Selling a Chemical Product or Need an Eco-Label?

Any business that manufactures, imports, or sells a chemical product in Korea runs into two separate regulatory systems that get confused constantly: worker-safety documentation under the Occupational Safety and Health Act (MSDS), and substance-level control under the Chemicals Control Act and the Act on Registration and Evaluation of Chemicals — plus, for finished consumer or building products, a third, entirely optional but commercially valuable layer: Environmental Label (환경표지) certification, Korea's official eco-mark.

MSDS — the Chemical Product's "Instruction Manual"

An MSDS (Material Safety Data Sheet, 물질안전보건자료) is a legally mandated 16-item document any employer who manufactures, imports, transfers, or supplies a chemical substance or mixture must prepare and provide to users, under Article 104 of the Occupational Safety and Health Act. The 16 items are fixed: (1) product and company identification, (2) hazard identification (classification, pictograms, signal word, hazard/precautionary statements), (3) composition and CAS numbers, (4) first-aid measures, (5) fire-fighting measures, (6) accidental-release measures, (7) handling and storage, (8) exposure controls/personal protection, (9) physical and chemical properties, (10) stability and reactivity, (11) toxicological information, (12) ecological information, (13) disposal considerations, (14) transport information, (15) regulatory information, and (16) other information (revision history, data sources).

GHS pictograms (Globally Harmonized System) communicate hazard class visually — 9 standard pictograms covering physical, health, and environmental hazards — paired with H-codes (hazard statements, e.g. H225 highly flammable liquid/vapor, H314 severe skin burns, H350 may cause cancer, H400/H410 very toxic to aquatic life) and P-codes (precautionary statements grouped by prevention/response/storage/disposal, e.g. P210 keep away from heat/sparks, P280 wear protective gloves, P403 store in a well-ventilated place).

Whether a product needs an MSDS at all comes down to a four-step test: is it a chemical substance or mixture; does it meet the hazard classification in Enforcement Rule Schedule 18 and the Ministry of Employment and Labor's classification notice; is it on the exclusion list in Enforcement Decree Article 86 (health functional foods, pharmaceuticals, pesticides, cosmetics, and food additives already regulated under other laws are excluded; general consumer household products like detergents and paints are excluded only when workers don't handle them on-site); and finally, what annual manufacture/import volume grace period applies. A new product needs an MSDS filed before manufacture or import — no grace period. Legacy products already on the market before January 16, 2021 phased in by volume tier: 1,000 tons+ (already closed), 100–1,000 tons (closed January 16, 2023), 10–100 tons (closed January 16, 2024), 1–10 tons (closed January 16, 2025), and under 1 ton (closed January 16, 2026) — every tier's grace period has now expired, meaning any qualifying product still circulating without a submitted MSDS carrying a KOSHA submission number is currently out of compliance. Filing runs through KOSHA's online MSDS system; once accepted, KOSHA issues a unique submission number that must appear on the actual MSDS document supplied to every downstream customer. Missing the filing risks a fine of up to ₩5 million plus distribution restrictions.

A frequently missed nuance: since the 2021 MSDS overhaul, the MSDS body itself only needs to list hazard-classified ingredients by name and concentration — but the manufacturer or importer must separately submit the names and concentrations of non-classified (non-hazardous) ingredients to the government, unless every ingredient (classified and non-classified) is already disclosed in the MSDS body itself. For imported products, foreign manufacturers often won't disclose exact non-classified formulations for trade-secret reasons — in that case, Form 62 (화학물질 확인 서류, Chemical Substance Confirmation Document) plus a signed Letter of Confirmation (LOC) from the overseas manufacturer, stating no chemicals beyond what's disclosed in the MSDS are present, can substitute for the direct disclosure requirement.

