- Proposal for the Special Act on Imported Food Safety Control Passes through the Assembly Plenary Session

□ The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety (Minister Seung Jeong) has announced that the proposal for the Special Act on Imported Food Safety Control, which switches the focus of imported food safety control from "inspections at the customs clearance stage" to "on-site inspections in exporting countries", passed through the Assembly plenary session on January 12.

○ This passage of the Special Act on Imported Food Safety Control would enable the systematic safety control of imported foods, which are rapidly increasing along with recent events such as the conclusion of the FTA, through the segmentation of the safety control stages into on-site inspection, customs clearance, and distribution.

○ In addition, this would simplify the current complex safety control of imported foods under separate laws such as the Food Sanitation Act, the Functional Health Foods Act, the Livestock Products Sanitary Control Act, and the Act on the Prevention of Contagious Animal Diseases by integrating the relevant laws into a single law, thereby securing efficiency and consistency.

□ Major contents of the Special Act include the "strengthening of safety control in exporting countries", "differential management of business entities and different inspection types by product at the customs clearance stage", "expansion and systematic control of traceability at the distribution stage", and "strengthening of importers' responsibilities and simplification of business reporting procedures".

□ The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety has announced that the proposal for the Special Act on Imported Food Safety Control would enter into force in early 2016 when its sub-laws are ready for implementation, thereby providing a safer and tighter imported food control system.