<산림청·관세청 '협업', Illegal and Substandard Wood Product Imports Blocked at Source>

[Asia Economy (Daejeon) Reporter Jeong Il-woong] The Korea Forest Service and the Korea Customs Service are collaborating to block the import of illegal and substandard wood products.

According to the Korea Forest Service on the 22nd, the two agencies announced that starting next year, they will conduct year-round joint inspections at the customs clearance stage to fundamentally block the import of illegal and substandard wood products.

The joint inspections between the two agencies began in 2016. They have been conducted by setting a period of 5 to 9 months to crack down on imported products. This year, joint inspections were conducted from April to December.

However, from next year, the two agencies plan to carry out formal joint inspections on imported wood products throughout the entire year, from January to December, without any gaps.

The joint inspections will focus on items highly related to public health, such as charcoal and molded charcoal used for grilling meat during outdoor activities like camping, and wood pellets suspected of containing heavy metals.

When imported wood products are designated as subjects of joint inspection, the two agencies will check the quality labeling of the wood products before customs clearance and simultaneously collect samples to request analysis from specialized testing institutions.

According to the analysis results from the specialized testing institutions, illegal and substandard products judged as non-compliant will be entirely returned or disposed of to fundamentally block their entry into the country, the two agencies explained.

The system that caused inconvenience during the joint inspection process of wood products will also be improved. The core measures include strengthening crackdowns mainly on habitual offenders by considering wood product quality inspection results and detection history, and ensuring that if a specific company repeatedly imports the same product over a certain period, it will not be subject to duplicate inspections.

Through this, the two agencies expect to enhance the efficiency of crackdowns by reducing the burden on honest import and distribution companies while increasing the effect of blocking illegal and substandard products from entering the domestic market.

Ha Kyung-su, Director of the Wood Industry Division at the Korea Forest Service, said, “We will make every effort to secure public safety by enhancing the effect of blocking illegal and substandard product imports through the improved joint inspection system with the Korea Customs Service,” and added, “We also ask related industries to voluntarily comply with regulations to ensure public safety and establish order in the distribution of wood products.”

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