To improve the management of new chemical substances under the Act on Registration and Evaluation of Chemical Substance (known as K-REACH), South Korea's Ministry of Environment (MoE) made revisions to the K-REACH which was approved by the National Assembly on January 9, 2024. The revised K-REACH has not been enforced yet.
Main changes of the revised K-REACH
| Main Changes | Proposed Implementation Time | |
| 1 | The tonnage of new chemical substances notification is adjusted from "below 0.1t/y" to "below 1t/y". | Scheduled to be implemented one and a half years after the publication of the revised K-REACH (the specific date to be determined after the announcement). |
| 2 | The notification information of new chemical substances below 1t/y is required to be disclosed to improve transparency. (The generic names of CBI substances are required to be disclosed). | |
| 3 |
New chemical substances below 1t/y will be reviewed. A new chemical substance shall be regarded as hazardous and regulated as hazardous chemicals before the identification of its hazard. |
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Under the K-REACH, new chemical substances below 0.1t/y are required to be notified without mandatory data submission. Under the revised K-REACH, the notification tonnage threshold of new chemical substances is increased from 0.1t/y to 1t/y. This means that new chemical substances between 0.1t/y-1t/y are now only required to be notified, which were previously subject to registration. The revised K-REACH lowers the burden of enterprises.
Currently, there are many details to be discussed for South Korea before the official implementation of the revised K-REACH. For example, what information shall be provided for new chemical substances below 1t/y? ChemRadar will stay focus on the development of K-REACH updates and we will provide you the latest information.
