South Korea - Home

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.

News

News

South Korea updates the Regulations on preparation methods for registration application dossier and hazard review methods
South Korea updates the Regulations on preparation methods for registration application dossier and hazard review methods

The National Institute of Environmental Research (NIER) in South Korea updates ‘the Regulations on preparation methods for registration application dossier and hazard review methods’ under the Act on Registration and Evaluation...

Read More
South Korea provides a guideline for preparing for biocidal product approval submissions
South Korea provides a guideline for preparing for biocidal product approval submissions

National Institute of Environmental Research (NIER) in South Korea provides a guideline to prepare biocidal product approval submissions. Under the Consumer Chemical Products and Biocides Safety Control Act (K-BPR), manufacturers and...

Read More
ACF GHS Report