‘Chinese-made to Korean-made’ Beauty Product Exporter Caught by Customs

[Asia Economy (Daejeon) Reporter Jeong Il-woong] A beauty product export company that falsely labeled Chinese-made products as Korean-made and exported them overseas was caught by customs.

On the 26th, Incheon Main Customs announced that it recently sent the CEO of Company A to the prosecution without detention on charges of violating the Foreign Trade Act and Customs Act.

According to Incheon Customs, Company A imported Chinese-made beauty products and, after a simple repackaging process, made the products appear as if they were Korean-made and then re-exported them overseas.

The method involved importing finished Chinese-made artificial eyelashes, nail stickers, nail clippers, etc., and after export packaging, falsely labeling the country of origin as ‘Made in Korea’.

Company A is suspected of illegally exporting 10 million beauty products (worth approximately 9 billion KRW) to the United States, Europe, and other regions over the past five years using this method.

In particular, during this process, Company A declared the import price of the products 80% to 90% lower than the actual price in a total of 356 cases over five years, thereby evading customs duties.

They targeted overseas buyers who preferred Korean-branded products over Chinese ones due to concerns about defect rates and product safety, laundering the country of origin to continue transactions and penetrate overseas markets.

This activity was carried out a total of 307 times from 2017 to 2021, and the countries to which the products were exported with falsified origin include the United States, Spain, and Italy.

Separately from sending Company A to the prosecution, Incheon Customs issued a correction notice for a fine of over 200 million KRW for false origin labeling and unpaid customs duties exceeding 700 million KRW.

An official from Incheon Customs said, “Customs is currently investigating additional companies that falsely export beauty products imported from other countries as Korean-made using similar methods,” and added, “Customs will continue to crack down on export goods with false origin labeling that harm national credibility amid the global K-wave.”

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