Korea Federation of SMEs Holds 'Seminar on Measures to Address the Chemical Substances Control Act and Chemical Management Act' to Ease SME Burdens

Amendments to the Chemical Substances Control Act and the Chemical Management Act to Take Effect Next Year

The Korea Federation of Small and Medium Business (Kbiz) announced on the 21st that it held a seminar titled "Measures to Respond to the Chemical Substances Control Act and the Act on Registration and Evaluation of Chemical Substances to Alleviate the Burden on Small and Medium Enterprises" at the Kbiz headquarters in Yeouido.

This seminar was organized to review the direction of amendments to subordinate laws such as the Enforcement Decree and Enforcement Rules of the Chemical Substances Registration and Evaluation Act (Hwapyung Act) and the Chemical Substances Control Act (Hwagwan Act), and to help small and medium enterprises establish appropriate response strategies.

The amendments to the Hwapyung Act and Hwagwan Act, which the current government had identified as killer regulations, passed the National Assembly plenary session in January and are scheduled to take effect on January 1 and August 7 of next year, respectively. Through these amendments, the Hwapyung Act relaxed the registration threshold for new chemical substances from 0.1 tons to 1 ton, and the Hwagwan Act introduced differentiated regulations based on the hazard level of chemical substances.

First, Jeong Kyung-hwa, Director of the Chemical Safety Division at the Ministry of Environment, presented on the background of promoting rationalization of chemical regulations, the main contents of the amended laws, and the direction of amendments to subordinate laws such as differentiated management according to workplace risk and differentiated facility standards based on hazard classification.

Following this, Professor Kim Sang-heon of Kyungsung University gave a presentation titled "Exploring Response Measures for Small and Medium Enterprises to the Amendment of the Hwapyung Act," emphasizing the need to establish personnel and systems capable of securing hazard information. Professor Cheon Young-woo of Inha University presented on "The Impact on Small and Medium Enterprises and Response Measures Following the Amendment of Subordinate Laws of the Hwagwan Act," stressing the importance for SMEs to identify the hazard status of substances supplied by upstream companies in the supply chain.

In addition to the keynote presentations, representatives from the Korea Environment Corporation provided guidance on support projects related to the Hwapyung Act and Hwagwan Act at the venue.

Yang Chan-hoe, Head of the Innovation Growth Division at Kbiz, stated, "Although some parts reflecting the position of small and medium enterprises have been included, there are still areas requiring support, such as alleviating the registration cost burden for small-quantity chemical substances," and added, "We hope that the opinions of the SME sector will be actively reflected."