WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  G/SPS/N/KOR/333 
29 June 2009  
 (09-3148) 
Committee on Sanitary a nd Phytosanitary Measures Original:   English 
 
 
 
NOTIFICATION  
 
1. Notifying Member:  REPUBLIC OF KOREA  
If applicable, name of local government involved:    
2. Agency responsible:  Korea Food and Drug Administration 
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):  Food additives 
4. Regions or countries likely to be affected, to the extent relevant or practicable: 
[ X ] All trading partners, or [   ] Specific regions or countries:    
5. Title of the notified document:  Proposed Amendments to the Standards and 
Specifications for Food Additives  Language:  Korean  Number of pages:  112 
6. Description of content:  The proposed regulation establishes and revises compositional 
specifications for 30 food additives. 
(1) Specifications for heavy metals including l ead, cadmium, mercury are strengthened or 
established in the following 30 items: 
Diluted benzoyl peroxide, hydrogen peroxi de, pectin, grape skin extract, hexane, 
carthamus red, carthamus yellow, active car bon, enzymatically decomposed lecithin, 
glucomannan, quillaia extract, gum ghatti, saffron color, carotene, candelilla wax, 
chlorophyll, thaumatin, pullulan, dammar gum, tomato color, lauric acid, stearic acid, 
palmitic acid, castor oil, myristic acid, oleic acid, capric acid, caprylic acid, nisin, natamycin. 
(2) Microbiological criteria are established for 6 items: 
 Glucomannan, gum ghatti, thaumatin , pullulan, nisin, natamycin. 
(3) Specification for residual solvents in pectin is strengthened. 
(4) Specification for cyanogen compounds in active carbon is established. 
(5) Specification for polycyclic (or higher) aromatic hydrocarbons is established in 
hexane and active carbon. 
Among the general test methods in F ood Additives Code, atomic absorption 
spectrophotometry is revised and inductive ly coupled plasma atomic emission 
spectrometry and test method for mercury are established. G/SPS/N/KOR/333 
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  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.    
8. Is there a relevant international stan dard?  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 (OIE) (e.g. Terrestrial or Aquatic 
Animal Health Code, chapter number)     
[   ] International Plant Protection Convention (e.g.  ISPM N°)     
[ 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:  The Korea 
Food and Drug Administration Advance Notice No. 2009-171, 22 June 2009 (available in 
Korean) 
10. Proposed date of adoption (dd/mm/yy) :  To be determined. 
Propose date of publication ( dd/mm/yy) :  To be determined. 
11. Proposed date of entry into force:  [   ] Six months from date of publication , and/or  
(dd/mm/yy) :  To be determined. 
[   ] Trade facilitating measure  
12. Final date for comments: [   ] Sixty days from the date of circulation of the 
notification and/or ( dd/mm/yy ):  22 August 2009 
Agency or authority designated to handle comments:  [ X ] National Notification 
Authority, [   ] National Enquiry Point.  Address, fax number and E-mail address (if 
available) of other body:    
International Trade & Statistics Office 
Korea Food and Drug Administration #194 Tongilro, Eunpyeong-gu Seoul, 122-704 Korea 
Tel:  +(82 2) 380 1661 
Fax:  +(82 2) 356 2893 E-mail: wtokfda@korea.kr  G/SPS/N/KOR/333 
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  13. Texts available from:  [ X ] National Notification Authority, [   ] National Enquiry 
Point.  Address, fax number and E-mail address (if available) of other body:    
Documents are available from the Korea Food and Drug Administration website at 
http://www.kfda.go.kr .  Also available from:   
International Trade & Statistics Office 
Korea Food and Drug Administration 
#194 Tongilro, Eunpyeong-gu Seoul, 122-704 Korea Tel:  +(82 2) 380 1661 Fax:  +(82 2) 356 2893 
E-mail:  wtokfda@korea.kr