Foreign Food Facility Registration 2022: Selling Food to South Korea

Updates:

At the beginning of 2023, the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety (MFDS) introduced a new differential registration scheme (해외제조업소 차등 등록제) for foreign food facilities manufacturing foods with potential risks was newly introduced. The importers are required to submit safety certificates such as HACCP, GMP, ISO22000, etc., when registering the foreign food facilities. This new scheme aims to intensify the safety control of imported foods throughout the entire manufacturing procedure. We take a look under the hood at the new regulation here.

Registering a foreign food facility is the first and foremost step to sell food to South Korea, but also one of the most significant regulatory compliance barriers that international stakeholders must overcome. Korean authority has been committed to helping overseas enterprises enter into Korea’s food market. On March 22, 2022, the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety (MFDS) released a new guideline on foreign food facility registration via the updated online platform¹, covering the modifications of the registration platform, and instructions for registering the foreign food facility via the platform. ChemLinked compiles the key points for enterprises’ references.

1. Main Changes of the Registration Platform

(1) Subdividing the Food Types

The food products are subdivided into more specific types in the registration application system. For example, when filling in the food product information via the system, we can select “processed food (kimchi)” or “health functional food (health functional raw materials)”, instead of the basic food groups of “processed food” or “health functional food”.

(2) Detailing the Packaging Facilities for Agricultural and Fishery Products

The categorizing of packaging facilities for agricultural and fishery products is modified according to the specific packaging places. For example, the packaging places of agricultural products are sub-divided into “farm”, “facility with farm and processing equipment”, and “freight house”.

2. Instructions for Registering the Foreign Food Facility

(1) What is Foreign Food Facility?

As per Article 2 of the Imported Food Act², "foreign food facility" means “a facility located abroad (including a ship where fishery products are produced or processed) where imported food, etc. (excluding livestock products) is produced, manufactured, processed, treated, packaged, stored, etc.”

Either the importer or the owner/operator of the facility can apply for foreign food facility registration to MFDS. The registration should be completed before the import declaration.

The overseas factory manufacturing livestock products is referred to as a “foreign establishment”. To export livestock products, the enterprises shall submit the foreign establishment registration application to MFDS through the exporting country’s government, which is different from the registration of foreign food facility.

(2) How to Register the foreign food facility?

There are three types of registration: new registration, registration update, and registration renewal. “New registration” applies to unregistered facilities. If any of the registered items is changed, the applicant needs to apply for “registration update”. Moreover, one can apply for “registration renewal” when the validity period is about to end. Enterprises need to confirm the registration type following the below decision tree (Figure 1).

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(Figure 1. Decision Tree of Registration Type Confirmation)

The registration can be applied both offline and online. Applicants can register the foreign food facility online via the website of Imported Food Information Maru³ following the below steps:

1）Click “English” to access the English webpage.

2) Click the icon in the red box to sign up for the system.

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3） Fill in the information shown in the below picture, including ID, password, company name, owner, email address, and phone number. And click the “Join” button to finish the registration.

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4) Back to the homepage and click “Application for Registration of Foreign Food Facility”

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5) Select the corresponding registration type to apply.

c5-english-website-of-new-foreign-food-facility-registration-1.jpg 6) Below are the instructions of applying for new registration of foreign food facility, as it is the basic and most concerned registration type, upon on which changing or renewing the registration of foreign food facility can be done.

After clicking “Application for registration of Foreign Food Facility”, applicant can reach the below webpage. Then check the registration status of a facility by clicking the “Redundancy Check” button.

Applying for “Changing the Registration of Foreign Food Facility" and "Renewing Registration of Foreign Food Facility"

Entering the webpages for "Application for Changing Registration of Foreign Food Facility" or "Application for Renewing Registration of Foreign Food Facility", there will be a button of “Facility Search” instead of the “Redundancy Check”. Hit the button of "Facility Search" to select the relevant facility. The registered facility information will be automatically generated in the system. Applicants can then modify the items needing change.)

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7) By clicking the “Redundancy Check” button, a webpage will pop up as below. Fill in the “facility name, owner, nation or region, and the address” to check if the facility has been registered already. If so, the enterprise can use the existing registration number.

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8) When no duplicate facility is found, applicants can go back to fill in the required data of the facility information, food information, and business information. Note, regarding the "food information”, the detailed food items shall be filled in after choosing the corresponding food group, which is newly required in the updated system.

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9) Uploading certification documents is the last step for registering a foreign food facility.

The mandatory document to be submitted is the supporting document issued by competent authorities of the exporting countries, which is to certify that the foreign food facilities are authorized, registered, or declared according to the exporting countries' applicable food laws.

For the exporting countries that do not issue such a document and the agricultural product packers, a confirmation form of registered information should be submitted as a substitute of the government issued certificate.

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10) After filling in all the required information, tick all the three boxes at the bottom of the webpage and hit the “Apply” button to submit the application.

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The processed period is up to three days. Enterprises can check the registration status via the “List of Registered Foreign Food Facility” page. Click on “1. Petition Application” and “2. List of Registered Foreign Food Facility” to reach the search page as shown below:

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After entering the “registration code”, “name of facility” or “address”, the facility registration status will be shown in the search result.

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(3) Matters to be Observed

The Guideline also lists some significant matters to be observed when applying for the registration.

Application types	Matters to be observed
New Registration	The name and address of the facility shall be the place where the imported products are manufactured or processed recognized by the exporting country’s government. MFDS will cancel the registration when the facility is registered by fraud or improper means. The importer who made the import declaration with false registration information will be imposed administrative penalties. MFDS can require applicants to submit more documents when necessary, such as when a company has several facilities or when the facility is relocated, etc.
Registration Update	If the facility is relocated, it is subject to new registration rather than going through a registration update. MFDS can require the applicant to submit more documents when necessary, such as when the facility’s name is changed due to a merger or acquisition, etc.
Registration Renewal	The validity term of facility registration is two years. Enterprises can apply to renew the registration 30 days before the expiry date. Relevant supporting documents should be submitted along with the renewal application if any registered items are changed.