management  Information System (Article 70 (1) of the Draft)  G/TBT/N/KOR/782  
 
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  1) To extend the scope of information on certified business operators and/or certified 
business operators which received administrative dispositions, to be provided by the 
Environmentally -Friendly Certific ation Management Information System, in order to fulfil 
customers’ right to know   
E. Certification requirements including on sanitation and safety management shall be 
completed (Asterisks 3 and 11 of the Draft)  
1) To complete quality management regulations  of the products, by devising regulations on 
sanitation measures for operators at the harvest and/or post -harvest; on safety 
management of tools and equipment; and on the prevention of environmental pollution 
around nearby farms, so that certified environm entally -friendly agricultural and livestock 
products that people can trust can be distributed  
2) To complete the regulation on prohibiting the use of materials with pesticide 
components in organic and pesticide -free livestock products  
F. Period of keeping  the records on the documents on manufacturing, processing, and 
people who handle the products (Asterisk 4 of the Draft)  
1) To extend the period of keeping the records on the documents on manufacturing and/or 
processing, and the ones related to the manage ment of people who handle the products 
from the current three months to one year, to comply with the certificate validity period  
G. Disciplinary measures for certified business operators that made violations shall be 
stricter (Asterisk 8 of the Draft)  
1) Individuals shall be classified into a certified operator and a certified product, in order to 
prevent the confusion in implementing disciplinary measures    
2) The criteria for punishment should be in place, in order to cancel the certification of a 
certifi ed business operator if pesticide(including materials with pesticide components) is 
used in livestock farms or pesticide is detected in livestock products    
3) Regulations shall be in place to order corrective measures at the first time of violation 
where organosynthetic agricultural chemicals or drugs for animal use are detected in 
livestock products, organic processed food, etc. due to Force Majeure, under the Standards 
for Handling Agricultural Produce   
H. Requirements for Certification Authority shall b e improved (Asterisk 9 -2 of the Draft)  
1) If a certification authority is approved only because it has past experience of reviewing 
certifications, the regulation of such certification shall be eliminated. A person with 
veterinary license shall be added to  the list of qualified certification authority, in order to 
enhance expertise of livestock certification  
I. Administrative dispositions of certified agencies shall be stricter (Asterisk 10 of the 
Draft)  
1) If a certified agency rated as "moderate" and abov e succeeds the position of another 
certified agency, the number of violations the predecessor already made shall not be 
succeeded.  
2) Punishment criteria for detailed items of designation shall be in place so that disciplinary 
measures can be applied accor ding to the severity of a violation, when standard or criteria 
have been violated  
J. To expand inspection on harmful components in notified organic agricultural materials 
(Asterisks 13 and 14 of the Draft)  
1) To lay the foundation for the production of env ironmentally -friendly certified products 
that people can trust, by adding organosynthetic agricultural chemicals to the inspection 
list of harmful components in notified organic agricultural materials  
7. Objective and rationale, including the nature of urgent problems where 
applicable: Protection of human health or safety  G/TBT/N/KOR/782  
 
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  8. Relevant documents:  Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs (MAFRA) Public 
Notice   No. 2018 -237 (available in Korean)   
9. Proposed date of adoption: October  2018 or later  
Proposed date of entry into force: October  2018 or later  
10. Final date for comments: 60 days from notification  
11. Texts available from: National enquiry point [  ] or address, telephone and fax 
numbers and email and website addresses, if available, of other body:   
Environment -Friendly Agriculture Division of the Ministry of Agriculture, Food andRural 
Affairs (MAFRA)  
Tel.: +82 -44-201-2432, 2433  
Fax: +82 -44-868-0483 
E-mail: llty@korea.kr  
 
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