Court: "Ice makers are machinery... Not subject to notification under the Imported Food Act"

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Daehyun] The court ruled that ice makers are not subject to import declaration.

According to the legal community on the 23rd, the Seoul Administrative Court Administrative Division 2 (Chief Judge Shin Myeonghee) recently ruled in favor of the plaintiff in the first trial of the lawsuit filed by Mr. A against the head of the Seoul Regional Food and Drug Safety Administration to cancel the seizure order of ice makers.

Previously, Mr. A imported 8,737 ice makers 78 times from 2013 to 2020 to sell to cafes and others.

The customs authorities investigated whether importers of food products had made import declarations under the Imported Food Act in 2020 and pointed out that Mr. A brought in ice makers without declaration.

Accordingly, after its own investigation, the Seoul Food and Drug Safety Administration ordered the recall and disposal of all ice makers distributed by Mr. A and seized 616 units stored in a warehouse.

Mr. A filed an administrative appeal and received a decision that the recall and disposal order should be canceled for reasons such as the difficulty of recalling the sold ice makers.

Subsequently, Mr. A filed an administrative lawsuit requesting the cancellation of the seizure order, arguing that ice makers fall under the Imported Food Act Enforcement Rules category of "machines and their parts used for manufacturing, processing, etc. of food products," which do not require import declaration.

The first trial ruled in favor of Mr. A. The court stated, "Ice makers fall under the category of 'items not requiring declaration' as stipulated in the Imported Food Act Enforcement Rules," and added, "The term 'machines' in this regulation refers to devices operated by power, and ice makers meet this criterion."

Furthermore, the court added, "It is difficult to interpret the wording as immediately implying that it is limited to 'items for manufacturing large quantities of food products'."

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