Newsletter | April 2015, Issue 1
	ENVIRONMENT
	Major Changes in Environmental Policy in 2015
	Enforcement of the Act on the Registration, Evaluation, Etc. of Chemicals
	The Act on the Registration, Evaluation, Etc. of Chemicals (“K-REACH”) and its subordinate regulations, i.e., the Enforcement Decree and the Enforcement Rules to K-REACH, took effect as of January 1, 2015.  Under K-REACH, businesses handling chemicals are subject to more stringent government control; for instance, any person who intends to import (i) a new chemical, (ii) a pre-existing chemical of one ton or more per year, or (iii) a product containing hazardous chemicals, is required to file the respective report with the regulatory authority.
	Enforcement of the Amended Chemicals Control Act
	The amended Chemicals Control Act (“CCA”), which also took effect on January 1, 2015 (replacing the previous Toxic Chemicals Control Act), requires businesses handling chemicals to prepare and submit supplemental documents to the regulatory authority (i.e., documents in addition to those required under the previous Toxic Chemicals Control Act).
	For instance, the amended CCA requires a person who intends to operate a facility handling hazardous chemicals to submit an “off-site impact evaluation report” and a person operating a facility which handles chemicals requiring preparation for accident (referred to as “Accident Preparedness Chemicals”) to submit a “risk management plan.”
	Enforcement of Greenhouse Gases Emissions Trading System
	The Greenhouse Gas (“GHG”) emissions trading system (“ETS”) took effect on January 1, 2015.  ETS is defined as a system under which the government establishes the total amount of permitted GHG emissions for companies while companies can reduce GHG and achieve GHG reduction targets through emissions trading.  Specifically, qualified companies will be granted emissions permits, which give these companies the right to emit a certain amount of GHG for a certain period.  In this regard, companies with a higher cost to reduce GHG may purchase emission permits in the market instead of making a voluntary reduction, while companies with a lower reduction cost may sell their emission permits in the market to gain profits.
	Relaxation of Restrictions on Discharge of Designated Water Pollutants
	The Amendment to the Water Quality and Ecosystem Conservation Act ("Water Conservation Act") and its subordinate regulations, which took effect on November 24, 2014, relaxed restrictions over facilities that discharge designated water pollutants (“discharging facilities”).  Under this Amendment, installation of a discharging facility is now permitted if the facility generates the designated water pollutants at a level below the drinking water standards; installation will be restricted if the generated water pollutants exceed the drinking water standards level.
	Allocation of Liability for Contaminated Soil Purification
	Following the Korean Constitutional Court’s decision holding the former Soil Environment Preservation Act ("SEPA") to be unconstitutional, SEPA was subsequently amended and went into effect on March 25, 2015.  Under the Amendment to SEPA, not only the person who directly causes soil contamination but also other individuals – such as previous and current owners of the contaminated land – can be held liable as “responsible parties” and be held responsible for the cleanup of the contaminated land.
	Application of More Stringent Air Pollutant Emission Control
	In addition to facilities emitting air pollutants, vehicles will be subject to the Government’s stringent enforcement of air pollutant emission standards.  Thus, it will be important for businesses to familiarize themselves with the pollutant emission standards in advance and develop compliance strategies.
	In particular, as the so-called “Euro VI Regulation” is in effect as of January 1, 2015, sale of vehicles emitting air pollutants such as fine dust and nitrogen oxide (NO2) in excess of certain required limit is prohibited.  In addition, more stringent standards are expected to apply to gasoline-powered vehicles and gas-powered vehicles from January 1, 2016.
	Promulgation of the Environmental Pollution Damage Compensation and Recovery Act
	The Environmental Pollution Damage Compensation and Recovery Act was promulgated on December 31, 2014 to provide victims suffering from environmental damage with more effective remedial measures; the Act will be effective after a 1-year grace period.  The Act imposes strict liability against businesses and adopts “presumption of causation” which allows the court to presume that a certain facility has caused damages if it finds that it was more likely than not that the facility caused such damage.  However, the facility operator may overcome such presumption if it can prove that it had complied with all applicable environmental or safety laws and regulations.
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	Yoon Jeong Lee yjlee@kimchang.com Joo Hyoung Lee joohyoung.lee@kimchang.com
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