Proxy Purchase of Masks for Children and Seniors Allowed... Effective from the 9th (Comprehensive)

Proxy buyers must present ID and resident registration certificate... Foreigners also need health insurance card and alien registration card
Support for 'mask mini packaging' to address hygiene concerns during repackaging and sales... Provided at logistics centers and pharmacies

Kim Yong-beom, First Vice Minister of Strategy and Finance, is attending and speaking at a joint briefing held on the 8th at the Government Seoul Office regarding the 'Supplementary Measures for Stabilizing Mask Supply.' Photo by Yoon Dong-joo doso7@

[Asia Economy Reporter Kwangho Lee] The government has decided to allow proxy purchases of masks for children under 10 years old and elderly people over 80 years old. This will take effect from the 9th.

On the morning of the 8th, the government held a Mask Supply Stabilization Task Force (TF) meeting at the Government Seoul Office and announced supplementary measures to stabilize mask supply, including this content.

First, proxy purchases were permitted for those born in 2010 and later (4.58 million people), those born in 1940 and earlier (1.91 million people), and long-term care benefit recipients (310,000 people). People with disabilities were already included as proxy purchase targets according to the measures announced on the 5th.

Co-residents registered on the resident registration can buy masks on the proxy purchaser’s designated 5-day rotation day. At this time, the proxy purchaser must bring their official ID, a resident registration certificate listing both the proxy purchaser and the target person, and a long-term care certificate (for long-term care benefit recipients). Foreigners must present both their health insurance card and alien registration card.

This system will be applied mainly at pharmacies, while post offices and NongHyup stores will continue to sell only one mask per person until a duplicate purchase verification system is established.

However, proxy purchase days are assigned according to the last digit of the birth year: those ending in 1 or 6 can buy masks on Monday, 2 or 7 on Tuesday, 3 or 8 on Wednesday, 4 or 9 on Thursday, and 5 or 0 on Friday at official sales locations. On weekends, only those who could not purchase masks during the week are allowed to buy them.

The government also plans to provide official mask packaging paper to logistics centers and pharmacies to improve sales convenience and address hygiene concerns related to repackaging and selling in smaller quantities.

Additionally, the government has specified incentive plans for mask manufacturers to increase production.

On the 6th, as part of the 'Mask Supply Stabilization Measures,' the Public Procurement Service decided to contract directly with manufacturers instead of official sales outlets (post offices, NongHyup Hanaro Mart, pharmacies, etc.), but some companies declared contract cancellations, citing "the unit price is too low."

In response, the government decided to increase the unit price by 50 KRW per mask for manufacturers producing beyond their average weekday production volume.

The unit price will also be increased by 50 KRW for all weekend production. The government explained that this is expected to result in an additional production of 13.2 million masks.

Furthermore, when using new filters of different specifications from the existing melt-blown filters (MB filters), the approval process will be handled as a modification approval rather than a new approval, exempting some filter performance tests.

Also, after implementing the 'Mask Filter Nonwoven Fabric Supply Adjustment Measures,' the government issued a shipment adjustment order to four MB filter manufacturers to limit shipments to '4 tons of production over 3 days' for the first time.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.