Implementation of testing and inspection agency
Visits, inspections, collection, etc.
- The Minister of Food and Drug Safety (including the head of a local food and drug safety department), a Special Metropolitan City Mayor, Metropolitan City Mayor, Special Autonomous City Mayor, Province Governor, Special Autonomous Province Governor (hereinafter referred to as a Mayor/Do Governor) or the head of a Si/Gun/Gu may take the following measures where necessary in order to prevent harm caused by foods, etc., manage sanitation and maintain business order (Article 22(1) of the Food Sanitation Act and Article 12 of the Enforcement Decree of the Food Sanitation Act).
· Requesting a business operator or other related persons to submit necessary documents or data
· Ordering the relevant public officials to inspect foods, etc. for sale or business, or business facilities, etc. by visiting places of business (including offices, warehouses, factories, storage places, selling places or other places similar thereto)
· Collecting the minimum amounts of foods, etc. necessary for the above inspections without any fee charges
· Inspecting books or documents related to business
※ Any person who refuses, obstructs or avoids the visits, inspections, collection in violation of this provision shall be punished by imprisonment for no longer than 3 years or be subject to a fine not exceeding KRW 30 million (Subparagraph 2 of Article 97 of the Food Sanitation Act).
Testing and inspection agency
- The Minister of the Food and Drug Safety may designate an institution that shall implement testing and inspection professionally and effectively (Article 6(1) of the Act on the Testing and Inspection in the Food and Drug Industry and Article 3 and attached Table 3 of the Enforcement Decree of the Act on the Testing and Inspection in the Food and Drug Industry).
Duty of self-quality inspection
Self-quality inspection
- A business operator who manufactures and processes foods, etc. shall inspect manufactured and processed foods, etc. to ensure that such foods, etc. observe the standards and specifications under Article 7 (Foods or Food Additives) or Article 9 (Apparatus, Containers and Packages) of the Food Sanitation Act (Article 31(1) of the Food Sanitation Act).
※ Any person who violates such provision shall be punished by imprisonment for not longer than 3 years or a fine not exceeding KRW 30 million (Subparagraph 1 of Article 97 of the Food Sanitation Act).
- A business operatorwho manufactures or processes foods, etc. may conduct a self-qualityinspection by entrusting such inspection to a self-quality testing andinspection agency under subparagraph 2 of Article 6(3) of the Act on Testingand Inspection in the Food and Drug Industry (Article 31(2) of the FoodSanitation Act)
- Where it is found through an inspection under paragraph (1) that the relevant foods, etc. violate Articles 4 through 6, Article 7(4), Article 8 or Article 9(4) of the Food Sanitation Act and thus cause or are likely to cause harm to public health, a business operator that directly conducts an inspection under paragraph (1) shall report to the Minister of Food and Drug Safety without delay (Article 31(3) of the Food Sanitation Act).
Self-quality inspection standards, etc.
- The self-quality inspection shall be conducted pursuant to the self-quality inspection standards (Article 31(4) of the Food Sanitation Act and Article 31(1) and attached Table 12 of the Enforcement Regulations of the Food Sanitation Act).
- Records of self-quality inspection shall be kept for 2 years (Article 31(4) of the Enforcement Regulations of the Food Sanitation Act).
Sanctions for violating the self-quality inspection requirements
- Any person who violates the self-quality inspection regulations shall be ordered to correct the issue, suspend the manufacture of the relevant items, or suspend the entire business operation (Article 71, Subparagraph 5 of Article 75(1), and Subparagraph 5 of Article 76(1) of the Food Sanitation Act).