"Concerns Over Safety Accidents" Faulty Electrical Goods Importers and Distributors Caught

An importer who distributed electrical products without safety certification in the domestic market was caught by customs. Customs officials determined that the products in question posed risks of fire and electric shock accidents.

On the 14th, Busan Customs under the Korea Customs Service announced that it had sent Company A and its representative Mr. B (in his 50s) to the Busan District Prosecutors' Office on charges of violating the Customs Act.

According to Busan Customs, from January 2020 to May of last year, Company A imported 2 million uncertified ballasts without protective circuits (worth approximately 6.3 billion KRW at market price) from China, while deceitfully declaring the safety certification number of another model that had already been certified to customs.

By exploiting the lower price of ballasts without protective circuits compared to certified products, the company aimed to gain unfair profits domestically.

Busan Customs inquired with the safety certification agency about whether the previously certified products by Company A and the seized uncertified products were identical, and simultaneously requested a safety inspection. It was confirmed that the problematic products were not the same as the previously certified ones and failed to meet abnormal condition standards.

The abnormal condition standard is an item under electrical product safety criteria, which requires that fluorescent lamps should not be abnormally damaged and ballasts should not be harmed within a voltage range of 90% to 110% of the rated voltage.

However, Company A was found to have evaded safety inspections by reporting to customs using the safety certification number of another certified model.

To prevent consumer harm caused by the distribution of uncertified ballasts by Company A in the domestic market, Busan Customs requested the relevant city and provincial authorities to recall and dispose of the products and notified the Korea Product Safety Management Service of the violation of the “Electrical Appliances and Consumer Products Safety Control Act.”

A Busan Customs official stated, “We plan to strengthen crackdowns to prevent uncertified electrical and consumer products that threaten public safety from being illegally imported and distributed,” and added, “We urge the public to report any illegal import and distribution of uncertified consumer safety products to the Korea Customs Service Smuggling Report Center.”

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