On April 29, 2026, South Korea amended its Persistent Organic Pollutants Control Act to add methoxychlor, Dechlorane Plus (DP) and UV-328 to the list of prohibited POPs, barring their manufacture, import, use and sale in principle. The amendment brings Korea into line with the Stockholm Convention, which listed all three substances for elimination at its eleventh Conference of the Parties (COP-11). Makers and users of the affected products, pesticides, flame-retarded plastics and UV-stabilised coatings, should arrange substitutes and phase out remaining stock.
The three newcomers span different uses. Methoxychlor is an organochlorine insecticide once used in agriculture and veterinary products and is listed with no specific exemptions. Dechlorane Plus is a chlorinated flame retardant used in cables, connectors and other polymer parts. UV-328 is a benzotriazole UV absorber added to paints, coatings, sealants and resins to stop discolouration and degradation. DP and UV-328 enter Korea's list carrying the specific exemptions the Convention allows, narrowing but not abolishing their permitted uses during the transition.
Under Korea's POPs Control Act, listed persistent organic pollutants face a default prohibition on manufacture, import, export, use and sale, with only the registered exemptions available. Because all three are persistent, bioaccumulative and toxic, the profile that earned them a Stockholm listing, the amendment effectively closes the Korean market to them except for narrowly defined, time-limited applications.
The move tracks a regional shift: Japan has already banned the three, Taiwan will classify them as toxic chemical substances from July 1, 2026, and the EU added UV-328 to its POPs ban in July 2025. For companies operating across Asia, the practical effect is that methoxychlor, DP and UV-328 are being squeezed out of multiple markets at once, so reformulation toward POPs-free alternatives is now the cross-border compliance baseline rather than a single-market adjustment.
