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The latest piece of international e-waste legislation, South Korea’s Act for Resource Recycling of Electrical and Electronic Equipment and Vehicles, has been given the abbreviation “Korea RoHS” – a reference to the European Union’s (EU’s) Restriction of Hazardous Substances “RoHS” Directive 2002/95/EC. This is an unfortunate misnomer, as the legislation bears only a superficial resemblance to the now-infamous EU legislation by that name.

“Korea RoHS,” as we will call it, exceeds its EU counterpart in scope and implementation. In fact, it could more aptly be described as “Korea RoHS, WEEE, ELV, and EuP,” since it covers aspects of all four of those directives. However, its implementation varies considerably in some respects from the EU versions, and it thus requires its own compliance plan. It can not be assumed that the same infrastructure put in place to support European or other international environmental regulations can be immediately re-used to support the Korean legislation.

The scope of Korea RoHS’s electronics aspect is narrower than that of the EU’s RoHS – the legislation does not cover all electrical and electronic equipment (EEE); instead it targets specific consumer products that would be expected to be purchased and disposed of in large quantities. The products include large household appliances, consumer electronics, and office electronics – specifically: televisions, refrigerators, household washers, air conditioners, PCs and peripherals, consumer audio equipment, mobile telephones, printers, copiers, and fax machines (including ink and toner cartridges used with the last three). The scope of the automobile provision covers passenger vehicles, including cars, vans, and trucks.

The legislation consists of the Act itself, along with two additional legal documents – titled Legal Regulation Ordinances for Recycling Electrical, Electronic Products and Automobiles, and Enforcement Regulation for the Act Concerning the Resource Recycling of Electrical/Electronic Products and Automobiles, or the Enforcement Ordinance and Enforcement Regulation respectively. All documents are issued exclusively in Korean, and the unofficial translations of the Ordinance and Regulation from third parties do not come cheaply.

Although the legislation officially came into force on April 2, 2007, delays in implementing measures of the Act have pushed back the effective date for practical purposes. In fact, a revised version of the legislation was released in January 2008. As well, one major part of the legislation, a central registry titled the “Operational Management Information System” (OMIS), is, at the time of this writing, not yet operational.

Registration Requirements
One key component of the Korea RoHS legislation is the requirement for registration. This requirement spreads across the diverse sections of the Act. In some aspects, such as material reporting, suppliers are given the option to report compliance in the product documentation or online. But for the majority of the time, it is required that they use the Korean government registry, or “Operational Management Information System” (OMIS).

A consequence of the centralized reporting structure is the standardized report format. This is a significant departure from the European equivalents, where individual EU Member States enact a patchwork of legislative standards on the orders of the EU Parliament. There are a large number of activities that require registration; examples include compliance reports on hazardous material standards, compliance with annual recycling quotas, and records reporting the processing of substances causing ecological change. The various reporting forms are published in the enforcement regulation.

Perhaps the most important point to note from the registration requirements is the existence of “Declaration of Compliance with Hazardous Materials Inclusion Standards.” This has the effect of forcing electronic (and automobile) producers or importers to self-declare their products to be compliant with material restrictions, and to store the declaration in a centralized registry. The signed declaration from the producer must be made for each individual product, stating that the product does in fact conform to the hazardous material restrictions. The declaration must either be made through the OMIS, or on the producer’s website in conjunction with notifying the administrator of the OMIS.

Self-declaration of compliance with material restrictions is one entry in a long list of record-keeping, documentation, and registration requirements for both EEE and automobile importers or producers. A complete list is found in the enforcement ordinance.

Restricted Substances
Electronics producers who have been paying attention over the last five years will immediately recognize the hazardous substances and their concentration thresholds imposed by Korea RoHS:

Lead (1000 PPM)
Cadmium (100 PPM)
Mercury (1000 PPM)
Hexavalent chromium (1000 PPM)
Polybrominated biphenyls (1000 PPM)
Polybrominated diphenyl ethers (1000 PPM)

These, of course, are the familiar six substances restricted by the EU in directive 2002/95/EC, the RoHS Directive. In fact, they were deliberately chosen to conform to EU RoHS, and the Korean legislation’s exemptions correspond roughly to the European equivalents as well. Examples of the exemptions include lead in ceramics and glass of electronic components, lead in solders of servers and telecom infrastructure, and mercury in compact fluorescent lamps. However, it is suggested that manufacturers or importers of products using RoHS exemptions should review all exemptions against the Korean list to be sure they are still applicable.

It is also worthwhile to note that, similar to the EU Directive, Korea RoHS measures the concentration at a homogeneous level, meaning that crush tests are not useful to determine compliance of a product or component.

“Environmentally Conscious” Design Requirements
Perhaps the one aspect of the Korean legislation whose impact is most unclear at this time is its Energy-Using Products (EuP) -like “environmentally conscious design” provisions. The requirements will be provided in the as-yet unpublished Technical Guidance on the Improvement of Materials and Structure. Although the document itself is not available at the time of this writing, its scope can be inferred directly from the legislation. Technical Guidance will require the selection of materials that are readily recyclable, in a design that is easy to disassemble. Materials will need to be marked, and should be chosen to minimize the overall number of materials.

Notably, the emphasis in the Korean Act appears at this time to be on choice of materials to maximize recyclability. This is in contrast to the European equivalent, the EuP Directive, where the emphasis is on energy efficiency.

