. /.  WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  G/SPS/N/KOR/174 
15 December 2004 
 (04-5516) 
Committee on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures Original:   English 
 
  
NOTIFICATION  
 
1. Member to Agreement notifying:   REPUBLIC OF KOREA
 
If applicable, name of local government involved: 
2. Agency responsible:   Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry 
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):  Agricultural products designated  by the Minister of Agriculture and Forestry 
(Subject items will be confirmed in 2005) 
4. Regions or countries likely to be affected, to the extent relevant or practicable:  Any 
trading partner 
5. Title, language and number of pages of the notified document:   MAF Public Notice No. 
2004-90, the Proposed Draft Amendment of the Agricultural Products Quality Control Act 
(2 pages, Available in Korean) 
6. Description of content:   
Korea introduces the Good Ag ricultural Practice (GAP) that comprehensively manages 
agricultural environment including soil and wa ter quality and the factors that can threaten 
food safety such as agricultural chemicals, heavy metals and hazardous organisms throughout 
the whole procedure from production to packing of agricultural products to provide high 
quality and safe agricultural pr oducts to consumers as well as  the traceability system that 
manages a series of procedures from production to  sales of agricultural products so that the 
concerned agricultural products can be traced thoroughly if any food safety issues occur. 
The Proposed Draft includes legal basis for the following: 
9 standard of facility and human resource s of the organization which certifies GAP 
9 standard and procedures of GAP certification 
9 registration items of the traceability system 
9 subject items and procedures of the traceability system. 
* This Notification will also be notified to the WTO Secretariat in accordance with relevant 
provisions of the WTO/TBT Agreement. 
7. Objective and rationale:  [ X ] food safety, [   ] animal health, [   ] plant protection, 
[   ] protect humans from animal/plant pest or disease,  [   ]  protect territory from other 
damage from pests G/SPS/N/KOR/174 
Page 2  
 
 8. International standard, guideline or recommendation:  
[ X ] Codex Alimentarius Commission, [   ] World Organization for Animal Health 
(OIE), [   ] International Plant Protection Convention, [   ] None  
If an international standard, guideline or recommendation exists, give the appropriate 
reference and briefly identify deviations:   Korea implements the GAP for fruits and 
vegetables by applying Codex guideline. When implementing the GAP for other agricultural products, the GAP standard for fruits and vegetables shall be applied as a basis. 
9. Relevant documents and language(s) in which these are available:  Official Gazette No. 
15758, 31 July 2004 (Available in Korean) 
10. Proposed date of adoption:   To be determined. 
11. Proposed date of entry into force:   To be determined. 
12. Final date for comments:  17 February 2005 
Agency or authority designated to handle comments:  [ X ] National notification 
authority, [ X ] National enquiry point, or address, fax number and E-mail address (if 
available) of other body:    
Division of Consumer Information and Food Safety 
Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry 
Tel:  82-2-500-1838 
Fax:  82-2-503-7277 
E-mail:  yoon.kwangil@maf.go.kr  
13. Texts available from:  [ X ] National notification authority, [ X ] National enquiry point, 
or address, fax number and E-mail address (if available) of other body: 
Division of Consumer Information and Food Safety 
Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry 
Tel:  82-2-500-1838 Fax:  82-2-503-7277 E-mail:  yoon.kwangil@maf.go.kr