Mandatory Prior Notice and Stakeholder Consultation Before Designating Chemical Permitted Substances

Resolution of the Cabinet Meeting on the Amendment to the Enforcement Decree of the Hwapyeong Act

[Sejong=Asia Economy Reporter Joo Sang-don] In the future, when the Ministry of Environment intends to designate authorized chemical substances, it must first announce candidate substances for authorization and obligatorily collect opinions from various stakeholders including industry, experts, and the public.

The Ministry of Environment announced that the partial amendment to the Enforcement Decree of the "Act on Registration and Evaluation of Chemicals" was approved at the Cabinet meeting on the 12th and will be enforced from the 14th. Authorized substances are chemicals suspected of posing risks and can be manufactured, imported, or used only with the approval of the Minister of Environment.

First, the prior opinion collection procedure for designating authorized substances has been strengthened. When the Ministry of Environment intends to designate authorized substances, it must first select and announce candidate substances for authorization and broadly collect opinions in advance from various stakeholders such as industry, experts, and the public regarding the substitutability of each candidate substance, industry response conditions, urgency, and so forth, before deciding whether to designate the authorized substances.

The scope of cases where submission can be omitted during chemical substance registration applications has been expanded. For polymer compounds manufactured or imported in quantities less than 1,000 tons annually, submission of "data related to risk" can be omitted.

Additionally, to verify compliance with chemical substance registration and reporting, the Minister of Environment may request the Korea Customs Service to provide data related to chemical substance exports and imports when necessary. Through this, the Ministry of Environment plans to receive from the Customs Service data related to declarant information, product names, and specifications of export/import goods reported under the Customs Act to verify whether obligations for chemical substance registration and reporting are properly fulfilled.

Park Bong-gyun, Director of the Chemical Substance Policy Division at the Ministry of Environment, said, "This amendment to the Enforcement Decree increases predictability and acceptability in designating authorized substances and simplifies the submission of registration documents for some chemical substances, thereby reducing registration burdens. We will continue to communicate with stakeholders such as industry and civil society to operate the system rationally."

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