On August 10, 2023, the South Korean Ministry of Environment (MOE) published Notice No.2023-183 revising the volume of toxic, restricted, prohibited, and permitted substances in accordance with the Regulations on the Implementation of the Chemical Substance Management Act. The revision this time aims to enhance the management of chemicals and safeguard public health and the environment.

In order to further improve certain shortcomings in the existing system, on August 25, 2023, the South Korean Ministry of Environment published Notice No. 2023-502 partially revising the Implementation Regulations of the Act on the Registration and Evaluation of Chemical Substances. This revision will come into effect on January 4, 2024.

On July 21, 2023, the South Korean Ministry of Environment published Notice No. 2023-436 to partly revise the enforcement rules of the Chemical Substances Control Act. This revision primarily aims to address challenges faced by hazardous chemical operators with less than 30 employees in attracting professional talents and to improve shortcomings in the existing system.

On August 1, 2023, South Korea’s National Institute of Environmental Research (NIER) has amended its toxic substance list in Notice No. 2023-41, in accordance with the Act on Registration and Evaluation of Chemicals (K-REACH) and the Korean Chemical Control Act.

On June 18, 2023, the National Institute of Environmental Research (NIER) published a Notice on amending the guidance for volatile organic compounds content, containers, and labels. In this Notice, exemptions for the following four substances used as lacquer thinners were partly canceled.

At the end of June 2023, the South Korean National Institute of Environmental Research (NIER) published three documents to provide biocidal product approval guidance for related enterprises, namel: Guidance for Environmental Data Submission; Guidance on Product Name and Label; and Guidance for Submission of Product Efficacy/Efficacy Test Data.

South Korean Ministry of Environment (MoE) has published two K-REACH registration support programs to help enterprises register under K-REACH. Both programs shall meet the following requirements: Substances are manufactured/imported in annual volumes of 100 to 1,000 tonnes; Registration consortium to complete registration by November 2024; Registration consortium has selected its only representative (OR); and registration consortium includes two or more SMEs that are ‘active’ members

On Jun 20, 2023, based on related provisions of the Act on the Registration and Evaluation of Chemicals, the National Institute of Environmental Research in South Korea released Administrative Announcement on partially revised the Notice on the Designation of Toxic Substances and the Classification and Labeling Regulations for Chemical Substances.

On June 1, 2023, the Ministry of Environment of Korea (MoE) released Notice 2023-122 on the amendment of existing chemicals. In accordance with the provision of Paragraph 3, Article 2 of the Act on the Registration and Evaluation of Chemicals, a total of 209 chemical substances is hereby published.

On April 25, 2023, South Korea’s National Institute of Environmental Research (NIER) published a public consultation updating the toxic substances list (Notice No. 2023-26). This Notice shall enter into force three months after its publication. In accordance with the Act on the Registration and Evaluation of Chemicals (known as K-REACH), competent authorities shall conduct hazard review and hazard assessment of substances that have completed registrations. Classifications shall be made based on the review results. If a substance is classified as toxic substance, NIER will include it in toxic substances list and release notice.