Committee on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures - Notification - Republic of Korea - Foods

NOTIFICATION

1.

Notifying Member: REPUBLIC OF KOREA

If applicable, name of local government involved:

2.

Agency responsible: The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety

3.

Products covered (provide tariff item number(s) as specified in national schedules deposited with the WTO; ICS numbers should be provided in addition, where applicable): Foods

4.

Regions or countries likely to be affected, to the extent relevant or practicable:

[X]     All trading partners

[ ]      Specific regions or countries:

5.

Title of the notified document: Proposed revision of the "Enforcement Rule of the Special Act on Imported Food Safety Control". Language(s): Korean. Number of pages: 12

https://members.wto.org/crnattachments/2025/SPS/KOR/25_08101_00_x.pdf

6.

Description of content: This amendment is to address and supplement some deficiencies identified in the operation of the current system, specifically by allowing conditional import inspections for minor labelling violations and requiring online purchase agency business for imported food and other foodstuffs to direct consumers to the MFDS website for safety information on directly purchased imported food and other foodstuffs in their advertisements.

7.

Objective and rationale: [X] food safety, [ ] animal health, [ ] plant protection, [ ] protect humans from animal/plant pest or disease, [ ] protect territory from other damage from pests.

8.

Is there a relevant international standard? If so, identify the standard:

[ ]        Codex Alimentarius Commission (e.g. title or serial number of Codex standard or related text):

[ ]        World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) (e.g. Terrestrial or Aquatic Animal Health Code, chapter number):

[ ]        International Plant Protection Convention (e.g. ISPM number):

[X]       None

Does this proposed regulation conform to the relevant international standard?

[ ] Yes   [ ] No

If no, describe, whenever possible, how and why it deviates from the international standard:

9.

Other relevant documents and language(s) in which these are available:  

10.

Proposed date of adoption (dd/mm/yy): To be determined.

Proposed date of publication (dd/mm/yy): To be determined.

11.

Proposed date of entry into force: [ ] Six months from date of publication, and/or (dd/mm/yy): To be determined.

[ ]      Trade facilitating measure

12.

Final date for comments: [X] Sixty days from the date of circulation of the notification and/or (dd/mm/yy): 19 January 2026

Agency or authority designated to handle comments: [ ] National Notification Authority, [X] National Enquiry Point. Address, fax number and e-mail address (if available) of other body:

International Cooperation Office

Ministry of Food and Drug Safety

#187 Osongsaengmyeong2-ro, Osong-eup, Heungdoek-gu, Cheongju-si

Chungcheongbuk-do, 363-700, Korea

Tel: +(82 43) 719 1569

Fax: +(82 43) 719 1550

E-mail: intmfds@korea.kr

13.

Text(s) available from: [ ] National Notification Authority, [X] National Enquiry Point. Address, fax number and e-mail address (if available) of other body:

Documents are available from the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety website at http://www.mfds.go.kr. Also available from:

International Cooperation Office

Ministry of Food and Drug Safety

#187 Osongsaengmyeong2-ro, Osong-eup, Heungdoek-gu, Cheongju-si

Chungcheongbuk-do, 363-700, Korea

Tel: +(82 43) 719 1569

Fax: +(82 43) 719 1550

E-mail: intmfds@korea.kr