Korean Agency for Technology and Standards (“KATS”) Announces its 2024 Safety Investigation Plan

On January 29, 2024, the Korean Agency for Technology and Standards (“KATS”) announced its plan for product safety investigations in 2024, with a focus on the products mentioned below.

Priority Products Subject to Regular Investigations

The KATS annually selects a list of products having relatively high safety concerns for consumers as “priority products” and investigates these products on a regular basis. For 2024, KATS designated 59 priority products, keeping 31 priority products from 2023 (e.g., water play equipment for children, children’s bicycles, four-wheeled walking aids for the elderly, electric mattresses) and adding 28 new priority products (e.g., toddlers’ tricycles, water glasses for children, portable laser devices, electric heating cabinets). The priority products are selected based on whether the products have higher recall rates than others, how many times the products were the subject of accident investigations, and whether fire incidents related to the products have increased.

Category	Priority Products in 2024^[1]
Electrical Products	24 products, including cables (nominal area of 96mm² or less), power plugs and sockets, small-sized power converters for household use, electric mattresses, electric seating cushions (DC), electric seating cushions (AC), electric heating pads (DC), electric heating pads (AC), LED lighting apparatus, batteries, LED lamps (modules), heating seats, electric mats, cable reels, steam thawing machines, electric mats, electric stoves, air conditioners, air blowers, range hoods, direct current power supplies, water pipe freeze protectors, electric heating cabinets, and money counting machines
Daily Products	19 products, including four-wheeled walking aids for the elderly, walking frames and rollators for the elderly, protective helmets for vehicles, protective eyewear for vehicles, blades for portable brush cutters, climbing ropes, double-eyelid tapes, eyelash thermoforming devices, furniture (limited to dressers for home and filing cabinets for the office with a height of 762 mm or higher), gas lighters, steam cookers, skateboards, electric kick scooters, mountain bikes, portable laser devices, hot packs, flexible polyvinyl chloride hoses, kick scooters, and masks for cold weather, fashion, or sports
Children’s Products	16 products, including water play equipment for children, children’s products made of synthetic resin, bunk beds for children, children’s bicycles, children’s leather products, eye glass frames for children (including sunglasses), children’s accessories, children’s kick scooters, furniture for children, skateboards for children, toddlers’ tricycles, baby walkers, strollers, water glasses for children, inline skates for children, and other children’s products

^[1] Products that have been newly added or have details changed in 2024 are bolded and underlined.

2024 Goals: Strengthening Investigations on Products Whose Safety Management is Easily Overlooked, Improving Efficiency in Preventing Distribution of Recalled Products, and Strengthening Crackdown on Illegal Products

The KATS’ 2024 safety investigation plan primarily focuses on expanding investigations for products whose safety management may be easily overlooked, efficiently preventing the distribution of recalled products, and cracking down on illegal products by implementing the following measures:

(1)	Identify and investigate products whose safety management is easily overlooked, such as products for the elderly or those who are especially vulnerable, products that were not the subject of a recall but were manufactured by companies that went through recalls, or gifts and promotional items;

(2)	Block online distribution of hazardous products by ensuring that at least 70% of the investigated products are products that were sold via online sales;

(3)	Prepare guidelines for online shopping malls and prevent the distribution of illegal products by proactively planning investigations on products that have gained public attention or products that have a higher number of complaints; and

(4)	Strengthen online and offline monitoring to prevent the distribution of recalled products and promote the hazardous product sales block system.

In view of the 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. The KATS plans to conduct seven safety investigations throughout the year on approximately 4,600 products (in addition to the four regular investigations, it will conduct three ad-hoc investigations on the products that may be difficult to fully review through regular investigations). These may include products that are only distributed during a particular time of the year (e.g., in May, the “family month” in Korea), products purchased through intermediaries, or products that have not been investigated during the past three years (including, for example, business-to-business products, parts and components, and products for professional use).

[Korean Version]

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