On January 25, 2023, the Korean Agency for Technology and Standards (“KATS”) announced its plan for product safety investigations in 2023, with a focus on the following products.
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Regular and Focused Investigations on Priority Products
Every year, KATS selects products having relatively high safety concerns for consumers as priority products and investigates these products on a regular basis. For 2023, KATS designated 40 priority products, keeping 24 priority products from 2022 (e.g., children’s products made of synthetic resin, textile goods for children, airsoft guns for adults, LED lighting apparatus, etc.) and adding 16 new priority products (e.g., children’s protective equipment for sports, children’s trolley bags, inflatable boats, cables, power plugs and sockets, etc.). KATS plans to increase the number of required samples for the priority products and focus on these products during the regular investigations this year.
[Priority Products in 2023]
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Children’s Products |
14 products including child protective systems in vehicles, children’s products made of synthetic resin, bunk beds for children, children’s bicycles, children’s leather products, umbrellas and parasols for children, children’s kickboards, furniture for children, children’s textile goods, eye glass frames for children (including sunglasses), water play equipment for children, children’s protective equipment for sports (safety equipment and helmets), children’s trolley bags, and children’s accessories. |
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Daily Products |
13 products including walkers for the elderly, oil heaters, eyelash thermoforming devices, airsoft guns for adults, manganese batteries, inflatable boats, protective helmets for vehicles, protective eyewear for vehicles, blades for portable brush cutters, climbing ropes, furniture (limited to dressers for home and filing cabinets for office with a height of 762 mm or higher), window blinds, and double-eyelid tapes. |
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Electrical Products |
13 products including small-sized power converter for household use, electric mattresses, electric mats, electric seating cushions, LED lighting apparatus, electric heating pads, batteries, LED lamps (modules), converters for lighting apparatus (including LED power supplies), cables (nominal area of 95 mm2 or less), power plugs and sockets, hot plates, and heating seats. |
* Products that are newly added or have details changed in 2023 are bolded and underlined.
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2023 Goals: Strengthening Safety Investigations with a Focus on Hazardous Products, Improving the Recall System, and Cracking Down on Illegal Products
KATS’ 2023 safety investigation plan primarily focuses on expanding investigations for hazardous products and improving the current systems for managing recalls and cracking down on illegal products by implementing the below measures.
(1) Conducting more thorough investigations by:
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Expanding the scope of products subject to regular investigation and increasing the number of samples collected.
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Initiating ad-hoc investigations on products that are trending or otherwise gaining public attention.
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Strengthening investigations for products with higher safety risks, such as those that have not been investigated for the past three years, were produced by companies that went through recalls, are distributed online, are for children, or are subject to safety standards.
(2) Improving the recall system by assigning people to specific products so they gain expertise in the product and conducting additional follow-up investigations on recalls to ensure better compliance.
(3) Increasing preemptive on-site investigations of illegal products.
In view of KATS’ announcement of its commitment to bolster safety inspections through regular and ad-hoc investigations, we encourage companies that manufacture and supply consumer products to confirm compliance with all safety regulations and to carefully examine any safety issues raised by consumers.
