Korean Government to Restrict Additional Chemical Substances

The South Korean government is looking to add to its list of restricted materials those highly harmful and hazardous among new chemical substances and existing chemical substances with an annual production or import volume of at least one ton.

Once put on the list, such materials are subject to substantial restrictions with regard to import, production, sale and use. The additional designation has been called for over and over, but has not occurred since 2009 because of opposition from the industry.

At the same time, the South Korean government is to adopt prior control, instead of its current follow-up control system, regarding biocides and biocidal products with reference to the case of the European Union. “We are planning on a practical control of hazardous chemical substances, beyond collection of information via registration, in the framework of the Act on Registration, Evaluation, etc. of Chemical Substances,” the government explained on May 11.

At present, the South Korean government is studying the hazardous chemical substance regulations of the United States to that end. The U.S. government is currently in control of 56 known substances and 187 types of assumed carcinogens.