South Korea Consults on COO Labeling Requirements for Imported Foods

The Ministry of Agriculture, Food, and Rural Affairs (MAFRA) solicits public opinions on the modifications to the Enforcement Rule of the Act on Origin Labeling of Agricultural and Fishery Products¹ on May 4, 2023. Stakeholders can send suggestions to MAFRA before June 19, 2023.

The proposed amendment in the draft mainly concerns the labeling of "country of origin (COO)" on processed agricultural and fishery food products. At present, imported processed foods are required to display COO labeling in different font sizes, depending on the size of the packaging. For instance, if the packaging area exceeds 3,000㎠, the COO must be labeled in 20 points or more, while for packaging areas between 50㎠ and 3000㎠, the COO must be labeled in 12 points or more. For packaging areas less than 50㎠, the COO can be printed in no smaller than 8 points.

Under the new exposure draft, all imported agricultural and fishery processed foods will be required to display the COO in a uniform font size of 10 points, regardless of the packaging area. If the draft is passed, imported processed foods will have the same 10-font size COO labeling requirement as Korean domestic processed foods. MAFRA expects that this revision will ease the burden on enterprises and address equity issues, as agricultural foods constitute the largest volume² of imported foods in South Korea. 

Furthermore, MAFRA proposes clarifying the COO labelling method for online sales. The current practice of displaying the COO "around the product name or price tag" is revised as "next to, above or below the price tag" in the draft.