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The Ministry of Environment of Korea (MoE) enacted the Act on Registration and Evaluation, etc. of Chemical Substances (K-REACH) on January 1, 2015 (last updated on July 10, 2024). K-REACH aims to protect public health and the environment through four key regulatory procedures: notification or registration, evaluation, authorization, and restriction of chemical substances.

Under K-REACH, manufacturers or importers of new chemical substances must register the substances before manufacture or import.

New chemical substances below 1 tonne per year (increased from 100 kg/year as of January 1, 2025) are subject to notification instead of registration and do not require hazard evaluation.

Manufacturers or importers of Priority Existing Chemical (PEC) substances must register the substances before manufacture or import.

Pre-registration of PEC substances is no longer possible, as the applicable transition period has already expired.

Existing chemical substances manufactured or imported at 1 tonne per annum (TPA) or more must be registered within the applicable grace periods. Only companies that have completed pre-registration are eligible for these grace periods, which vary depending on the tonnage band.

Once the applicable grace period for a tonnage band has expired, existing substances within that tonnage band can no longer be pre-registered and must be registered before manufacture or import in Korea.

Regulatory Briefing

Chemical inventories in South Korea are regulated under the Act on Registration and Evaluation of Chemical Substances (ARECS), commonly known as K-REACH [136].

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