Korea Customs Service Blocks Import of 210,000 Units of Children's Products Failing Safety Standards

In a safety-focused inspection conducted ahead of Family Month, a large number of illegal products that failed to meet safety standards were detected.

On the 9th, the Korea Customs Service announced that from the 8th to the 26th of last month, it conducted a safety-focused inspection at the customs clearance stage in cooperation with the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy and the National Institute of Technology and Standards, detecting over 210,000 illegal products and blocking their entry into the country.

The focused inspection targeted eight categories of children’s products expected to see increased imports ahead of Family Month, such as toys and textile products, eight categories of daily necessities including sports protective gear and health equipment, and seven categories of electrical products such as vacuum cleaners and massagers.

The types and scale of violations included over 170,000 products missing the required KC certification information on the label (labeling violations), about 34,000 products falsely displaying certification information for models different from the KC-certified ones (false labeling), and approximately 4,800 products attempting to clear customs without KC certification despite being subject to it (lack of KC certification).

By category, toys accounted for the largest number with over 200,000 items detected, followed by children’s textile products (about 9,000 items) and sports safety helmets (about 500 items).

Products detected in the focused inspection are initially held at customs, and clearance is allowed only after importers correct the violations by attaching proper labels or obtaining certification. Conversely, products with unresolved violations are either discarded or returned abroad.

Since 2016, the Korea Customs Service has been collaborating with related ministries to verify the safety of imported goods at the customs clearance stage. The National Institute of Technology and Standards mainly conducts safety inspections on children’s products as well as electrical and daily necessities.

Officials from the Korea Customs Service and the National Institute of Technology and Standards stated, “We will strengthen safety inspections at the customs clearance stage to prevent illegal products that threaten public safety from entering and circulating domestically.” They added, “In particular, we plan to continue monitoring and cracking down on seasonal demand products and recalled products both domestically and internationally.”

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