Chemical Substance Registration Under the Chemicals Control Act

Separately from worker-safety MSDS, Korea's Act on Registration and Evaluation of Chemicals (화평법) and the Chemicals Control Act (화관법) regulate the substance itself at the point of manufacture or import — closer in spirit to EU REACH. Two documents come up constantly for import/manufacturing clients:

Chemical Substance Confirmation Statement (화학물질 확인명세서) — filed once before the first manufacture or import (re-filed if composition, content, or notified information changes), this is a self-declaration, verified by supporting documents, of whether the substance is subject to chemical regulation. Required attachments: a composition statement showing every ingredient and percentage (must total exactly 100% — an MSDS alone does not satisfy this requirement), a confirmation document or manufacturer/exporter Letter of Confirmation stating whether any regulated substances are present even where the formulation is a trade secret, and customs import-declaration documents. The filing itself needs the product name, importing country, expected annual volume, HSK code (the 10-digit customs tariff classification — a customs brokerage can confirm this if unclear), intended use, and confirmation method.

Existing vs. New Chemical Substances — an "existing chemical" is any substance commercially manufactured, imported, or distributed in Korea before February 2, 1991, and listed on the Ministry of Environment's roughly 44,000-substance existing-chemicals list (searchable via the Chemical Substance Information Processing System). Anything not on that list, first introduced after that date, is a "new chemical" and must be registered before manufacture/import — registration is required at 0.1 ton/year or more; below that, notification alone suffices. For existing chemicals, a business manufacturing or importing 1 ton or more per year must file a pre-registration (사전신고) before continuing to manufacture/import without full registration, unless the substance is one of 510 specifically designated existing chemicals (2015 notice) that skip pre-registration and require immediate full registration. Pre-registration buys a graduated registration grace period by volume: 1,000 tons+/CMR substances (deadline already passed, December 2021), 100–1,000 tons (December 2024), 10–100 tons (December 2027), 1–10 tons (December 2030) — after which full registration documentation is mandatory, with penalties up to 5 years' imprisonment or a ₩100 million fine for continuing to manufacture/import without it.

Businesses registering the same substance are legally required to join a Joint Registration Consortium (공동등록협의체) — designating a lead representative to pool hazard-testing data and submit registration jointly, which meaningfully cuts individual cost, testing duplication, and timeline versus registering solo. Skipping consortium membership blocks registration entirely and carries the same statutory penalties as unregistered manufacture/import.

Environmental Label (환경표지) Certification — Korea's Official Eco-Mark

Where MSDS and chemical registration are compliance obligations, 환경표지 (Environmental Label) certification is a voluntary but commercially valuable eco-mark administered by the Korea Environmental Industry & Technology Institute (KEITI) under the Ministry of Environment. It applies to a specific list of already-market-available product categories under the Act on the Promotion of Environmental Technology and Industry — heavily represented among housing/construction materials and equipment: paint (EL241), wallpaper (EL242), insulation (EL243), waterproofing materials (EL244), permeable concrete (EL245), interior flooring (EL246), radiant floor heating systems (EL247), wall/ceiling finishes (EL248), floor-impact-sound cushioning (EL249), windows and fittings (EL250), adhesives (EL251), decorative synthetic-resin sheets (EL252), raised flooring (EL253), decorative fabrics (EL254), lining paper (EL255), decorative synthetic leather (EL256), artificial turf (EL257), building sealants (EL259) — alongside broader categories like electrical wiring (EL207), LED lighting (EL209–210), plumbing fixtures (EL223–229), gas boilers (EL261), and laundry detergents (EL302), among many others.

