. /.  WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION   
G/TBT/N/KOR/357 
29 February 2012  
 (12-1149) 
Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade Original:   English 
  
 
NOTIFICATION 
 
The following notification is being circ ulated in accordance with Article 10.6 
 
1. Notifying Member:  REPUBLIC OF KOREA  
If applicable, name of local governme nt involved (Article 3.2 and 7.2):     
2. Agency responsible:  Ministry for Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MIFAFF) 
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 :    
3. Notified under Article 2.9.2 [   ], 2.10.1 [   ], 5.6.2 [   ], 5.7.1 [   ], other: X 
4. Products covered (HS or CCCN where applicable, otherwise national tariff heading. 
ICS numbers may be provided in addition, where applicable):  Environment-friendly 
agricultural products and environm ent-friendly organic materials. 
5. Title, number of pages and language(s) of the notified document:  Improved regulations 
on labelling of environmentally friendly ag ricultural product(total 3 pages in Korean) 
6. Description of content:  The amendments are as follows:  
- When figures or characters of environm entally friendly agricultural products are 
 marked on the packages or containers , other relevant information including 
 certification number, product item and plac e of manufacturing shall also be indicated 
 as prescribed by Ordinance of the Mini stry for Food, Agriculture, Forestry and 
 Fisheries. (Paragraph 2, Article 17) 
- The Ministry may revoke the designation of  certification bodies or order suspension 
 of their duties in whole or in part, even  when certification bodi es 1) have certified 
 agricultural products that fail to satisfy ce rtification standards due to intentional or 
 gross negligence of certification bodies, 2)  fail to comply with certification review 
 and re-inspection processes and methods, 3) fail to perfor m certification duties due to 
 winding-up, bankruptcy or other ca uses (Paragraph 1, Article 17-6)  
- The Minister of Food, Agriculture, Forest ry and Fisheries shall order any person who 
 has obtained certification of environmenta lly friendly agricultural products or any 
 distributor of such certified products to change labels of e nvironmentally friendly 
 agricultural products, to prohibit the use of  such labels or to ban sales of such 
 products or order to indicate  or correct the relevant in formation prescribed in the 
 lower part of Paragraph 2 of Article 17 when 1) examination of production and 
 distribution processes shows that the certif ied products fail to meet certification 
 standards, 2) the relevant information spec ified in the lower part of Paragraph 2 of 
 Article 17 is not indicated or falsely indicated or 3) it is  recognized that unlawful acts 
 have been committed in violation of Article 17-5. (Paragra ph 1, Article 18)  G/TBT/N/KOR/357 
Page 2  
 
- Certification shall also be revoked in the ca se of failure to comply with such orders 
 provided in Paragraph 1, Article 18 as to change the la bels, to suspend the use of such 
 labels, or to ban the sale of such products  or with orders to indicate or correct the 
 relevant information without any justifia ble causes, and in the case it is deemed 
 difficult to produce certified products due  to change or shut down of business. 
 (Subparagraph 3 and 4, Para graph 1 of Article 18-2) 
- The Minister of Food, Agriculture, Fo restry and Fisheries may verify if 
 environmentally friendly organic material  products can be used to produce organic 
 produce and publicly notify information of such products including their names and 
 main ingredients, and certify quality assu rance of superior products to foster 
 development of environmentally friendl y organic material products and quality 
 improvement. The minister may designate pe rtinent bodies that are equipped with 
 professionals and facilities for duties of  issuing public notifications and quality 
 certification. (Article 20-2 to 20-14: newly established)  
-  Any person who 1) is either put up fo r a public notification or obtains quality 
 certification (hereinafter "Public Notifica tion on Agricultural Materials") by fraud  or 
 other wrongful means, 2) attaches labels  of environmentally friendly agricultural 
 products or similar labels of such to pr oducts that are not e nvironmentally friendly 
 agricultural products, or  attaches labels  which differ from the details of Public 
 Notification on Agricultural Materials obtained in violat ion of Subparagraph 2 of 
 Article 17-5 or 3) blends materials that  are not allowed by Public Notification on 
 Agricultural Materials standards into products that have obtained a Public 
 Notification on Agricultural Materials will be subject to up to 3 years in prison or a 
 fine of up to 30 million won (Article 25) 
7. Objective and rationale, including the nature of urgent problems where applicable:  To 
create a legal basis to take administrative measures against environment-friendly agricultural product certification bodies and a basis to issue a public notification and quality certification 
of environmentally friendly  organic material products.  
8. Relevant documents:   Environment-Friendly Agricultu re Fosterage Act revised in 
March 9 2011 (Available in Korean) Korean 
9. Proposed date of adoption:   
Proposed date of entry into force:    This act was already adopted on 9 March 2011 
This Act took into effect on 10 September 2011.
10. Final date for comments:  Competent authority will receive comments for sixty days after 
the date of notification and review the comments  during the revision process sometime in the 
future. 
11. Text available from:  National enquiry point [ X], or address, telephone and fax 
numbers, e-mail and web-site addres ses, if available of the other body:    
Environment-Friendly Agriculture Division of the Ministry for F ood, Agriculture, Forestry & 
Fisheries(MIFAFF) Tel.:  + 82-2-500-2126 Fax:  +82-2-507-2095 
E-mail:  yongeuk@korea.kr