South Korea Proposes Revised Classification and Labeling Rules for Hazardous Chemicals under K-REACH

On 2 December 2025 National Institute of Chemical Safety (NICS) published Notice No. 2025-127 announcing an administrative advance notice of a partial amendment to the Regulations on the Classification and Labelling of Chemical Substances under the Act on the Registration and Evaluation of Chemical Substances (K-REACH). This amendment follows the revision of the K-REACH Act effective 7 August 2025, which expanded the designation criteria for acute human hazardous substances, chronic human hazardous substances, and ecotoxic substances, collectively referred to as human and environmental hazardous substances. Based on these expanded criteria, previously assessed substances were re-evaluated. As a result, the amendment newly designates substances exhibiting strong skin corrosivity as human and environmental hazardous substances and officially notifies their required hazard classification and labeling information. Specifically, new entries numbered 2025-1-1281 to 2025-1-1355 are added to Annex 4, Section (a). In addition, several technical corrections are made to existing listings, including the addition of a CAS number, correction of a UN number, revisions to chemical substance names, and correction of a hazard pictogram. To support compliance, transitional provisions are introduced to provide a grace period for entities required to update labeling in accordance with the Chemical Substances Control Act. Public comments may be submitted to NICS until 22 December 2025.