Reasons for Proposal and Major Provisions

Korea is making efforts to ensure safety in the manufacturing and processing stages before import, such as applying the prior registration system for manufacturing and processing facilities located overseas to all imported foods from 2016 to strengthen the management of foreign production stages, conducting on-site inspections on the hygiene management of overseas manufacturing/processing facilities on a regular basis every year, and canceling the registration if it is registered in a false or fraudulent way, etc.

However, even in cases where a manufacturing/processing facility voluntarily withdraws its registration for the purpose of avoiding on-site inspection, or its registration has been canceled due to false or fraudulent registration after being selected as an on-site inspection and the inspection schedule being notified, there is no clear legal basis for restricting the re-registration of such facilities for a certain period under the current Act.

Therefore, this amendment aims to raise awareness of the effectiveness of the safety management system and compliance with the law, such as permitting the registration of a manufacturing/processing facility only if it is suitable for the on-site inspection where a manufacturing/processing facility subject to on-site inspection voluntarily withdraws its registration and then applies for registration again and establishing a new basis for restricting the registration application of the importer, etc., who applied for the relevant registration for a certain period of time if the registration was canceled due to false or fraudulent registration (Articles 5, 6, 12, 13, and Article 5-2 newly inserted).