South Korea Updates Chemical Substance Classification and Labeling Standards, Adding 75 Hazardous Substances

On December 2, 2025, the National Institute of Chemical Safety (NICS) of South Korea issued Announcement No. 127 of 2025. In accordance with the Act on Registration and Evaluation of Chemicals (K-REACH), NICS released a draft revision of the Regulations on Classification and Labeling of Chemical Substances, and is seeking public comments.

Key Revisions

New Substance Classification and Labeling Requirements

Based on re-evaluation results of substances that have completed hazard assessments, the revision clarifies the hazard classification and corresponding labeling requirements for substances meeting the designation criteria for Human Hazardous Substances, due to strong skin corrosivity.

• Under Human Hazardous Substances, in Appendix 4, 75 new substances have been added (with unique identification numbers ranging from 2025-1-1281 to 2025-1-1355).

Updates to Existing Substance Information

• Added CAS No. 124-43-6 for the substance with unique identification number 97-1-3.
• Revised the UN number to 2810 for the substance with unique identification number 97-1-79.
• Revised the chemical names for substances with unique identification numbers 97-1-381 and 97-1-417 to Sodium fluoride and p-Dimethylaminobenzenediazosulfonate, respectively.
• Adjusted the pictogram identifiers for the substance with unique identification number 2014-1-717 to GHS02, GHS05, and GHS06.

For detailed updates, please refer to the NICS official website:

https://nics.mcee.go.kr/common/userCmmnFileDown.do?fileId=9141&fileSeq=3

Effective Date

The revision takes effect immediately upon announcement.

Background

This revision primarily stems from the update of the Act on Registration and Evaluation of Chemical Substances (Implemented on August 7, 2025). Based on the expanded designation criteria for Human Hazardous Substances (including substances acutely or chronically hazardous to humans and ecologically hazardous substances), and following re-evaluation, it is necessary to announce the classification and labeling requirements for newly added substances and revise some information for existing substances.

Call for Comments

Individuals, institutions, organizations, and associations wishing to submit opinions on this draft revision should submit comment sheets to the National Institute of Chemical Safety by December 22, 2025 (Tel: 032-560-8681, Fax: 032-568-2038).

Transitional Measures

Entities required to label hazardous chemicals according to these regulations must do so in accordance with Article 16 of the Chemical Management Act from the effective date of these regulations until January 1, 2027. For sodium hypochlorite (unique identification number 2025-1-1355), labeling must be completed by January 1, 2028.

Further Information

NICS