Shanghai : China will carry out customs inspection on Korean chemical medicines only once at the initial stage and exempt them from inspections thereafter, the Korean government said.
As it took about two to four weeks for Korean chemical drugs to go through Chinese customs, the new measure will significantly reduce the customs time.
The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety and the Korean Agency for Technology and Standards under the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy attended the regular meeting of the World Trade Organization’s Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade in Geneva, Switzerland, from Nov. 13-15.
The participants discussed how to deal with foreign technical regulations that have become an obstacle to entry into overseas markets.
The government officials conducted bilateral consultations with 15 countries on 30 foreign technical barriers. They officially raised Specific Trade Concerns (STC) on five regulations at a multilateral meeting where all the member states participated.
STC involves a particular trade issue that a member state can officially appeal to WTO’s TBT committee when it sees a possible negative impact on its export to the trading partner country.
At the meeting, participants discussed China’s network security law (cybersecurity law), internationally certified test report on medical devices, registration fees for medical devices, and attached certificates for imported foods. Also, they discussed what to do with Israel’s regulations on cosmetics.
China agreed to conduct customs inspections on Korean chemical drugs only at the time of the first import, and exempt them from second imports.
In the past, Korean pharmaceutical firms had difficulty in exporting their drugs to China because it took about two to four weeks for Chinese customs officials to inspect every item.
“We have been demanding China improve customs procedures since 2014. The latest change will contribute to Korea’s export by saving time and cost for customs,” the ministry said.
