[Updated] South Korea Revises the Enforcement Rule of Imported Food Act

Update on August 4, 2023:

Korean Health Functional Food Association (KHFF) newly added two new usage purposes for imported food's declaration. After August 4, 2023, importers shall additionally fill in the usage purposes of the imported foods subject to document review if the food usage purpose is for "Government/ Local Government Use(정부․지방자치단체용), or "Exhibition/ Trade for Foreign Currency Acquisition (외화획득을 위한 박람회․전시회용)".

Importers should confirm and select the appropriate purpose for their import declaration accordingly following the Attached Table 9 of the Enforcement Rule of Imported Food Act.

Update on July 14, 2023:

In accordance with the amendments to the Enforcement Rule of Imported Food Act, the two items have been added to the import declaration form, namely, “Set-packaged product(세트포장 여부)” and “Whether the packaging material is subject to extension approval(포장재 연장 승인 대상 여부)”. KHFF released a guideline for declaring these products on July 14, 2023.

As released by the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety (MFDS) on June 9, 2023, the Enforcement Rule of Imported Food Act¹ is modified, effective on June 11, 2023. According to the new version, the prohibited ingredients in foods purchased via overseas direct online shopping channels (해외직구) are specified. Besides, the requirements for recognizing products as “identical imported foods (동일사 동일수입식품)“ are optimized. The details are as below.

With the popularity of online shopping, more and more foods are delivered from abroad to South Korea directly through online shopping channels. As those products are purchased directly by the consumers, unlike the generally imported foods, they are private goods without being regulated by the general trade laws. However, due to different supervision environments, foreign foods may contain materials that may be harmful to humans and should be blocked from importation.

To protect public health, MFDS specifies the scope of prohibited ingredients in foods purchased via overseas direct online shopping channels, including:

1. Narcotics and temporary narcotics specified in Narcotics Control Act²

2. The effective ingredients of drugs and the herb drugs specified under Pharmaceutical Affairs Act³

3. Ingredients or raw materials that are not in compliance with the standards and specifications of foods and food additives specified in Food Sanitation Act⁴

4. Ingredients or raw materials that are not noticed or recognized following the Health Functional Food Act⁵

5. Ingredients or raw materials that have been reported as with potential toxicity or adverse effects by international food safety organizations, foreign government agencies, or research institutions

6. Ingredients or raw materials derived from the skin of ruminants from countries where bovine spongiform encephalopathy is endemic (excluding where the required documents are submitted)

7. Other ingredients or raw materials that are deemed as potentially harmful to public health by MFDS

Additionally, the revised regulation also forbids business entities offering agent services for purchasing products from overseas to order the foods containing the above ingredients.

As for the identical imported foods, previously, products were recognized as identical imported foods only if all the five elements, namely, product name, country of manufacture, foreign food facility, manufacturing method, and ingredient name, were the same. According to the new version, from January 1, 2024, products will be recognized as identical imported foods even if the product name is different. If the products are recognized as identical, they will be sorted as foods with import records and will be subject to documentary or random inspection at customs clearance instead of a thorough inspection. This will help enterprises reduce the burden and import foods more effectively.

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