G/SPS/N/KOR/599  
 
29 May 2018  
(18-3181) Page: 1/3 
Committee on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures  Original: English  
 
  
NOTIFICATION  
1. Notifying Member: REPUBLIC OF KOREA  
If applicable, name of local government involved:  
2. Agency responsible: Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs (MAFRA)  
3. Products covered (provide tariff item number(s) as specified in national 
schedules deposited with the WTO; ICS numbers should be provided in addition, 
where applicable): Environment -friendly agricultural and fishery products, processed 
organic foods and  materials for organic farming  
4. Regions or countries likely to be affected, to the extent relevant or practicable : 
[X] All trading partners  
[ ] Specific regions or countries:  
5. Title of the notified document: Proposed Amendments to the act on Promotion of 
Environment -friendly Agriculture and Fisheries, and Management of and Support for 
Organic Foods . Language(s): Korean.  Number of pages: 32 
https:// members.wto.org/crnattachments/2018/SPS/KOR/18_2638_00_x.pdf  
6. Description of content: The proposed amendments mainly focus on the following:  
A. Revision of the terms, "environment -friendly agriculture and fisheries" an d "organic" 
(Article 2 (Draft))  
 Revise  the definitions of the terms, "environment -friendly agriculture and fisheries" 
and "organic",  focusing on agricultural environmental conservation, including the 
promotion of biodiversity and maintenance of healthy ecosystems, the objectives 
of environment -friendly agriculture and fisheries.  
B. Addition of qualifications for the application for certification of organic food, etc. 
(Article 20 (Draft))  
 A person whose products exceed the maximum residue limits of pesticides, by 
intention or gross negligence, and a person subject to a disposition of revocation 
three times shall be prohibited f rom applying for certification.  
C. Addition of the suspension of qualification as certification auditors (Article 26 -2 (Draft))  
 If an auditor fails to comply with procedures and  methods of certification or re -
audit by intention or gross negligence.  
 If an auditor delegates his/her certification service to the executive office r of a 
certification body, etc.  
D. Addition of grounds for disqualification of executive officers of certific ation bodies and 
specification of fine criteria (Article 26 -3 (Draft))  
 Executive officers of certification bodies who conducted certification duty, etc. on 
behalf of certification auditor or anyone who is responsible for certification duty  
 The grounds for  disqualification are revised to specify a fine of 1 million won or 
more to exclude a small fine.  
E. Addition of the requirement for cancelling the designation of certification agencies 
(Article 29 (Draft))  
 Revocation of the designation of a certified agency  which received "poor" result for 
the three consecutive times following the evaluation on certification agencies.  G/SPS/N/KOR/599  
 
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  F. The introduction of re -inspection for products confirmed to be inappropriate and 
organic agricultural materia ls (Articles 31 and 49 (Draft))  
 Establishment of grounds and standards where re -inspection can be conducted, 
when products ar e inspected to be inappropriate  
G. Ground for allowing only environment -friendly certified agricultural and fishery 
products and processed products to use a label usi ng words, such as "environment 
friendly" (Article 54 -2 (Draft))  
 Only environment -friendly certified agricultural and fishery products and processed 
products are allowed to use words including "environment friendly" to build trust 
while preventing confusion  and harm to the public in the use of environment -
friendly agricultural products.  
H. Penalty surcharge on person who repeatedly revokes certification; fine or penalty on 
person who publishes certification information without the consent of concerned party; 
and fine for negligence on person who failed to keep analysis information will be 
imposed (Articles 60, 62.2, and 62 (Draft))  
 Fine or penalty will be imposed if personal information related to certification, etc. 
is leaked by a certification auditor, without  the consent of the concer ned party 
(Article 60 (Draft))  
 Fine not exceeding five times of selling price will be imposed, if certification is 
revoked more than twice within three yea rs (Article 60.2 (Draft))  
 Fine for negligence will be imposed on failure to  keep test analysis information and 
on false report of certification result (Article 62 (Draft))  
7. Objective and rationale: [  ] food safety, [  ] animal health, [  ] plant protection, 
[X] protect humans from animal/plant pest or disease, [  ] protect territ ory from 
other damage from pests.  
8. Is there a relevant international standard? If so, identify the standard:  
[ ] Codex Alimentarius Commission (e.g.  title or serial number of Codex 
standard or related text) :  
[ ] World Organization for Animal Health (O IE) (e.g.  Terrestrial or Aquatic 
Animal Health Code, chapter number) :  
[ ] International Plant Protection Convention (e.g.  ISPM number) :  
[X] None  
Does this proposed regulation conform to the relevant international standard?  
[ ] Yes   [  ] No 
If no, describe, whenever possible, how and why it deviates from the 
international standard:  
9. Other relevant documents and language(s) in which these are available: 
Ministry  of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs (MAFRA) Public Notice No. 2017 -39 
(available in Korean)  
10. Proposed date of adoption (dd/mm/yy) : January 2019 or later  
Proposed date of publication (dd/mm/yy) : January 2019 or later  
11. Proposed date of entry into force: [  ] Six months from date of publication , and/or  
(dd/mm/yy) : January 2019 
[ ] Trade facilitating measure  G/SPS/N/KOR/599  
 
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  12. Final date for comments: [X]  Sixty days from the date of circulation of the 
notification and/or (dd/mm/yy) : 28 July 2018  
Agency or authority designated to handle comments: [  ] National Notification 
Authority, [X ] National Enquiry Point. Address, fax number and e -mail address (if 
available) of other body:  
Environment -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  
13. Text(s) available from: [  ] National Notification Authority, [X]  National Enquiry 
Point. Address, fax number and e -mail address (if available) of other body:   
Environment -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