5th Report of Market Access Ombudsman Council (March 17, 1998)

1-(2) Simplify processed food import inspection

1. Complainant: Korean Embassy in Japan

2. Ministry concerned: Ministry of Health and Welfare

3. Complaint:

For exports of new processed foods to Japan, the Food Sanitation Law requires the submission of manufacturing process tables, ingredient analysis tables and the like, based on which Japan's inspection agency (Japan Food Safety Council) re-inspects ingredients, etc. The time and expense involved in this required inspection are excessive.

For exports of new processed foods, if the results of the inspections conducted by Korea's official domestic agency (Korea Institute of Food Hygiene) are submitted, they should be accepted and Japan's inspections omitted.

4. Corresponding Policy of the Ministries concerned:

Reports are made each time food, etc., is to be imported for sales or business purposes, and items are subjected to inspection as necessary.

In this case, an inspection agency with standard inspection capability and that is under the jurisdiction of or recognized and designated by the exporting country should be registered with the Ministry of Health and Welfare in advance. Since Showa 57, under the "Foreign Official Laboratories" system, when the results of the inspections conducted by such a public agency are presented (excluding those pertaining to inspected items that could be subject to change during transit, such as bacterial and mildew infections), the inspection at time of import is omitted.

Korea Institute of Food Hygiene registered accordingly in 1995, and its inspection results are being accepted.