Quarantine inspection details and methods
Details of quarantine inspection- The director of the quarantine station shall conduct a quarantine inspection on the following matters (Article 12 (1) of the Quarantine Act).
· Progress and status of health and sanitary conditions of a means of transport and cargo
· Whether all persons, including passengers and crew members entering or departing from the Republic of Korea (hereinafter “persons entering or departing from the Republic of Korea”), are infected with any quarantinable infectious disease and have any risk factors of quarantinable infectious diseases, and the prevention and control thereof. (In the case of a motor vehicle, it may be omitted.)
· Food storage status in a means of transport
· Whether vectors for infectious diseases inhabit and their breeding status
Quarantine inspection methods- Persons entering or departing from the Republic of Korea by land shall undergo a quarantine inspection at a quarantine area or an entry or exit point (Subparagraph 1 of Article 2 of the Inter-Korean Exchange and Cooperation Act) before entering or departing from the Republic of Korea (Article 12 (2) of the Quarantine Act and Article 5 (4) of the Enforcement Rules of the Quarantine Act).
- In order to conduct a quarantine inspection, the director of a quarantine station may request the head of immigration and the head of the means of transportation to submit or present the following necessary documents and may ask questions or inspect and investigate necessary matters to them (Article 12 (3) of the Quarantine Act and Article 6 (2) of the Enforcement Rules of the Quarantine Act).
· Navigation log, airline log, or operation log (presentation by the head of the means of transportation)
· Certificate of ship sanitation management or certificate of exemption from ship sanitation management prepared pursuant to the IHR (presented by the captain)
· Other documents requested by the director of the quarantine station, such as passports, to present for the quarantine inspection
※ Sanction for violation: Where a person refuses, obstructs, evades a request to submit or present a document, or submits or presents a false document, he or she shall be punished by imprisonment with labor for not more than one year or a fine not exceeding KRW 10 million (Article 39 (1) 2 of the Quarantine Act)
- The director of the quarantine office may require immigration officers to submit the necessary documents using information and communications technology (ICT) devices for quarantine inspections (Article 12 (3) of the Quarantine Act and Article 6 (1) of the Enforcement Rules of the Quarantine Act).
- The director of the quarantine office may utilize equipment such as informatization devices, visual data processing devices, electronic detectors, etc. to perform quarantine duties promptly and accurately (Article 12 (4) of the Quarantine Act).
Quarantine notification for users of facilities such as airports or ports- A facility manager, such as an airport (subparagraph 3 of Article 2 of the Airport Facilities Act) or harbor (subparagraph 1 of Article 2 of the Port Act) shall inform a person who uses the facilities of the quarantine control area, intensive quarantine control area, quarantine location, types and methods of quarantine infection occurring in the area, measures where he or she is infected or suspected of infection, etc. in accordance with the following methods (Article 29-6 (1) of the Quarantine Act and Article 25-4 (1) of the Enforcement Rules of the Quarantine Act).
· Posting in a conspicuous place in a form easily recognizable to users of the relevant facility (including videos)
· Broadcasting in a manner easy for users of the relevant facility to understand
Duty to maintain confidentiality of relevant workers, such as quarantine inspections- No person who has performed or performs duties related to quarantine, such as quarantine inspections, shall divulge to another person any confidential information he or she becomes aware of in the course of conducting quarantine inspections (Article 38 of the Quarantine Act).
- A person who divulges confidential information he or she has learned during a quarantine inspection to another person shall be punished by imprisonment with labor for not more than one year or by a fine not exceeding KRW 10 million (Article 39 (1) 5 of the Quarantine Act).