SOUTH KOREA

South Korea Proposes To Revise K-REACH: On December 28, 2016, the Ministry of the Environment (MOE) began a public consultation on proposed revisions to the Act for the Registration and Evaluation of Chemicals (K-REACH), including:

• Abolishing the annual reporting system;

• Adopting a pre-registration system;

• Deleting the system for designating Priority Existing Chemicals (PEC) in three batches for registration. Instead, a phase-in registration mechanism for approximately 7,000 existing chemical substances manufactured or imported in volumes greater than or equal to one ton per year would be applied. Phase-in deadlines would be set based on tonnage band (one to ten tons per year; ten to 100 tons per year; 100 to 1,000 tons per year; and greater than 1,000 tons per year), similar to EU REACH;

• Improving management of substances subject to authorization;

• Providing more hazard information through the supply chain and to consumers;

• Expanding the application scope for notification of products containing hazardous substances. In addition to hazardous chemical substances defined under K-REACH, CMR and PBT substances would also be subject to product notification; and

• Imposing penalties for the manufacture, importation, or sale of chemicals that cause any harm to human health or the environment and that should have been registered.

If the proposed changes are adopted, they would likely take effect one year after being issued in final. The June 30, 2017, deadline for annual reporting would still be a requirement. According to MOE, the June 30, 2018, deadline to register 510 PECs will remain in affect. Comments are due February 6, 2017.

South Korea Notifies WTO Of Draft Biocides Legislation: On January 12, 2017, South Korea notified WTO of a draft proposal for an Act on Safety Management of Consumer Chemical Products and Biocides. The Act addresses the safety management of consumer chemical products, approval of biocidal substances, authorization of biocidal products, safety management of treated articles, data protection and sharing, and distribution management of consumer chemical products and biocides. The proposed date of adoption is January 1, 2018, and the proposed date of entry into force is January 1, 2019. MOE has begun a public consultation. Comments are due February 6, 2017.

TAIWAN

Taiwan Creates Bureau For Toxics And Chemical Substances: On December 9, 2016, the legislature approved a bill creating a Bureau for Toxics and Chemical Substances. The Bureau’s duties will include forming, implementing, and enforcing policies on toxic and chemical substance regulation, chemical accidents and emergency response, and environmental agent regulation. The Bureau will also promote the integration and use of chemical information; technological advances related to toxic chemical regulation; and international cooperation on chemical substance regulation. The Bureau will coordinate the almost dozen government agencies involved in enforcing a number of laws regulating toxic and chemical substances.