South Korea Proposes to Designate 38 Chemicals as Toxic Substances Under K-REACH

On June 12, 2026, the National Institute of Chemical Safety (NICS) under the Ministry of Climate, Energy and Environment (MCEE) issued an administrative advance notice (NICS Notice No. 2026-62) proposing to add 38 chemical substances to the Designation Notice of Substances Harmful to the Human Body, etc. The designation is made under the Act on the Registration and Evaluation of Chemicals (K-REACH), and the 38 substances, assigned unique identifiers ranging from 2026-1-1355 to 2026-1-1392, were selected through the K-REACH hazard review of registered chemicals. Once finalised, the listing will trigger a chain of Chemicals Control Act (CCA) obligations, from confirmation and labeling through to permits and accident-prevention planning. Comments were accepted until July 2, 2026.

How the Substances Were Selected

Under K-REACH, every chemical substance that has completed registration is subject to hazard review by NICS (K-REACH Article 18). Substances that meet the criteria in Annex 1 of the K-REACH Enforcement Decree are then designated as substances harmful to the human body, etc., a collective term covering three categories: acute-toxic substances, chronic-toxic substances, and ecotoxic substances. Being placed in any of these categories is what subsequently brings the CCA compliance regime into play. The 38 substances proposed in Notice No. 2026-62 span all three.

The 38 Proposed Substances

Under the draft, 25 of the 38 substances would be designated as acute-toxic, one as chronic-toxic, and 12 as ecotoxic. Five of the acute-toxic substances carry an additional classification: ammonium vanadate and divanadium pentaoxide are also chronic-toxic, two further substances are also ecotoxic, and dodecylphenol is additionally both chronic-toxic and ecotoxic. The designation notice also sets the concentration thresholds above which a mixture containing each substance is itself treated as falling in the relevant category; readers should consult the official annex for those cut-off values. The full list is set out below.

Updates to Already-Listed Substances

Alongside the new designations, the draft corrects the recorded information for several substances already on the list. It adds the names of further lead compounds under unique number 97-1-9 (sub-number 3), rectifies the recorded names for inorganic cyanides (97-1-90), mercury and its compounds (97-1-140) and paraquat and its salts (97-1-323), inserts a CAS number for halogenated hydantoin (97-1-399), and reclassifies substance 2021-1-1077 from acute-toxic only to both acute-toxic and ecotoxic.

Phased Chemicals Control Act Compliance Timeline

Designation under K-REACH is the trigger; the operational duties fall under the Chemicals Control Act (CCA). The draft sets transitional relief that staggers the deadlines by which companies already handling any of the newly designated substances before the notice takes effect must comply with each CCA obligation. The notice itself is to enter into force three months after final promulgation.

For chemical manufacturers, importers and downstream users, the practical task is to screen product and process portfolios against the 38 proposed substances, confirm the hazard classification assigned to each, and map the CCA duties and dates that will attach. Because the draft also reclassifies some existing entries, companies should re-verify any listed substance they already handle, in case its recorded classification or concentration threshold has changed. With the comment window now closed, attention turns to the final designation and its three-month countdown to entry into force.

Further information

Gov.