45 Overseas Direct Purchase Products Including Electric Ranges and Foot Warmers Fail Safety Standards

It has been revealed that 45 products, including electric ranges, foot warmers, and electric seat cushions purchased directly from overseas, failed to meet domestic safety standards. Special caution is required when purchasing heating devices commonly used in winter through direct overseas purchases.

The National Institute of Technology and Standards under the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy announced that it conducted a safety investigation on 258 popular products expected to see increased sales during winter on overseas online platforms to check for potential hazards, and confirmed that 45 products did not comply with domestic safety standards.

This investigation is the second phase following the safety survey of overseas direct purchase products conducted in August, selecting 258 winter-related products with high sales volume for inspection. The overall non-compliance rate was 17%, similar to the first survey. This rate is higher than the domestic non-compliance rate of 5.8% recorded until October this year.

Among electrical products, 22 out of 85 items inspected were found to be non-compliant with safety standards, including electric ranges (3), foot warmers (3), electric seat cushions (2), DC power supplies (11), and batteries (2). Among household goods, 6 out of 40 products were non-compliant, including portable laser devices (5) and cold-weather, fashion, and sports masks (1). For children’s products, 17 out of 133 items were non-compliant, including children’s textile products (7), infant textile products (5), and toys (4).

The National Institute of Technology and Standards has posted information related to the 45 hazardous products on the Product Safety Information Portal (www.safetykorea.kr) and Consumer 24 to help consumers when purchasing overseas direct purchase products, and has requested overseas direct purchase online platform operators to block sales to prevent these products from entering the domestic market.

The institute emphasized, "Since overseas direct purchases do not receive KC certification and are shipped directly from overseas sellers, safety cannot be guaranteed. Therefore, it is wise to avoid purchasing hazardous overseas direct purchase products registered on the Product Safety Information Portal and other platforms." They added, "We plan to continue monitoring and conducting safety investigations on overseas direct purchase products to prevent hazardous products from entering the domestic market."