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.

Introduction to South Korea Regulatory Regions

News

South Korea Proposes Updating 136 Existing Chemical Entries Following Expiry of Confidentiality Protection
South Korea Proposes Updating 136 Existing Chemical Entries Following Expiry of Confidentiality Protection

South Korea’s Ministry of Climate, Energy and Environment has issued a draft amendment to the Existing Chemicals Inventory under the Act on Registration and Evaluation of Chemicals (K-REACH). The proposal would...

Read More
South Korea Updates POPs Regulation Following Stockholm Convention Amendments
South Korea Updates POPs Regulation Following Stockholm Convention Amendments

South Korea’s Ministry of Climate, Energy and Environment has issued a draft amendment to its regulations on persistent organic pollutants (POPs) to reflect recent updates adopted under the Stockholm Convention on Persistent...

Read More
ACF GHS Report