Last year, 260,000 cases of illegal and hazardous items imported through overseas direct purchase at the border stage were blocked. The customs authorities plan to focus their efforts on preventing the domestic import of illegal and hazardous items abused through overseas direct purchase, anticipating that the volume of overseas direct purchases will increase further.
On the 20th, the Korea Customs Service announced that it achieved a total of 260,000 cases of blocking illegal and hazardous item imports through risk cargo selection and full inspection based on last year's overseas direct purchase transaction information analysis, joint intensive inspections with the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety and the Animal and Plant Quarantine Agency to block illegally imported food, and intensive inspections during large-scale discount events on overseas platforms such as Singles' Day and Black Friday.
The detected items were classified into 68,000 cases of intellectual property rights infringement items, 7,600 cases of safety hazardous items such as imitation firearms, blades, and obscene materials, and 180,000 cases of harmful food, pharmaceuticals, and other law-violating items.
In particular, the Korea Customs Service recently conducted safety inspections (component analysis) on ultra-low-priced items available for purchase on overseas direct purchase platforms such as Ali and Temu, confirming that 96 out of 404 jewelry items and 38 out of 252 children's products contained harmful substances such as heavy metals exceeding the standard levels.
For overseas direct purchase items in which harmful substances were detected, the customs service requests the platforms to suspend sales and simultaneously discloses related information on the Korea Customs Service website to guide consumers to avoid damage on their own.
This month, in celebration of Family Month, the customs service plans to conduct intensive safety inspections on overseas direct purchase food products such as health functional foods, which are expected to surge in imports, to block the domestic import of harmful overseas direct purchase food products.
Previously, the Korea Customs Service strengthened the management of personal customs clearance codes to prevent the domestic import of illegal and hazardous items abused through overseas direct purchase. By revising the “Notice on Special Customs Clearance for E-commerce Goods,” since October last year, it has been mandatory for both Koreans and foreigners to submit personal customs clearance codes when making overseas direct purchases.
This measure was established to include overseas direct purchases by foreigners, who had been in a blind spot, within the risk management scope of the Korea Customs Service.
In December last year, new maritime express logistics centers equipped with the latest surveillance equipment were established at Incheon Port and Gunsan Port to minimize blind spots in the response system for the surging volume of overseas direct purchases.
Among them, the Gunsan express logistics center is expected to reduce logistics costs associated with bonded transportation and disperse logistics hubs concentrated in the metropolitan areas such as Incheon and Pyeongtaek to the west coast, thereby contributing to regional economic revitalization and strengthening cargo surveillance and enforcement functions.
A Korea Customs Service official said, “In addition to past achievements, the Korea Customs Service will continue to focus its institutional capabilities on blocking the domestic import of illegal and hazardous items abused through overseas direct purchase,” adding, “We will tighten the inspection network at the border stage to create an environment where the public can use overseas direct purchase safely and conveniently.”
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