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The Ministry of Environment of Korea (MoE) published the Act on Registration and Evaluation, etc of Chemical Substances (known as K-REACH) on January 1, 2015.  (The last update on 2024. 07. 10.). K-REACH aims to protect public health and the environment. This is achieved by four procedures: notification or registration, evaluation, authorization, and restriction of chemicals.

Under K-REACH, manufacturers or importers of a new chemical substance need to register the substances before manufacture or import. Substances less than 100 kg/ year (1t/year from January 1, 2025) only require notification and do not need to go through hazard evaluation. 

Manufacturers or importers of a Priority Existing Chemicals (PEC) substance must register the substances before manufacturing or importing. Pre-registration of PEC substances is impossible as the transition period has already passed.

Existing substances above 1 Tonne Per Annum (TPA) must be registered within grace periods. Only companies that carried out pre-registration can be entitled to the grace periods. The grace periods vary based on the tonnage band. After the grace periods for each tonnage band, existing substances within that tonnage band cannot be pre-registered, and they should be registered before placing the substances in Korea.

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Deadline Approaching for MSDS Submission in South Korea.
Deadline Approaching for MSDS Submission in South Korea.

Companies in South Korea that manufacture or import 10 to 100 tonnes of chemicals per year are required to submit their Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDSs) to the MSDS portal before...

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South Korea announces the results of "Monitoring of the implementation status of MSDS in 2023".
South Korea announces the results of "Monitoring of the implementation status of MSDS in 2023".

The Ministry of Employment and Labor (MoEL) announced the results of the "Monitoring of the Implementation Status of Material Safety Data Sheet (MSDS) in 2023" (220 locations, from July 10 to...

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ACF GHS Report