Korea Customs Service Detects 256.7 Billion KRW Worth of Imported Goods with Falsified Origin... 47% of Public Procurement Supply Amount

Example materials of origin labeling on masks disguised as domestic, detected by the Korea Customs Service. The detected company is suspected of changing the origin by repackaging masks imported from China. Provided by the Korea Customs Service

[Asia Economy (Daejeon) Reporter Jeong Il-woong] Goods worth 256.7 billion KRW, which were disguised as domestic products despite being foreign-made, were caught by customs authorities. It is understood that 47% of the value of the seized goods were supplied to the public procurement market.

On the 11th, the Korea Customs Service announced that it had uncovered 59 cases of crimes involving the falsification of foreign goods as domestic products through crackdowns from January to September this year.

Although the number of crackdowns this year decreased by 29% compared to the same period last year, the amount involved increased by 35%, indicating that the scale of the crime is gradually becoming larger, according to the Korea Customs Service.

The main items seized in the crackdown include measuring and optical instruments worth 115.8 billion KRW, machinery worth 60.8 billion KRW, automobile parts worth 8.7 billion KRW, and home appliances worth 6.7 billion KRW.

For example, Company A imported about 600,000 masks from China (worth about 300 million KRW), removed the packaging indicating the country of origin, and repackaged them with packaging falsely labeled as MADE IN KOREA, selling them as domestic products before being caught in the crackdown.

Company B is also suspected of importing 1.4 million items such as toothbrushes and dental floss from China and Vietnam and disguising the country of origin as domestic products using a similar method to Company A.

There were also cases where the country of origin was altered by damaging or misleading labeling and were caught.

Company C imported about 41,000 agricultural sprayers and electric shears worth 7.1 billion KRW from China, removed the country of origin stickers, and deceived consumers into believing the products were domestic, selling them for 250,000 to 400,000 KRW each.

Additionally, Company D imported about 1.7 million Chinese-made electricity meters worth 57.2 billion KRW in parts form, simply assembled them domestically, but displayed the Chinese origin label so small on the back of the product that it was not visible to the naked eye, and labeled the manufacturer on the front of the packaging and product as a domestic company, thereby deceiving consumers into thinking the product itself was domestic.

The scale of foreign goods disguised as domestic and then exported this year also reached 80.9 billion KRW, an 88% increase compared to the previous year (January to September).

Enforcement Results of Domestic Imitation Cases of Foreign Goods. Provided by Korea Customs Service

Among the goods disguised as domestic products seized up to last month, a significant number were also supplied to the public procurement market.

Earlier, the Korea Customs Service and the Public Procurement Service signed a Memorandum of Understanding in September 2017 regarding crackdowns on fraudulent deliveries in public procurement. Based on this, the two agencies share risk information and conduct joint crackdowns, cooperating closely.

During the cooperation process, the two agencies uncovered that foreign goods worth 121.7 billion KRW were disguised as domestic products and fraudulently supplied to public institutions from January to September. This accounts for 47% of the total amount seized (256.7 billion KRW) during the same period.

The value of goods disguised as domestic products seized in the public procurement market has steadily increased from 1.7 billion KRW in 2018 to 18.5 billion KRW in 2019, 63.4 billion KRW in 2020, 122.4 billion KRW in 2021, and 121.7 billion KRW as of September this year.

Yoon Tae-sik, Commissioner of the Korea Customs Service, said, “Disguising foreign goods as domestic products is a serious crime that deceives consumers and causes damage such as reduced sales for domestic manufacturers. The Korea Customs Service plans to continuously strengthen crackdowns on crimes involving falsification of country of origin.”

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