G/SPS/N/KOR/608  
 
25 July 2018  
(18-4714) 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: Environment -Friendly Agriculture Division of the 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 a nd 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 the Promotion of 
Environmentally -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_3905_00_x.pdf  
6. Description of content: The proposed amendments mainly focus on the following:  
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 certi fied 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 minimized, by newly introducing proviso enabling flexible 
applica tion 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).  
(1) To ext end the scope of information on certified business operators and/or certified 
business operators which received administrative dispositions, to be provided by the 
Environmentally -Friendly Certification Management Information System, in order to 
fulfil cust omers' right to know.  G/SPS/N/KOR/608  
 
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  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 me asures 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 environmentally -
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, processi ng, 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 management of people who handle 
the products from the curren t 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 ope rator 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 certified business operator if pesticide (including materi als 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 fo r 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 be improved (Asterisk 9 -2 of the Draft).  
(1) If a c ertification 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 above 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 according 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 environmentally -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: [  ] food safety, [  ] animal health, [  ] plant protection, 
[X] protect humans from animal/plant pest or disease, [  ] protect territory from 
other damage from pests.  
8. Is there a relevant international standard? If so, identify the s tandard:  
[ ] Codex Alimentarius Commission (e.g.  title or serial number of Codex 
standard or related text) :  
[ ] World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) (e.g.  Terrestrial or Aquatic 
Animal Health Code, chapter number) :  G/SPS/N/KOR/608  
 
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  [ ] 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 stand ard:  
9. Other relevant documents and language(s) in which these are available: Ministry 
of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs (MAFRA) Public Notice No. 2018 -237 (available in 
Korean)  
10. Proposed date of adoption (dd/mm/yy) : October 2018 or later  
Proposed date of publication (dd/mm/yy) : October 2018 or later  
11. Proposed date of entry into force: [  ] Six months from date of publication , and/or  
(dd/mm/yy) : To be determined.  
[X] Trade facilitating measure  
12. Final date for comments: [X ] Sixty days from the date of circulation of the 
notification and/or (dd/mm/yy) : 23 September 2018  
Agency or authority designated to handle comments: [  ] National Notification 
Authority, [X]  National Enquiry Point. Address, fax number and e -mail address (i f 
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