The Korean Ministry of Environment is authorized to require reports on implementation of the Technical Guidance’s requirements when it deems it necessary, and is also authorized to require conformity when it determines that not enough effort was made. This could theoretically remove products from the Korean market until redesigned!

Recycling Obligations
The enforcement ordinance requires far greater detail in treatment instructions for recyclers than the EU’s Waste from Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Directive. The Korean legislation requires, among other things, complete disassembly instructions. This is a significant step beyond the requirements of WEEE treatment instructions, and it is therefore inappropriate to assume that the Korean legislation can be covered by existing WEEE treatment documents.

Furthermore, there is a maximum allowance of one month to register the treatment instructions in Korea after a request has been made by a recycling group. This has the effect of requiring treatment instructions to be written as new products are introduced, as for many products, one month is a short period of time to produce complete and accurate dismantling and treatment instructions. The registration must be made with the Korean OMIS, or treatment instructions made available on the producer’s website or shipped with the product in electronic or printed copy.

Other requirements of the treatment instructions include a listing of all hazardous substances, their location and removal methods; a listing of all structural plastic parts, their type and removal methods; and efficient processing and recycling methods for recyclable materials.

The Enforcement Ordinance sets mandatory recycling recovery rates. Manufacturers and importers are required to meet – and document – quotas for the amount of e-waste reclaimed vs. produced. The “Recycling Obligation Volume” is set by the Korean government and varies by product type. A fee-based tax structure is described, in which the costs of recycling are moved onto the producer or exporter, according to the category of product.

Included in the enforcement regulation are reporting templates. The Products Subject to Mandatory Recycling Report requires registration of each product, including mass, quantity, and estimated sales volume. Other mandatory reports include the Plan for Implementing Recycling (that requires, among other things, registration of the mandatory recycling rates, mandatory recycling standards, and the specific recycling group to which the product is registered), and the report on Actual Results of recycling, that requires the actual quantities produced and recycled vs. the mandatory recycling rate.

Recycling Obligation Operational Plans must be registered with the Korean Environment Ministry within thirty days of a product being placed on the market. These plans may be refused if they are deemed to be deficient. Additionally, annual results on the effectiveness of operational plans (actual results vs. original operational plan) must be submitted.

Automotive Restrictions
Similar to the European End-of-Life Vehicles (ELV) Directive, automotive manufacturers are prohibited from using hazardous substances in their products. The hazardous substances include lead, mercury, and hexavalent chromium to a maximum concentration of 1000 PPM per homogeneous material, and cadmium to a limit of 100 PPM. The exemptions include such uses as lead in alloys, batteries and electronic solders; mercury in displays; and hexavalent chromium in nut-and-bolt assemblies (until June 2008). In this respect, Korea RoHS has similarities to the exemptions of the European Union ELV Directive.

The enforcement ordinance lists disassembly requirements and recycling and material treatment standards. For example, parts such as batteries, fuel tanks, and air bags which may be dangerous when shredded must be removed; 85% or more of the auto glass must be recovered, and liquids must be removed. Furthermore, recyclers are required to recover as many parts as possible for the purpose of re-use.

Automotive manufacturers or importers must also register and implement recycling plans. The annual limits are set in the legislation and require registration with the OMIS. Similar to electronics, the recycling treatment instructions are required to be made available. The legislation includes requirements for instructions on how to segregate and safely dispose of hazardous substances, ozone-depleting substances, and substances hypothesized to cause “climate change.”

Korea RoHS also sets out minimum facility requirements for recyclers. The minimum set of facilities is set out for the different phases of the automobile recycling process - the crusher, crushed byproducts recycler, and waste gas collection.

Quarterly recycling performance reports must be registered with the Ministry of Construction and Transport. The reports must include statistics on quantities of vehicles imported or produced vs. recycling quotas, as well as quantity of material transferred to and between automobile shredders, shredded waste recyclers and waste gas recyclers. Also, the amount of material recycled and hazardous or ecologically-damaging material captured must be documented.

Inspection & Enforcement
The Korean government is enforcing Korea RoHS through public inspectors who will be authorized to inspect products and documentation. Fines for failing to comply are set out as follows, according to the infraction (stated in South Korean Won):

Fraudulent Reporting: Fine of 10,000,000 and imprisonment of not more than 1 year. May include corporate officers or the corporation itself
Violation of Restricted Substance Limits: Fine of 30,000,000
Violation of Technical Guidance on the Improvement of Materials and Structure: Fine of 20,000,000
Failure to Properly Report: Use of Restricted Substances, Recycling Implementation Plan, Document Collection of Electrical Waste: Fine of 10,000,000
Failure to Collect Electrical Waste: Fine of 10,000,000

There are also increases to the recycling fee structure in cases where the producer or importer has failed to meet mandatory recycling quotas. This can range as high as a 30% increase in fees applicable to the volume of material exceeding the quota.

Summary
The unique requirements of Korea RoHS, if they are not properly implemented, have the potential to set serious barriers to the South Korean market. There is a great deal more information to be collected, obligations to be researched and properly adhered to, and documentation to be registered both with the South Korean government’s registry and with recycling companies. Importers and domestic manufacturers who would be affected are well-advised to develop a compliance plan that is specifically designed to meet the Korea RoHS requirements, or risk losing market-access until one is implemented.

Bruce Calder is the General Manager, and Ian Smith a Senior Engineer, at Intertek-Ageus. Calder can be reached at bruce.calder@intertek.com, and Smith can be reached at ian.smith@intertek.com.