KOTRA, Seoul Customs and Seoul Small Business Administration Hold Seminar on Expanding Japanese E-commerce

Guidance on Japan Online Platform Entry Policies and the Promotion Direction of Maritime Transport Simplified Customs Clearance

KOTRA held a seminar on the 23rd of this month with the Seoul Main Customs Office (hereinafter Seoul Customs) and the Seoul Regional Small and Medium Venture Business Administration (hereinafter Seoul SMBA) to promote exports through Japanese e-commerce. Jung Wooyoung, Head of KOTRA's Innovation Growth Division, is speaking.

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Sun-mi] KOTRA announced on the 24th that it held a seminar to promote e-commerce exports to Japan in collaboration with the Seoul Main Customs Office and the Seoul Regional Small and Medium Venture Business Administration. About 400 representatives from Korean companies attended the seminar held at the Grand Conference Room of COEX in Seoul.

According to statistics from the Korea Trade Statistics Promotion Institute, Korea's e-commerce exports to Japan last year amounted to $272.62 million, more than nine times the amount in 2019. However, most exports are carried out via air transport, causing severe logistics congestion and increasing freight burdens on Korean companies.

Unlike air transport, maritime transport to Japan does not apply the simplified customs clearance system called "list clearance." List clearance is a system that replaces export declaration by submitting a customs clearance list for goods valued under 2 million KRW. In maritime transport between Korea and China, where list clearance is applied, 72% of e-commerce exports to China are carried out by sea. Considering this, the introduction of list clearance for maritime transport between Korea and Japan is urgently needed to expand exports.

At the seminar, the policy for entering Japanese online platforms and the direction for promoting list clearance in maritime transport were introduced. Shipping companies, forwarders, and customs brokers presented ways to improve logistics system efficiency using list clearance, and after the seminar, customized consulting was provided to exporting companies regarding difficulties in direct-to-consumer exports to Japan.

Jung Wiyoung, Head of KOTRA's Innovation Growth Division, said, "The spread of digital marketing in Japan and the Korean Wave boom present a great opportunity for our consumer goods companies," adding, "KOTRA will work with related organizations to support entry and marketing in Japanese online distribution channels and to ease difficulties faced by SMEs in logistics and customs clearance, thereby expanding the door to direct-to-consumer exports."

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