Government and Ministry of Environment to Enforce Revised Chemical Substances Control Act (ChemSCA) Starting This Year

The Chemical Substances Control Act (CSCA) has been fully enforced since January 1, 2020. After a five-year grace period following the implementation of the CSCA in 2015 for systematic management of chemical substances, the government and the Ministry of Environment began applying the law to relevant workplaces starting this year.

The CSCA is a system designed to assess the impact of chemical substances within workplaces on areas outside the premises and to strengthen facility management of chemicals by supplementing hazardous substance management personnel. It was enacted to prevent incidents such as hydrofluoric acid leaks and to enable efficient response in case of accidents.

This year, the number of workplaces newly subject to the CSCA is estimated to be around 7,000 to 8,000 nationwide. Before the enforcement of the CSCA, human errors caused by minor negligence or poor management were frequent, but after the law’s implementation, workplaces have installed safety equipment and signage, resulting in a reduction of human accidents. By establishing the most basic safety measures that individuals and workplaces must observe, it is possible to reduce the damage that can snowball beyond the workplace to surrounding areas in the event of a chemical accident.

Some industries are responding quickly by adopting eco-friendly materials. Special inks mainly used in the printing industry have faced difficulties due to fierce competition among companies and the use of hazardous chemicals. However, by developing eco-friendly rice oil ink, these inks are supplied as alternative materials to printing businesses subject to the CSCA, actively participating in government environmental regulations.

However, many small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and small-scale self-employed businesses are delaying compliance with the regulations, citing manpower shortages and costs, or are expecting the government to fully cover related expenses.

To reduce the burden on business owners, the Ministry of Environment established new facility standards last September that recognize exceptions if safety can be ensured by other means when compliance with the CSCA safety standards is not possible. This partially relaxes regulations for existing facilities. For workplaces handling relatively small annual quantities of hazardous chemicals, only 66 out of approximately 336 facility standards under the CSCA need to be met to continue operations.

At a recent environmental regulation issue meeting held on the 8th, where Cho Myung-rae, Minister of Environment, was invited by the Korea Federation of SMEs, many SMEs expressed that the cost burden due to environmental regulations represented by the CSCA and the Act on Registration, Evaluation, etc. of Chemical Substances (ARECS) has surged, pushing them to the brink of closure. They also argued that the regulations are excessive compared to advanced countries like the United States and requested regulatory relaxation along with government financial support.

Until the CSCA is properly enforced, anxiety among residents near workplaces remains high. In fact, Incheon Metropolitan City, where the proportion of the 'at-risk population' exposed to chemical carcinogens is the highest nationwide, has 70% of hazardous chemical handling workplaces concentrated in Seo-gu and Namdong-gu districts, leading some residents to liken the area to a "residential district with bombs and powder kegs."

Especially in industrial complexes near Seo-gu and Namdong-gu in Incheon, numerous apartment complexes coexist, and small-scale workplaces subject to the CSCA are scattered even in general residential areas. Until safety management and supervision of these workplaces are perfected, residents near chemical handling workplaces inevitably remain anxious.

A representative from the Korean Federation for Environmental Movement stated, "It is impossible to know what is inside chemical factories, and for example, the Ministry of Environment’s Disaster Joint Response Center, which systematically responds to chemical accidents in the Incheon area, is still located in Siheung City, which adds to residents’ concerns." They added, "We must manage chemical handling workplaces with the mindset that 'accidents will inevitably occur.'"