Ⅰ. The direction of the revision

1. Update of toxic chemical designation system differentiated from toxicity type, such as acute, chronic, or environmental hazard.

2. Update of toxic chemical management system differentiated by management measures as follows by the 'Chemical Control Act (CCA).’

- A substance having human health acute toxicity such as sulphuric acid (H2SO4) is to be managed with a focus on accident prevention and response.

- A substance having human health chronic toxicity such as lead (Pb) is to be managed with a focus on reducing exposure to the human.

- A substance having aquatic toxicity such as dicopper oxide (Cu2O) is to be managed with a focus on minimizing environmental release in consideration of damage to aquatic life in the event of an accident.

Ⅱ.Key information

To ensure public safety, the MoE is strengthening the criteria of acute toxicity and preparing a roadmap for the management of chronically hazardous chemicals.

If a chemical is skin corrosive, the chemical was designated as a toxic chemical only when its classification was category 1A, but the chemical classified as category 1B and 1C would be designated as a toxic chemical as well.

The roadmap for managing chronically hazardous chemicals is to be prepared. For the roadmap preparation, a management plan for minimizing exposure to reduce risk to consumers is to be discussed.

Details are to be determined in subordinate statutes, such as criteria for designating toxic chemicals, standards for handling facilities, handling standards, etc. These will be fully discussed through the Chemical Safety Policy Forum, thus the voices from the industry can be reflected.

Ⅲ. Industry Advice

It is expected that some of the management standards will be eased in the case of human health chronic and ecotoxic chemicals designated as toxic chemicals, through the re-organization of this toxic chemical designation criteria and management system.

However, when designating toxic chemicals, not only hazards are considered, but risks such as explosiveness and flammability are also considered. In addition to the current toxic chemical designation number system, if it is graded as acute, chronic, or ecotoxic, a new number will be assigned according to the changed system, which can affect the overall management of chemicals and products within the workplace.

And there also may be toxic chemicals whose classification and labeling are changed in the situation of re-examination of hazard classification, therefore a complete change to session 8 in SDS is expected and legal information part in the current SDS will be inevitable due to the change of toxic chemical system. In addition, handling standards, facility standards, workplace warning signs, and worker training may also change depending on the toxic chemical grading system. Even if there are some mitigations, confusion in workplace information management is expected to be unavoidable at the beginning.

The MoE is aiming for a 2024 re-organization of the system. Since it is the near future, it is the time to be aware of and pay attention to it.

Ⅳ. Annex

[Important Terms]

Toxic Chemical: Hazardous chemical designated and publicly notified by the Minister of Environment according to the standards prescribed by the Presidential Decree of K-REACH. In Korea 1,093 chemicals have been designated as toxic chemicals as of November 30th of 2022.

The burden on society: Approximately a threefold increase in the number of newly assigned toxic chemicals in a year (from 16 to 50 chemicals per year) since the implementation of K-REACH in 2015: From 722 chemicals in the year 2014 to 1,082 chemicals in 2021.

Chemical Safety Policy Forum: Any discussion from Chemical Safety Policy Forum is open to the public at www.chemnavi.or.kr/forum

Hazard of toxic chemicals: Hazard standard according to Annex 1 from Presidential Decree of K-REACH

Table 1. Toxic chemical designation criteria before the revision

Table 2. Revised toxic chemical designation criteria 
 

Chemtopia Co., Ltd. provides corresponding services to comply with amended and legislated regulations :

· Chemical registration service including Pre-registration, OR service, Read-across or QSAR approach, CSR preparation, Data sharing and negotiation
· Chemical inventory for regulatory tracking
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· Provision of domestic and foreign chemical regulatory database
· MSDS and label authoring system
· Test arranging & its monitoring with domestic and foreign test institutes

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