[ Press Release, Feb 25, 2020 / unofficial translation ]



Export restiction on filtering respirator in place, release to public retailers becomes mandatory
- Enforced as of 00:00 Feb. 26 ? government vows to stop hoarding of and queuing for filtering respirators -


□ As the shortage of filtering respirator supply exacerbates due to the community-wide spread of COVID-19, the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety (MFDS; Minister: Lee, Eui-Kyung) is enforcing the “Emergency Adjustment Measures for Supply and Demand of Filtering Respirators and Hand Sanitizers” as of 00:00 on Feb. 26 (Wed), which contain extra measures to stabilize mask supplies.
※ Article 6 of the “Price Stabilization Act” stipulates that The government may take emergency measures on the supply and release of commodities when supply control is inevitable due to crises in the national finance and economy and when supply adjustment function has been disabled.

○ As such, from Feb. 26, the export of filtering respirators by their distributors is prohibited in principle, and manufacturers will be allowed to export no more than 10% of their production volume.
- Filtering Respirator manufacturers shall swiftly release 50% or more of their daily production volume to public retailers*.
* Korea Post, Nonghyup (or Hanaro Mart), Public Shopping, Small and Medium Business Distribution Center, and other points of sale determined by the Minister of Food and Drug Safety

○ Note, however, that if a filtering respirator manufacturer wishes to change the export volume or other matters due to business or other inevitable reasons, he/she shall obtain prior approval from the MFDS after consulting with the Minister of Trade, Industry, and Energy. If release to public retailers is not possible, he/she may change the release volume and schedule upon the prior approval of the MFDS.

○ In line with the increasing demand for surgical masks from medical institutes, the MFDS will expand the application scope of production and sales reporting measure (which is currently applied to filtering respirators and hand sanitizers only) to surgical masks to avoid the shortage of masks in medical institutes.
※ (Previously) Filtering respirator → (Revised) 「Scope of Quasi-Drug」all masks and respirators under subparagraph 1 (b) of the “Pharmaceutical Affairs Act”

○ Thus, surgical mask manufacturers shall report their daily production, domestic release, export, and stock volumes to the MFDS by noon of the following day.
- Sellers shall report the sales price, quantity sold, and points of sale to the Ministry by midday of the following day if they sell more than 10,000* of surgical masks to the same point of sale.
※ Reports to be made via email, fax, or online system (nedrug.mfds.go.kr). First report to be completed by midday of Feb. 27 for goods manufactured and sold from 00:00 on Feb. 26th.

○ This extra measure is applied to the manufactured/distributed/reported past 00:00 on Feb. 26 and will be temporarily enforced until Apr. 30.


□ In order to apply measures on export restriction and mandatory release to the public retailers in the most practical manner, the MFDS will organize and operate the “Mask Supply Taskforce” joined by the Ministry of Science and ICT, Ministry of Trade, Industry, and Energy, Ministry of SMEs and Startups, Ministry of Agriculture, Food, and Rural Affairs, and Korea Customs Office.

○ The MFDS will strictly enforce the laws through crackdowns on any violation of the revised measure, intentional omissions in reports, or tampering with transaction amount, among others.
※ Breach of emergent supply control measure, such as failure to declare production and sales, is subject to imprisonment for up to two years or fine of up to 50 million won (Article 25 of the Price Stabilization Act), or imposition of administrative fine of up to 10 million won (Article 29 of the Price Stabilization Act)

○ Furthermore, supply to Daegu and Cheongdo, areas designated as special control area, shall be prioritized; the stock separately secured by the Ministry shall be continuously supplied.


□ The government shall endeavor to leverage the country’s full capacity to help citizens buy filtering respirator much more conveniently as well as to combat hoarding and queuing for the purchase of filtering respirators.