Local Specialty Liquor 'Haemaju' Opens Export Route... National Tax Service Allows Trademark Labeling for Additives as Well as Main Ingredients

The export path has opened for 'Haema (海馬)ju,' the first domestically developed product.

On the 6th, the National Tax Service announced that it visited a local specialty liquor manufacturer in March who had given up on launching their product due to difficulties in finding ways to enter overseas markets. The agency listened to their grievances on-site and actively resolved the issues, thereby opening the path for exports.

Last March, Kim Tae-ho, Deputy Commissioner of the National Tax Service (third from the left), and Choi Jae-bong, Director of the Corporate Taxation Bureau, visited Sulaowon Brewery to listen to difficulties regarding support for the export of Korean traditional liquor.

Sulawon developed Haemaju, which uses rice, sweet potatoes, and basil?agricultural products from the Yeoju region where the distillery is located?as main ingredients, and includes Jeju-grown 'cultivated seahorses,' after significant investment and effort for export purposes.

At the request of overseas buyers, it was most important for export to display the medicinal ingredient 'Haema' on the trademark. However, if Haema is displayed on the trademark, the added seahorse ingredient could be classified as the main ingredient representing the product characteristics of a local specialty liquor. In this case, Haemaju would not meet the definition of a local specialty liquor, which requires the main ingredient to be agricultural products from adjacent regions, and thus the product could not be launched as a local specialty liquor. This is because the Act on the Promotion of Traditional Liquor Industry defines local specialty liquor as liquor manufactured using agricultural products from adjacent regions as the main ingredient, with a manufacturing license recommended by the city or provincial governor.

The core issue was whether Haemaju could be used as a trademark under the Liquor License Act for the liquor intended for export. The National Tax Service decided on a new interpretation considering that, unlike local specialty liquors, general liquors have no restrictions on trademark use during export, and some liquors, such as Jamong Aiseul and Kooksoondang Rice Banana, already display added ingredients rather than main ingredients on their trademarks for export.

An official from the National Tax Service stated, "Going forward, the National Tax Service will continue to actively resolve the difficulties of liquor manufacturers facing tough conditions due to the economic downturn through on-site visits, support the overseas expansion of the domestic liquor industry, and strive to improve the liquor trade balance deficit."