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(...) Korea is a party to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).

Korea prohibits a few imports, mainly to protect health, safety, security, public morality, the environment, and natural resources, and to prevent deceptive practices. (...)

KATS (Korean Agency for Technology and Standards) prepares the roadmap for standardization and carries forward standard development in connection with government policies and R&D. In 2011, eight sectors were subject to national standards coordination projects: smart grid, 3D businesses, electric cars, cloud computing, nuclear power, smart media, smart logistics, and smart medical information; as of 2016, KATS was to proceed with the same type of projects in the fields of smart factory, smart health, next generation steel, next generation material and wearable smart-equipment.

As of April 2016, about 3,072 (about 15% of all standards) KSs (5,000, or 24.6%, in 2010) were contained in 5,470 (15,375 in 2010) technical regulations issued by 19 government ministries. At the end of April 2016, 20,495 KSs had been adopted (23,622 in 2010). The allocation of all KSs by sector was: chemicals, textiles, and ceramics (4,518, 22%); machinery (3,120, 15%); electricity (3,469, 17%); metal, mining, and construction (2,368, 11.5%); transportation machines, shipbuilding, and the aerospace industry (1,522, 7.4%); information technology (1,636, 8%); and food, environment, etc. (3,862, 19%). (...)

(...) The Korean Accreditation Board (KAB) and KAS (Korea Accreditation System) form part of the Pacific Accreditation System (PAC). KAB is a signatory of the IAF MLA (International Accreditation Forum International Accreditation Forum) for Quality Management Systems, and participates in the IAF MLA for Environmental Management Systems. (...)

Following the revision of the Act on the Management and Support for the Promotion of Eco Friendly Agriculture/Fisheries and Organic Foods (New Organic Act) in 2012, as from 1 June 2013 a mandatory organic certification programme requires all domestic and imported organic fresh (unprocessed) and processed produce and livestock products to be certified by a MAFRA accredited certifying body. [93] As of December 2015, 15 Korean certifying agencies and four foreign certifying agencies were accredited by MAFRA's National Agricultural Products Quality Management Service (NAQS) for certification of organic processed food products. Korea maintains a zero-tolerance policy for the inadvertent presence of biotech content in processed organic products (Sections 3.2.9.2.1 and 3.2.9.3); any organic products tested positive for genetically modified organisms (GMOs) importers/producers can be instructed to remove an organic claim from the product label and NAQS may investigate the case to see if there is any intentional violation. In response to consumer demand for a higher standard of environment-friendly agricultural products, Korea stopped issuing new certification for low pesticide organic agricultural produce in 2010 in view of the discontinuation of this category in 2016. [95] In lieu of certification by accredited certifying agents, the 2012 Act allowed MAFRA to have an equivalency agreement on processed organic products with foreign trade partners. On 1 July 2014, the United States and Korea adopted an equivalency arrangement allowing processed food products certified as organic in the United States or Korea to be sold as organic in either country without having to go through a costly certification process again under the importing country's standards.

[93] The certification for organic produce is classified into two categories: organic and no-pesticide. For livestock products, two categories of certification are available: organic livestock and no-antibiotic livestock. USDA Foreign Agricultural Service (2015d); USDA Foreign Agricultural Service (2015b).

[95] Sustainable agricultural produce has been classified into three categories: organic produce, no pesticide produce, and low-pesticide produce (until 2015), and can be labelled accordingly. For livestock products, two categories of certification are available: organic livestock and no-antibiotic livestock (WTO document WT/TPR/S/268/Rev.1, 8 November 2012).

During the review period, action was also taken in the areas of reporting, declaration of conformity, testing and environmental impact review. In 2013, an Act on the Registration and Evaluation of Chemicals requiring manufacturers and importers of chemical substances to register and comply with annual reporting requirements was enacted and notified to the WTO TBT Committee; on 18 February 2014, the Ministry of Environment (MOE) released implementing regulations in force as of 1 January 2015. A new regulation requiring companies to make information on chemical products, such as the name and quantity of chemical products in production facilities, publicly available was implemented as of 1 January 2016. KATS released its final Safety Regulations rule for information technology equipment, effective 1 July 2013; these regulations expanded the scope of products subject to a supplier's declaration of conformity, and adopted the most current International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) standard. In March 2014, an environmental impact review on the use of cadmium in solar panels determined that a hazard existed for using Cadmium Telluride (CdTe). [99] (...)

[99] Korea requires solar panels to be certified by the Korea Management Energy Corporation (KEMCO) before they can be sold for projects receiving government support provided to the vast majority of solar projects in the country. KEMCO maintains a standard for thin-film solar panels that can only be satisfied by panels manufactured from amorphous silicon and copper indium gallium selenide. Over recent years Korea was urged at WTO TBT Committee meetings to adopt in full the relevant international standard, IEC 61646, without limiting its application solely to the type of thin-film solar panel its industry produces. USTR (2015).

During the review period, Members raised specific trade concerns (STCs) at the Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade regarding several measures under consideration or taken by Korea (e.g. relating to (...) thin film solar panels; (...) and energy efficiency of windows).

(…) In addition, the MFDS (Ministry of Food and Drug Safety) sets and implements regulations governing safety evaluations of agricultural products that have been enhanced through biotechnology and labelling requirements for both agricultural products and processed food products manufactured using GMO ingredients (Section 3.2.9.3).

The MFDS (Ministry of Food and Drug Safety) remains responsible for regulating pesticide residues in foodstuffs, in accordance with the maximum residue levels (MRLs) set in the Food Code and applied for both domestic and foreign products. [107] (...)

[107] In addition to MFDS, MAFRA (Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs) and the Ministry of Environment (MOE) handle pesticide-related matters. MAFRA is responsible for pesticide registration and the MOE is responsible for testing pesticide levels in water, soil and agricultural products. USDA Foreign Agricultural Service (2015d).