Certification criteria cover resource conservation/recyclability, energy efficiency, and low pollutant/hazardous-substance emissions — verified through document review followed by an on-site inspection, then a final decision by KEITI's deliberation committee before the certificate is issued. Required documents: the official application form, a general product description covering environmental and quality advantages, a product itemization (per-model use, photos, specifications), a raw material usage statement (원료사용내역서) listing every ingredient's name, supplier, function, CAS number, and weight percentage (must total 100%, backed by purchase invoices and transaction records for cross-checking against actual procurement), a self-check table for compliance with relevant regulations, an environmental-claims compliance self-check table, business/factory registration certificates, any OEM or lease agreements, and test-request receipts/quotes. For some criteria, a hazardous-substance non-use confirmation (유해물질 미사용확인서) is also required — a manufacturer's formal declaration, backed by MSDS or test reports, that specific banned substances (lead, cadmium, mercury, hexavalent chromium, brominated flame retardants, certain phthalates) are absent; for imported raw materials, this often needs both the domestic supplier's confirmation and, when requested during review, a supplementary confirmation directly from the overseas manufacturer.

Applications are barred in four situations: the product had a certification revoked within the past year, the product was off the market for over a year before an extension request (with some exceptions), an extension is filed within 90 days of the certification's expiry, or a company failed to report an environmental-regulation violation to KEITI within a month of the administrative sanction before requesting an extension.

Certification unlocks two concrete commercial channels: listing on 녹색장터 (Green Market), the public-sector-only online mall for certified green products, and preferential treatment in 나라장터 (Nara Jangteo) public procurement, including mandatory-purchase status for many public institutions — a real advantage for construction-materials suppliers targeting public-sector buyers. One recent client, a building-materials manufacturer, spent from late summer through the following spring on the certification process before securing it; the resulting eco-mark opened both Green Market listing and public procurement access channels that had previously been closed to them.

환경표지 is frequently confused with 녹색인증 (Green Certification) — a separate program run by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy through the Korea Institute for Advancement of Technology (KIAT), which certifies technologies, technology-embedded products, and companies (rather than already-marketed consumer products) for carbon-reduction and resource-efficiency contribution, unlocking policy funding, tax/financial incentives, and R&D scoring bonuses. The two are not interchangeable and serve different commercial purposes — 환경표지 for market-facing product credibility and public-sector sales, 녹색인증 for technology/company-level policy and funding access.

Adjacent Territory: Waste Recycling & Disposal Business Licensing

Chemical and environmental-label work regularly intersects with waste business licensing (폐기물처리업 허가) under the Waste Management Act — required for any business collecting, transporting, recycling, or disposing of waste as its trade, with unlicensed operation carrying up to 5 years' imprisonment or a ₩50 million fine. Recycling businesses split into three types: intermediate recycling (mechanical processing like shredding/crushing that still produces "waste" as output), final recycling (converting intermediate output into a finished, no-longer-waste product — KS-certified goods, fertilizer, feed, GR-certified recycled products), and comprehensive recycling (a single operator doing both stages). Licensing requires clearing disqualification checks (criminal record, prior revocation history), meeting facility/equipment standards specific to the target waste type (storage capacity for 10–30 days of daily processing volume, shredding/sorting/weighing equipment, an enclosed collection vehicle), and staffing at least one qualified technical professional (waste-treatment engineer, air/water environment engineer, or equivalent). The application runs a four-stage process — a 30-day business-plan suitability review, formal permit application, a 10–30 day site inspection, and a final 10-day permit decision — with a substantial document package (business plan, facility/equipment inventory with detailed drawings, process flow diagrams, technical-staff credentials, land/building ownership proof, and, for a corporation, registry and financial statements). This office has handled both sides of this intersection directly — including verifying a waste-licensed vendor's paperwork as supporting evidence in a client's own eco-label application, and touring an active solar-panel-waste recycling facility as part of assessing a separate waste-business-licensing inquiry.

What Working With This Office Looks Like

Most engagements start with a document gap-check: does the product need an MSDS, is it an existing or new chemical, is the raw-material sourcing documented well enough to support a 100%-accounted-for usage statement. From there, the office prepares the MSDS or chemical confirmation statement filing, drafts the environmental-label application package (raw material usage statement, hazardous-substance non-use confirmation, compliance self-checks), and coordinates the KEITI document review and site-inspection stages through to certificate issuance — the same document-heavy, deadline-driven process this office runs across its other regulatory practice areas.